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Summary
Summary
Acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Lynne Truss ( Eats, Shoots & Leaves ) is back with a mesmerizing and hilarious tale of cats and murder
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. Overcome by grief, he searches for clues about her disappearance in a file of interviews between a man called "Wiggy" and a cat, Roger. Who speaks to him.
It takes a while for Alec to realize he's not gone mad from grief, that the cat is actually speaking to Wiggy . . . 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 ).
Author Notes
Lynne Truss was born on May 31, 1955, in Kingston upon Thames, England. She is an English writer and journalist. Her book Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation was a best-seller in 2003.
Truss received a first-class honors degree in English Language and Literature from University College London in 1977. After graduation, she worked for the Radio Times as a sub-editor before moving to the Times Higher Education Supplement as the deputy literary editor in 1978. From 1986 to 1990, she was the literary editor of The Listener and was an arts and books reviewer for The Independent on Sunday before joining The Times in 1991. She currently reviews books for The Sunday Times. She has also written numerous books including Tennyson's Gift; Going Loco; Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation; and Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of the World Today, or Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt the Door.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this novel, British author Truss (Eats, Shoots & Leaves) presents a potent and darkly humorous tale featuring a demonic cat and a murder. Written in impeccable, grammatically refined sentences, this book has a tinge of a 19th-century gothic sensibility. Narrator Alec, a librarian, retreats with his dog, Watson, to a seaside cottage after the death of his wife, in "search of silence and tranquility." There, he hears the story of Wiggy from a former colleague: Wiggy's an actor who, after the sudden disappearance of his sister, encounters Roger, his sister's tabby cat. The cat speaks English and wickedly beguiles Wiggy with stories about a telepathically interconnected brood of satanic nine-lived felines and their vendetta against mankind. Alec, a true librarian, becomes obsessed, burying himself in a folder of files, notes, audio clips, and photographs detailing Wiggy's story. Finally, Alec learns Roger's true intentions, which threaten both Alec and Watson. Everything comes to a bloody climax with the summoning of the Grand Cat Master, Beelzebub. Truss is a witty, effortless writer, making many references to classic literature while imbuing Roger with the slinky power to murder vengefully and surreptitiously. Cat lovers (or cat haters) and fans of gothic fiction will devour this creepy, paranoia-inducing morsel. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Guardian Review
When discussing people who like cats and those who don't, it's often tempting to talk about two distinct personality types. In this mythology, the cat lover likes a bit of a challenge and is prone to overthinking, while the felineophobe prefers an easy ride, and tends towards the more simplistic view of life that might come from, say, a spaniel. One thing cat lovers and cat loathers alike agree on, though, is that cats know more about us than they let on. Lynne Truss clearly likes cats - her 1995 collection of essays on single life was called Making the Cat Laugh - but in her new novel she doesn't do anything to quell the fears of those who believe that all felines are plotting our downfall. At the centre of the book is a cat called Roger who, in a seaside cottage on a dark and windy night, has a story to tell: first to a man called Wiggy whose sister and her dog have mysteriously vanished, and then, by extension, to a widowed librarian called Alec who, for some baffling reason, has been given a recording of Roger and Wiggy's conversations. As well as having the ability to talk, Roger is sarcastic, well read and, as is only fitting in a book by the author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves, a stickler for good grammar. Perhaps most amazingly of all, despite looking relatively youthful, Roger was born in 1932: "the year the Mars Bar was first produced, the Lindbergh baby was kidnapped and the Sydney Harbour Bridge was opened". Roger really does have nine lives, albeit with Beelzebub as his "line manager". His dark recollections of this allow for some poignant musings from Truss on the gifts that mortality gives us, which we too often overlook. Roger's story is told in the form of notes, picture files, emails and even a screenplay, of which Alec, the librarian, is a kind of curator. Reading it is like walking at speed through a steep, higgledy-piggledy town at dusk - perhaps one of those found in Dorset, where the book's climax takes place. It has a whiff of Dennis Wheatley and MR James about it at times, but also a slight aroma of Radio 4's News Quiz. The line between horror and humour is an awkward one to walk, and Truss reaches a little lazily for pop cultural references on the way. Roger "sounds like Vincent Price" and "is the feline equivalent of Stephen Fry"; Alec's dog Watson "sounds like Daniel Craig". This slightly undermines the genuine flair for the macabre that Truss displays elsewhere, and the great pathos with which she writes about the gossamer thread sometimes separating life from death. The scene where the grieving Alec saves Watson from being run over is particularly affecting, and, later, what is ostensibly a silly set piece involving two talking cats under a satanic spell turns into a powerful allegory for bullying and the roots of human evil. Truss brings an eerie, 19th-century kind of horror story into the present-day world. Tom Cox's Under the Paw: Confessions of a Cat Man is published by Simon & Schuster. To order Cat Out of Hell for pounds 7.99 with free UK p&p call Guardian book service on 0330 333 6846 or go to guardian bookshop.co.uk - Tom Cox [Roger]'s story is told in the form of notes, picture files, emails and even a screenplay, of which [Alec], the librarian, is a kind of curator. Reading it is like walking at speed through a steep, higgledy-piggledy town at dusk - perhaps one of those found in Dorset, where the book's climax takes place. It has a whiff of Dennis Wheatley and MR James about it at times, but also a slight aroma of Radio 4's News Quiz. The line between horror and humour is an awkward one to walk, and Truss reaches a little lazily for pop cultural references on the way. Roger "sounds like Vincent Price" and "is the feline equivalent of Stephen Fry"; Alec's dog Watson "sounds like Daniel Craig". - Tom Cox.
