Culver, a helicopter pilot hears the sirens begin whilst he is on business in London. There is absolute panic when the populaces realise that nuclear devices are detonated. Culver survives and aids a passing pedestrian, Dealey, who is a worker for the Ministry of defence. The two men also help a woman, Kate and the three of them strive to reach a place of safety before the fallout. Dealey knows where the ministry bunkers are and these have to be found amidst the rubble. Obviously the entrance is below ground. But there are mutant Rats living below who feast on blood and flesh. A story of the survival of the fittest.

The three main characters are believable to a certain extent, but each is fairly predictable within their identities. The pilot is brave, the ministry man devious and the girl, well, a girl, pretty and reminds me of a Dr Who companion. Each of the three play their own part adequately although none of them are the most engaging.

The rats are very gruesome and the descriptions of the massacres, which ensue, are very gory. I enjoyed the first half of the book, which was concerned the bombing and its results upon the human beings, but felt the book lost impetus as it progressed underground.

The story moves along very well at first and the chapters are interspersed with the actions of the rat population. After a while it became rather tedious with the continual rambling through debris and the dead. Obviously a part of the nature of a holocaust, but a little boring. The ending was very tame and predictable.