Herbert the Dinosaur

Something is wrong in England. In and around the London area, people are suddenly becoming bad-tempered, with a rapid increase in crime and murder, and a clear decline in self-respect. Linked to this strange behavior is an excavation site, now a mighty smoking crater emitting clouds of noxious gas that appear to be causing the sudden change in human behavior. And then, from within the vast fissure below the crater, there emerge the hideous survivals of a lost age of monster dinosaurs. It's up to Cliff Brooks, project engineer, to develop a mighty boring capsule capable of penetrating deep within the earth, where he hopes to close off the source of the gas. But when an accident disables his machine a thousand miles from any source of help, only Herbert the Dinosaur can save day! A rollicking good SF adventure tale, the first in a two-book series.

Clifford Brooks and his wife Joan believe that 'Herbert,' the frisky dinosaur who'd saved their lives in A THING OF THE PAST, has been lost forever in the Earth's underworld. But to their amazement, he returns to the surface of the Earth-and immediately raises once again all of the complicated problems attendant upon trying to house a fearsome, 80-ton prehistoric beast in the midst of modern society. He's eventually condemned to death as a menace to the community, but somehow he-or his owners-always managed to circumvent the final sentence. Which is just as well, since it appears that Herbert's appearance is almost providential. When aliens from another star arrive to Earth bent on denuding the planet of one of its natural resources, only Herbert can save the day! Another delightful SF adventure from the pulp paperback era.