‘They returned to the gloomy underworld, safe there below the ground, away from the sun…’
The idea of canon or chronology has no bearing on a child. And so, I read Domain, the third book in James Herbert’s Rats trilogy long before I read the two books that preceded it. And as with Terminator 2: Judgement Day and Aliens, two other sequels I experienced before the source material, Domain was always my favourite…
We begin with a blinding flash as London is reduced to rubble by a nuclear attack. We witness the moment the bombs drop, the subsequent panic and finally the gruesome aftermath. Culver is our protagonist and as such he is pretty indistinguishable from Harris and Pender from the previous novels (albeit more fleshed out and compelling – something that will become a recurring theme). Culver retreats into the sewers after saving a man named Dealey from the blast. The latter is a government man who guides Culver to a labyrinthine underground shelter after picking up a terrified young woman named Kate.
While The Rats has a certain rugged charm and Lair does a good job in widening the mythology of the mutant rats, Domain is by far the best book in the trilogy and probably Herbert’s finest work overall. He mostly eschews some of the more tawdry and clumsy prose that he utilises in previous novels. Indeed, there are some passages here that are beautifully written. A lack of trust in government agencies and power structures is a central theme throughout The Rats trilogy, but here it feels more focused, more incisive. There is genuine satire here rather than just blind rage. The female characters are also more developed, particularly Clare Reynolds – the resident doctor at the underground bunker. Having said that, Kate, the love interest, is just as much of a wet lettuce as previous Herbert heroines but in many ways, this is one of the foibles that makes his writing so fun.
Domain has the best concept, the most well-rounded characters and by far the best ending of the trilogy. It’ll probably never happen but a film or mini-series based on this novel would have the potential to be genuinely excellent. In the meantime, we’ll have to settle for the book – luckily, it’s a horror masterpiece.