Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Mar 2015
256 pages
Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
Publication Information
For people who both love and hate cats comes the tale of Alec Charlesworth, a librarian who finds himself suddenly alone: he's lost his job, his beloved wife has just died, and to top it all off, his sister has disappeared. Overcome by grief, he stands in his sister's kitchen staring at the only witness to what's happened to her – her cat, Roger. Who then speaks to him.
It takes a while for Alec to realize he's not gone mad from grief, that the cat is actually speaking ... and that much of what we fear about cats is true. They do think they're smarter than humans, for one thing. And, well, it seems they are! What's more, they do have nine lives. Or at least this one does – Roger's older than Methuselah, and his unblinking stare comes from the fact that he's seen it all.
And he's got a tale to tell, a tale of shocking local history and dark forces that may link not only the death of Alec's wife, but also several other local deaths. But will the cat help Alec, or is he one of the dark forces?
In the deft and comedic hands of mega-bestseller Lynne Truss, the story is as entertaining as it is addictive" (The Sunday Telegraph) – an increasingly suspenseful and often hysterically funny adventure that will please cat lovers and haters alike. And afterwards, as one critic noted, "You may never look at a cat in quite the same way again" (The Daily Mail).
"A potent and darkly humorous tale… Cat lovers (or cat haters) and fans of gothic fiction will devour this creepy, paranoia-inducing morsel." - Publishers Weekly
"An unusual mystery for cat lovers and haters alike... A fun format for an equally entertaining quick read." - Library Journal
"A Chinese box of anti-narrative that reads like M.R. James on bad acid with a laugh track, complete with demonic cats, murderous librarians and badly overmatched amateur sleuths." - Kirkus
"A masterpiece of comic writing... A novel as entertaining as it is addictive." - The Sunday Telegraph (UK)
"One of those rare books that actually makes the reader laugh out loud... Impossible not to read in one sitting." - The Sunday Times (UK)
"An incredible tale…You may never look at a cat in quite the same way again." - The Daily Mail (UK)
"A wonderful tale full of parodies, pastiches and paradoxes. Pure joy." - The Telegraph (UK)
"It is good fun and the perfect lesson in how to use the power of punctuation to your advantage." - The Evening Standard (UK)
"Truss brings an eerie, 19th-century kind of horror into the present-day world." - The Guardian (UK)
"Tremendous fun." - SciFi Now
"One cat at the hole can keep in one thousand mice - this cat can keep in New York City! Hell's-a-poppin'." - Rita Mae Brown, bestselling author of the Sneaky Pie mystery series
This information about Cat Out of Hell was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Barry Kewis
Lynne Truss is a writer and journalist who started out as a literary editor with a blue pencil and then got sidetracked. The author of three novels and numerous radio comedy dramas, she spent six years as the television critic of The Times of London, followed by four (rather peculiar) years as a sports columnist for the same newspaper. She won Columnist of the Year for her work for Women’s Journal. Lynne Truss also hosted Cutting a Dash, a popular BBC Radio 4 series about punctuation. She now reviews books for the Sunday Times of London and is a familiar voice on BBC Radio 4. She lives in Brighton, England.
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