The release date for the English version of 'The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents' by
Terry Pratchett is Nov 2001. If you enjoy this novel, it is available for buy as a paperback from Barnes & Noble or Indigo, as an ebook on the Amazon Kindle store, or as an audiobook on Audible.
Together with a little boy called Keith, Maurice and the rats have devised a cunning plan to get money. Rats are a general annoyance when they move into a town, widdling on objects and stealing food, till the locals grow anxious to get rid of them. Then Keith and Maurice show up and promise to rescue the day by getting the community free of the infestation in exchange for a nominal payment. It seems to be a foolproof strategy until the gang meets Malicia, a young girl with a sharp mind and a penchant for mischief, when they come to the town of Bad Blintz. Things become nasty when it's found that Bad Blintz already has a rat issue, one that a few sly-eyed rat catchers pretend to have under control. For there is a maze of rat traps and toxic poisons hidden under the town's streets. Beyond there lies a monstrosity so immense and repulsive that it even beyond Malicia's imagination.
Several thought-provoking themes emerge as Maurice and the rats struggle for their own existence, including life after death, good against evil, and the sacrifice of the few for the many.