Rather there is an emphasis upon the occult, as in The Spear ( 1978), where neo-Nazis seek to draw upon the power of the Spear of Longinus to usurp supernatural control The Dark ( 1980), where a house is infected by an ancient, malevolent, almost tangible force which drives people insane and Shrine ( 1983), where a young girl seems to possess miraculous powers. In his later novels Herbert toned down the overt violence and built more upon character and supernatural atmosphere. They also reflect the growing concern of the lack of control over technological progress and its potential impact on humanity (see Ecology), a concern further explored in another early similarly violent novel, The Fog ( 1975), where a fog developed as a product of chemical warfare (see Weapons) escapes after an earthquake and turns anyone who encounters it into psychotic maniacs. However, these novels may also be seen as statements about social conditions, drawing upon Herbert's childhood memories of the slums of London's East End where rats were common they have almost become part of the city's Urban Legends. These novels were noted for their physical gore and graphic descriptions, causing Charles L Grant to christen Herbert the 'Godfather of Splatterpunk'. The third in the sequence, Domain ( 1980), is a Post-Holocaust novel set after a nuclear catastrophe has wiped out most of mankind and the rats, now further mutated, are in control, a situation explored to more visual effect in the graphic novel The City ( 1994).

The chaos continues in Lair ( 1979), where the rats have developed a greater intelligence.

His first and still best known novel, The Rats ( 1974), which begins the Rats sequence, is a Disaster novel in which London is overwhelmed by a vicious strain of giant Mutant rats. (1943-2013) UK advertising art director and author, best known for bestselling tales of horror, several of which have an sf premise (see Horror in SF).

Domain by James Herbert