Kirkus Review
Punctuation czar Truss (The Girl's Like Spaghetti: Why, You Can't Manage Without Apostrophes!, 2007, etc.) turns her very special talents to a cat mystery with a twist: The cats are culprits rather than sleuths or mascots.Everyone knows that most cats haven't had the powers of Nietzschean berkatzennine full lives, the ability to speak, the whole megillahfor hundreds of years. In every generation, however, a few berkatzen arise, like Roger, who's already used up eight of his lives, and the Captain, the East London mentor who put Roger repeatedly to death to test his mettle. When Roger takes up with Coventry watercolorist Joanna Caton-Jones and her actor brother, Will, aka Wiggy, things are bound to get out of hand, and boy, do they ever. By the time newly widowed periodicals librarian Alec "Bear" Charlesworth stumbles onto the scene, Jo and her border terrier, Jeremy, are dead, Wiggy is wiggy, and the police suspect Wiggy of everything from murder to raving lunacy. Why does every human whose path crosses Roger's lose the will to live? It's up to Alec and his faithful dog, Watson, back home in Cambridge and armed with a stolen copy of Nine Lives: The Gift of Satan, to join Wiggy in unraveling a conspiracy that places this latest round of skullduggery in an ancient succession of berkatzen and their nefarious Cat Masters. 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. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Retired librarian Alec is grieving over the sudden death of his wife, Mary, at a seaside cottage when he is drawn into a bizarre situation involving murder and evil cats. Stick with us here: Alec learns that Roger, a talking cat, seems to be involved in the death of a woman named Jo. Then there's the evil head cat, called the Captain. Alec listens to audio files of Roger (the talking cat) speaking with Jo's brother, Wiggy. Puzzled and why wouldn't he be? Alec returns to his home where his former colleague, Winterton, fills in horrifying details and indicates that Mary was trying to help him kill Captain. Alec tracks down a book outlining how to stop the evil Captain and his cat minions, but more murder gets in the way. In the manner of a classic gothic tale, this bizarre mystery begins with a seemingly recognizable world and gets weirder as it goes. For some, it will be camp; for others, frightening in a good way; and for still others, just plain nutty. Cat lovers may or may not take to the whole evil-feline premise. Author Truss may also draw readers from an entirely different direction: she has also written the hugely popular and witty grammar manifesto Eats, Shoots and Leaves (2004).--Alessio, Amy Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
When retired librarian and recent widower Alec Charlesworth receives a bizarre manuscript from a distant acquaintance, he questions its veracity even as he is lured into a tale of murderous, decades-old, talking cats and their devilish master. Alec is quickly overwhelmed by events as his allies are picked off one by one by a nightmarish feline called The Captain. With time running out and the body count rising, Alec must find a way to end the reign of the Cat Master and avenge his wife's death before he and his little dog Watson join the victims of the cats from hell. VERDICT Best-selling author Truss (Eats, Shoots & Leaves) has penned an unusual mystery for cat lovers and haters alike. Voiced by two different, yet equally enigmatic narrators, as well as a talking cat, the tale passes among the personalities through letters, transcripts, and emails. A fun format for an equally entertaining quick read.-Jennifer Beach, Cumberland Cty. P.L., VA (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.