Lair by James Herbert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I’d been excited about reading The Rat series for quite some time, and although I wasn’t crazy about the first book, I was eager to dive into Lair. Personally, I enjoyed Lair a lot more than I enjoyed The Rats.
Lair takes place a few years after The Rats, dropping us back into the wonderful horror of the monstrous creatures. It takes all the creepy aspects of the first book and amplifies them, taking what we were introduced to in the first book and making it even creepier. It is more than just the overgrown rats in this story, as the mutation we were introduced to at the end of The Rats also plays a role in this story. As I said, the horror is amped up in this one.
With a new set of characters and a new location, we're quickly pulled into this story. I feel as though Lair had a bit more depth to it than the first book - whilst the first book had all the creep I could desire, I failed to connect with the characters and events. It was different with Lair, and I found myself falling deeper into the story.
I think a large part of it was that I enjoyed these characters more than I enjoyed the characters from the first book. Whilst we do have one character from the prior book in this one, and references are made to the events of book one, it was nice to be introduced to a fresh cast. It was only a little thing, but I do believe it played a big part in my enjoyment.
Overall, I enjoyed Lair a lot more than I enjoyed The Rats. I was eager to dive into Lair because of a curiosity as to what came next, whereas my eagerness to dive into Domain is based upon an investment in the story.
A great look back at the peak time of horror, and a great example of what James Herbert's capabilities as a horror writer.
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