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Rabid

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When John and Paula find a lovable stray dog on their holiday in France, they see smuggling it back home to bypass the quarantine laws purely as outwitting the tiresome long-arm of bureaucracy.

Yet, the dog proves to be rabid and by this one act a dark terror spreads inexorably across the countryside in an ever-widening circle.

269 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

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David Anne

7 books1 follower

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13 (44%)
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
Profile Image for Grady Hendrix.
Author 64 books34.3k followers
June 14, 2017
Like a 70's BBC public information film about the dangers of going to France, this is all tweed and brown corduroy and emasculated men and their wives who wear too much make-up tossing back brandies and getting their faces chewed off by Jack Russell terriers. All these gin disposal units have stiff upper lip and they're covered in delicious human meat.
Profile Image for Janith Pathirage.
575 reviews14 followers
July 14, 2014
Gosh !! so I've the privilege of writhing the first review for this book :D . It's not a bad thriller to read specially if you're into books like "Jaws". Actually this book's very much like the dog version of Jaws. One thing I love about this is that cheating two legged bitch got what she deserves !! hats off to the dog who made it happen !!
Profile Image for Charles.
Author 41 books283 followers
June 23, 2009
Pretty standard horror. Readable. It's not that I didn't like it. Just that it was pretty predictable.
Profile Image for Dani.
40 reviews1 follower
May 10, 2023
An “Evil Dead” of novels, bad in ways that cannot ever be intentionally recreated but only ever produced through true earnestness and faith in a project doomed from the start, yet entirely enjoyable if that’s the kind of thing you find enjoyable.

This is the kind of thing I find enjoyable. I love this book unapologetically but with the understanding that it is quite bad and other novels have done what it’s trying to do better than it did.

It’s not the kind of book I’d recommend, necessarily, as much as it is a tragic accident I’d point out to a friend as we drive by. Some people can’t stomach such things, and some can’t stand to look away.

If you’re the latter kind and you pick up this book, good luck to you.
Profile Image for Jeff.
13 reviews3 followers
August 25, 2019
Gave up on this one about 100 pages into it. None of the characters were likeable. I couldn't get into this at all. It's rare for me to stop reading a book once I've committed to it but this was one of those times.
I hope the dogs killed them all :)
Profile Image for Josh Stevens.
Author 9 books9 followers
July 20, 2022
“I think you can understand now why the word ‘rabies’ comes from a Latin word meaning ‘madness.’”

Not gonna lie, I picked this book up primarily because the dog on the cover looked like an angry version of my dog, River (who just so happens to be the goodest dog ). I thought it was just going to be a trashy pulp novel (which it kind of was) but it was surprisingly informative. Regardless, I enjoyed it a great deal.

It was very reminiscent of Jaws by Peter Benchly with just a dash of Cujo by Stephen King… the amount of research about rabies and the incredibly detailed description during the accounts of those infected were incredibly well written and they never felt forced or that they took away from the story. The story itself was entertaining and I did not see a few of the twists and turns (primarily the ending) coming at all.
Profile Image for Jimbo Rizzo.
15 reviews
August 13, 2025
A mass market horror paperback from the 1970s that does what it says on the tin. For me it was a gripping read, thrilling and gruesome too but also very much of its time (if you know what I mean...?).
Profile Image for Patti.
126 reviews4 followers
January 28, 2019
Not a bad way to spend an afternoon, the last 60 pages or so were especially unsettling.
Profile Image for Alan Smithee.
52 reviews2 followers
July 1, 2019
Weird, disjointed rabies-scare yarn from he mid '70s. It's the story of a cigarette company executive and his irresponsible wife who (somewhat unwittingly) bring a rabid dog back from their French vacation. Written with more British colloquialisms than a dozen Biggles novels, but otherwise an unremarkable potboiler.
4,130 reviews11 followers
November 7, 2016
A chilling story of what could happen if just ONE rabid animal is allowed to escape. Of all types of death, this is one of the most brutal. Get your animals immunized!!!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews

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