Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • The Rats

  • The Rats Series, Book 1
  • By: James Herbert
  • Narrated by: David Rintoul
  • Length: 6 hrs and 14 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (1,561 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
The Rats cover art

The Rats

By: James Herbert
Narrated by: David Rintoul
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £13.00

Buy Now for £13.00

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Fog cover art
The Magic Cottage cover art
Nobody True cover art
The Dark cover art
The Spear cover art
The Survivor cover art
Haunted cover art
Moon cover art
The Secret of Crickley Hall cover art
Creed cover art
Fluke cover art
Others cover art
‘48 cover art
Portent cover art
The Jonah cover art
Shrine cover art

Editor reviews

Veteran actor David Rintoul delivers a superb performance of best-selling British author James Herbert’s The Rats, the first book in the classic The Rats series. His rich voice and charismatic delivery heighten the exciting nature of this audiobook. London comes under attack and a state of emergency is declared. The problem? Rats. Swift, terrifying rodents wreaking havoc in the big city. No one is safe. As the death toll rises, it appears that evacuation may be the only option left - that or war.

Summary

Book One in Herbert's classic "rats" series. 

The terror begins. London is struck by an invasion. Women, children, old and young, none are safe from the deadly menace. The attacks are swift and sure, escape is impossible. A state of emergency is declared. Evacuation seems the only solution in the face of a growing panic and mounting death toll. War is declared on the public enemy number one. The Rats! 

James Herbert was one of Britain's greatest popular novelists and our #1 best-selling writer of chiller fiction. Widely imitated and hugely influential, he wrote 23 novels which have collectively sold over 54 million copies worldwide and been translated into 34 languages. 

Born in London in the forties, James Herbert was art director of an advertising agency before turning to writing fiction in 1975. His first novel, The Rats, was an instant bestseller and is now recognised as a classic of popular contemporary fiction. 

Herbert went on to publish a new top ten best-seller every year until 1988. He wrote six more bestselling novels in the 1990s and three more since: Once, Nobody True and The Secret of Crickley Hall

Herbert died in March 2013 at the age of 69.

©1974 James Herbert (P)2013 Audible Ltd

Critic reviews

“Herbert was by no means literary, but his work had a raw urgency. His best novels, The Rats and The Fog, had the effect of Mike Tyson in his championship days: no finesse, all crude power. Those books were best sellers because many readers (including me) were too horrified to put them down.” (Stephen King)
"There are few things I would like to do less than lie under a cloudy night sky while someone read aloud the more vivid passages of Moon. In the thriller genre, do recommendations come any higher?" (Andrew Postman, The New York Times Book Review)
"Herbert goes out in a blaze of glory" ( Daily Mail)

What listeners say about The Rats

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    949
  • 4 Stars
    378
  • 3 Stars
    166
  • 2 Stars
    47
  • 1 Stars
    21
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,004
  • 4 Stars
    268
  • 3 Stars
    85
  • 2 Stars
    17
  • 1 Stars
    11
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    831
  • 4 Stars
    312
  • 3 Stars
    165
  • 2 Stars
    51
  • 1 Stars
    22

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

The rats terrify, but the lewd content grates.

The drama generated by the delivery is exceptional in the exciting parts, but the story itself is mired in unnecessary graphic sexual content. Herbert seems torn between writing erotic fiction and writing pure horror. The latter he does with the deft pacing of a genre master and the former he does with the ham-fisted awkwardness of an over-indulgent adolescent.

The bits which feature the titular rats are incredible, but the sexual content is misplaced garbage. I'm now almost afraid to revisit Lair and Domain.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Teenage Kicks That Are Hard To Beat!

Like many I still remember first encountering James Herbert and his books as a teenager. Scary stuff, genuine horror scenes and a guaranteed nightmare or two. Seeing these offered as audiobooks I couldn't resist trying one out again. Certainly as nostalgia this one worked incredibly well and David Rintoule struck just the right tone for me especially given the time period they were set and written in.

Herbert though was never what I would call a literary author, his writing was always direct and to the point. Very much a blunt trauma style rather than surgical precision. What you get is some fine, scary stuff that I think is a thrill to read playing as it does on our primal fears.

As I said, as a bit of nostalgia and as a set of very scary scenes it works splendidly but it's also worth mentioning that this is the first of many books from this author. So taken for what it is, it works splendidly. If, however you are after a finely polished and crafted tale with great structure and serious character development then it's probably going to fall short.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

too graphic

too violent and graphic and crude sex, not for me, quite gruesome too. read well

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

As good as I remember....

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I first read the The Rats probably about 25 years ago, it was the first James Herbert novel I read and it still stand up to the ravages of time. It's quite a short simplistic book, however the subject matter is still pretty scary to most. It's fast paced and graphic but Herbert still takes time to build the characters even if they are potential next victims. Some great references to 70's Britain, unfortunately the victims could not text or tweet, so a phonebox will have to do. Overall a great audiobook.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Very scary!

What did you like most about The Rats?

An exciting story that grips you from the start.

What does David Rintoul bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

He really builds the tension and breaths life into the characters.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Don't worry, they are only rats!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Epic

Mr Herbert at his best.Love all his books but a revisit to The Rats had to be done.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Like a zombie novel, but with rats.

Yes, this book has many of the features of a zombie story with rats in place of zombies and that's a good thing. We all know that there is no such thing as zombies, but rats are real. Rats are something that we seem to have an almost instinctive disdain for and has such a special place in our psyche is so much more poignant and than zombies. The very idea of being eaten alive by rats is somehow more disgusting to us than some make believe monster, I say this as a fan of zombie book films and games.

The story itself is extremely well written and imaginative and the narration is perfect. I think this book is a horror classic and should be read by all die hard fans of the genre.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good story, well narrated

What made the experience of listening to The Rats the most enjoyable?

I enjoyed the novel a lot and this was enhanced by David Rintoul's excellent reading of it.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I didn't really have a favourite character as they were all read really well.

Have you listened to any of David Rintoul’s other performances? How does this one compare?

This was my first time listening to David Rintoul and I enjoyed the way he gave the characters depth in the story

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

As this is a shorter audiobook I did manage to listen to it in one sitting but the fact that it isn't overly long doesn't take away the fact that is a great story.

Any additional comments?

The Rats is book one of a three book series and I look forward to the second & third instalments even though I have read the actual novels.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Raaaaaaatsssss!

One of Herbert's masterpieces. How can rats be scary? It's not what they are it's what they could be capable of in Herbert's imagination.
Brilliantly written in a way most people will be able to relate to. Comments from people having issues with adult content are ridiculous. This is a well constructed story that relies on it's staging and setting to make the story seem plausible. reality is reality is you can't handle what's outside your front door then it's probably best you stay clear of horror books in the future!
Rats created an image in my mind of all the characters and scenes through its brilliant writing. I look forward to the sequel.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

ratastic

Where does The Rats rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

this audiobook ranks about the second best book in my Library so far

What other book might you compare The Rats to, and why?

Its very hard to compare but I would have to say silence of the lambs

Which scene did you most enjoy?

I liked all the scene in the book and so its very hard to say wich were the best scenes

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

this book just made me more wary of rats didn't make me laugh or cry .

Any additional comments?

A very good audio book the story keeps you listening in fact I have listened to it about three times now, and have also downloaded the lair , the narrator is excellent and makes the listening to the audiobook even better and lets face it if you have a good narrator it makes all the difference to your listening pleasure I would highly recommend this book x

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful