The Rats

It's really not that hard to figure out why Herbert became one of the most popluar horror writers of the last century when you actually sit down and read him: he writes relatively simply (at least he did at the very start of his career), his characters and their emotional states are laid out for the reader in digestible chunks, the plot is linear and fairly singular, going along at a nice but quick pace, and there's plenty of up-front violence, brutality, and graphic sex for the easily distracted reader to enjoy.

The Rats will never be a masterpiece (and there is one particularly disturbing passage--clearly not meant to be so--about "bouncing schoolgirls" near the start of the book that would make Harvey Weinstein cringe, just going to show how far we've come thank God), but Herbert manages to create a short, gory, and yet also socially aware novel that can be easily enjoyed in two or three sittings.

Give it to someone young and bloodthirsty.