Cat House

by Bryce Gibson

Genres: Horror

119 pages, Paperback

Published July 17, 2024

Reviews

[Sharron Joy Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Noah is the sensible responsible one of his friendship group but he has a crush on his best friend’s stepsister, Chelsey and decides to attend a graduation party at the museum she works in after hours. But when a feral cat colony crashes the party things turn deadly, who survives?

As if I could resist a book with two of my favourite things, horror and cats! This is a suspenseful horror with some brutal scenes and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The story is told through the characters who in first person, narrate the story in alternating chapters. Fast paced with characters you care about this was such a fun read!

[Horror Sickness · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5*

While this was a quick fun read, I expected a little bit more from it since it has two of my favorite things, horror and cats.

We follow Noah, who has always been the responsible one and she decides it is time to join a party and go a bit wild. But all will go wrong when a group of feral cats attack the party.

I wish we would have gotten more character development even though I know it is really hard to do in a novella. The twisty ending was nice but I also wanted a little bit more of a fleshed out ending with a bit more content and information to be really able to enjoy it.

In my opinion, even though I did not give it a high rating, it is still worth reading this novella. It was quick, fun and I would definitely check more by the author.

[Lelouch · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book didn't start out well. The first five chapters has 4 different perspectives and a dead dog. The middle was ok. Then it ends abruptly. We're in the middle of the action when suddenly the next chapter is 2 days later. I didn't like the whole Kelli stone angle of the story. 

[Stacy Deyerle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had the pleasure of meeting Bryce Gibson recently and getting to talk to him about his books. I found him to be personable, well-read, and intelligent. He has good knowledge of the current horror community, but also is a well-rounded reader and easy conversationalist. So, of course, we had to buy several of his books.
I have been looking into his on-line presence, and I am impressed by his marketing and ingenuity in developing a brand and selling books. I am familiar with the world of independent authors, and I think his has the hustle to really go far. He's doing more, and doing it more creatively, than most.
So...for the author: 5 stars.

The book itself: 3.5. It is a quick and entertaining read, with a good twisty ending that I wasn't able to predict. It was fun. Plenty of puns and what seemed to be a subtle fun-poking at the genre. It takes on a familiar format and tropes and does something a bit unique with them.

But I wanted more: More character development. More explanation for some of the twisty-er bits - which were explained quickly in a way that wasn't satisfying to me. More proofreading and a better editorial hand. As a slow reader, it pains me to say this: but it needed a bit more fleshing out and more pages to pull the whole thing together. I didn't want it to be long, but I did want to be more immersed. At this length, we were missing some character depth, causing some characters to feel like caricatures (but honestly, don't lots of classic horror films do just that?).

But if it wasn't worthwhile, I wouldn't have wanted more.

Worth a read. A great one for the beach or an airplane ride or some other time where you want an engaging story that you can finish in one good sitting.

I will be reading more of Gibson's work, and look forward to seeing where he lands next.

(Oh....and I have heard from a reputable source that Cat House 2 is due out soon.....Because don't all good horror films have a sequel?)

[Carrie Rice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked it. Alot of suspense