Wrath is the story of Sammy, a lab rat instilled with human genes whose supersized intelligence helps him to engineer his escape into the world outside the lab: a world vastly ill-equipped to deal with the menace he represents. Modified through advances that have boosted his awareness of humankind’s cruelty in the name of science, Sammy has the potential to sire a rodent army capable of viciously overwhelming the human race. The key to Sammy’s capture and humanity’s salvation may be ten-year-old Dallas Underhill, whom Sammy adopts. But while Dallas and Sammy bond, time is running out for humankind: once Sammy sires his progeny, the exponential proliferation of his kind could spell the end of the world.
My adventures through Daniel Kraus’s backlist had a rough spot towards the end of 2025. I read his YA book ROTTERS and really did not enjoy it in any way. Just one of those books that didn’t work for me at all, so I was feeling pretty bummed about it.
But onward I go & this time with a much better result, with 2022’s WRATH, a book that Kraus co-authored with Shäron Moalem. This wasn’t a total knockout for me, but I definitely dug this one a lot. I try avoiding the “_____ meets _____” type comparisons if I can, but the JURASSIC PARK meets THE RATS vibe here is pretty intense. At least for me it was, so I’ll include a very famous quote from JURASSIC PARK that is wildly relevant to WRATH:
“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should”
–Dr. Ian Malcolm
I think my main issue with this book is really just how it was structured. I find that with an ensemble cast, inevitably, the story still becomes “about” one or two characters for me, usually my favorite characters (obviously). With WRATH, my favorite character isn’t introduced until page 131, nearly the halfway point of this ~300 page novel. So the whole structure of the story just felt a little off to me as a result, and had me wishing/wondering what this book would have been like if we had at least met my favorite character, Dallas Underhill, a bit sooner. But more on Dallas in a bit.
The first big chunk of the book is spent with the people behind EditedPets, the worst tech company in the world. The brainchild of CEO Noah Goff, EditedPets has begun to offer genetically modified pets to consumers, with…mixed results so far. But their latest entry into the market is going to be their best yet. It’s Sammy, a rat that’s been modified to look Disney-cute, with big sympathetic eyes, and near-human intelligence.
They’re going to mass-produce these rats and sell them for profit.
Dr. Sienna Aguirre is the lead scientist on this project, and an older Black man named Prez is sort of…security? Prez is an old-school NYC rat catcher with a cool rat-catching dog named Smog.
Now, I’m someone who typically needs someone to root for in a book. And it was very difficult for me to find that in the early stages of WRATH. Sienna & Prez were both written to be much more sympathetic than Noah, who is a fucking monster. But all three of these people are working in service of a truly monstrous goal. I have a hard time reading about animal testing & animal cruelty, and so I’ll be honest: parts of this book were difficult for me to get through.
I was angry. I was outraged. I wanted to punch Noah Goff in his stupid smug face. But that’s the point.
The story really started to take shape for me when we meet Dallas Underhill. Dallas is ten years old, Black, and deaf. Though he has cochlear implants that allow him to hear, he has a hard time communicating with people, which has left him the subject of bullying.
Dallas has a deep love for animals, which is how he comes to be at the Pet Expo, where he encounters Sammy the rat.
Sammy, who with his unique form of communication can speak directly to Dallas via his cochlear implants.
Sammy begs Dallas for help. To free him. So Dallas does. He takes him away from a world of testing & pain, and the two form an incredibly unlikely friendship. But Sammy’s biological urges paired with his ever-expanding capacity to think and learn has left him with no choice: he wants bloody revenge against the humans who made him what he is.
He wants revenge against all humans, more or less. Shit gets absolutely wild from there.
I feel like in any good “animals run amok” story, if you aren’t actually rooting for the animal, then you at least need to have a degree of sympathy for the animal. I mean…Cujo was just a good boy. The raptors in Jurassic Park were only doing what comes natural to them, and they never should have been there in the first place. The real villain in Jaws is the mayor. I mean, sharks are gonna shark.
In WRATH, Sammy and the rats of New York City are just pushed too far, too often, and for too long. Their uprising feels righteous. Their blood-soaked revenge feels more like justice.
I really dug this one! Like I said earlier, the story didn’t totally gel for me until Dallas was introduced, but from then on I was pretty hooked. Dallas is an awesome protagonist to root for…he’s super smart, really sensitive, and as a 10-year-old navigating the subway in NYC on his own, pretty streetwise as well. The relationship between Dallas & Sammy gets really complex and fractured. But in a very real way, Dallas is basically the only major character in this book with his entire heart in the right place.
Not a new favorite of mine, but definitely worth a look if you are a fan of things like JAWS, JURASSIC PARK, and THE RATS.
Grimdark Dad 