"The Fog" by James Herbert (1975)

Right after "The Rats" I went straight into Herbert's second novel. 

For some reason, it didn't sit very well with me and I could quickly point that Herbert is not really in the same league as Stephen King to whom he was constantly compared - often advertised as "British Stephen King"  Herbert is not exactly there, in fact no one is but the comparisons are actually more hurting than helpful. What they have in common is just accidental - both work in a same genre, both published debut novel in the same year (1974.) and both have tendency to bring the finale in a big, booming explosion that will erase whatever got tangled earlier. But where King really posses a knack for keeping the reader biting his nails constantly from the first to the last page, Herbert is not there. "The Rats" being the first novel, had a special charm and urgency - as soon as we came to second novel, this is gone and replaced by knowing labouring over chapters. 

For example, Stephen King started with a bang - "Carrie" - but he didn't waste any time and continued with even better "Salem's Lot"  which was magnificent and a proof that now when he finally got public attention, he is actually better than ever. On the other hand, James Herbert got a huge notoriety with his debut "The Rats"  but once he became a celebrity, it turned into a slightly gimmicky shock scare trick. You have some calamity that approaches London and destroys helpless victims. What is basically a very thin story is now fattened with pointless chapters describing various unrelated characters who are here to die at the end of the page, often having very graphic sex and there is a very noticeable sense of unnecessary filler in order to extend the story into more substantial novel. To top it all, everything must end in a big fire and explosion. Needless to say, this one did not excite me at all and I ploughed trough it just because I started but it was nowhere near exciting as "The Rats". The story has absolutely nothing to do with the 1980 movie by John Carpenter or the novel "The Mist"  by Stephen King.