.

             Throughout the novel, Adams puts in various ideas and themes that are meant to make the reader think twice about their relationships with nature and themselves. This novel sets up the themes of freedom and survival, which are also found in two of his other novels, and the theme of the stupidity and cruelty of man to the earth and her creatures.

             The Plague Dogs, Adams' third novel, is about two dogs who escape from an animal research station and try to fend for themselves in the hills of England. Rowf, a large, black, strong mongrel who has a mean temper and who has a deathly fear of water due to the experiments performed on him. Snitter, a fox terrier who has fits and has the power to see the future because of the brain surgery performed on him in the research station. Together, they meet up with a tod (fox). The tod helps them survive while reporters follow the dogs and spread dangerous rumors of the plague, getting politics involved.

             The themes in this novel are similar to the ones in Watership Down: survival, freedom, and human cruelty, but added to this list is the theme of rights. In this case, the right of animals, but, in some of his other works the theme extends to those people who are less fortunate and are in awful situations.

             The Girl in a Swing, his fourth novel, talks about a young man, Alan Desland, who has devoted his life to the business of fine ceramics and who is completely swept off his feet by a young German woman, Käthe. They get married, in Florida, after a very short courtship and return to England, where Alan returns to his business and Käthe holds spellbound his friends, family, and even him, with her beauty and charm. Inside Käthe, though, is a secret which Alan finds out about too late.

             The main theme in this novel is completely different from his other novels. Adams concentrates mostly on guilt - A guilt that Käthe held inside her and eventually caused her destruction.