Rats is one of a series of thrillers that Zindel has recently written. The others, so far, are Loch, Reef of Death, The Doom Stone, and Raptor. These novels feature frightful monsters, but Rats finds its chills in a common animal. Like that of Rats, the plots of The Doom Stone, Loch, and Raptor turn on the fates of their monsters; in Reef of Death, the monster fills a secondary role as one among several sources of chills. In Loch, three youngsters defy a rapacious research expedition bent on capturing the plesiosaurs dead or alive—more likely dead. In Reef of Death, two young adults and an elderly man confront an illegal mining operation that is disguised as a research ship. The bloody scenes in Reef of Death, Loch, and Raptor equal or exceed those in Rats, providing vivid descriptions of dismemberment and gore. The...