Lair is the second repulsive entry in the Rats trilogy, following Rats. They can be read in any order. The horror continues in Domain.

The “Outbreak” was a tragedy London thought it had buried. But deep within the ancient, shadowed groves of Epping Forest, a new terror is feeding.

Investigator Lucas Pender – haunted by the family he lost to the first wave of mutants – recognizes the chilling signs: mutilated livestock and an eerie, unnatural silence in the woods. These aren’t mere scavengers; they are immense, intelligent predators with a reawakened lust for human blood. Led by a grotesque, two-headed master and a cunning, scarred survivor, the pack begins a coordinated massacre that defies every known poison.

As the forest becomes a military slaughterhouse, Pender must plunge into the subterranean darkness to confront a biological horror faster and hungrier than anything humanity has ever faced. The natural order is shifting – and we are no longer at the top.

Praise for James Herbert:

‘The Rats is splatterpunk deluxe’
– Stephen King

‘Lean, mean, and nasty as punk’
– Grady Hendrix

‘A one-off; a true horror original’
– Peter James