What do you think?
Rate this book
Fear Street #45
Mačka
Marty nikada nije volio mačke. Čak ni mačiće. A onda se pod tribinama školske dvorane gdje je Marty trenirao košarku pojavila jedna. Dolazila je kad je momčad pokušavala trenirati, motala im se oko nogu i smetala. Ta je mačka Martyja i njegove prijatelje izluđivala… Ali je nisu namjeravali ubiti. Nitko od njih nije mislio da će okrutna šala koja je izmakla kontroli zauvijek promijeniti njihove živote. Nitko nije slutio da će platiti za ono što su učinili. A platili su. Svi su platili. Neki od njih i životom.
Taman kad se učinilo da je Martyju krenulo u životu, da će dobiti košarkašku stipendiju i da je osvojio najljepšu curu u školi, život će mu se iznenada pretvoriti u pravu pravcatu noćnu moru. Šteta što i on – kao mačka koju je ubio – nema devet života.
R. L. Stine, najpopularniji američki pisac za mlade, potpisao je više od stotinu naslova u žanru trilera i horrora. Serijal Fear Street (Ulica Straha) donio mu je svjetsku slavu.
Taman kad se učinilo da je Martyju krenulo u životu, da će dobiti košarkašku stipendiju i da je osvojio najljepšu curu u školi, život će mu se iznenada pretvoriti u pravu pravcatu noćnu moru. Šteta što i on – kao mačka koju je ubio – nema devet života.
R. L. Stine, najpopularniji američki pisac za mlade, potpisao je više od stotinu naslova u žanru trilera i horrora. Serijal Fear Street (Ulica Straha) donio mu je svjetsku slavu.
112 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1997
8 people are currently reading
2083 people want to read
About the author
R.L. Stine
1,680 books18.7k followersRobert Lawrence Stine known as R. L. Stine and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American novelist and writer, well known for targeting younger audiences. Stine, who is often called the Stephen King of children's literature, is the author of dozens of popular horror fiction novellas, including the books in the Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room and Fear Street series.
R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.
Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.
http://us.macmillan.com/itsthefirstda...
R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.
Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.
http://us.macmillan.com/itsthefirstda...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
October 29, 2017
Clearly not Fear Street at its best. I’m getting a feeling that Stine doesn’t like cats. I love cats so much that this one was a bit difficult to get through. I always loved the cover, but a good cover does not a good book make (duh).
Basically, Marty is the typical teen asshole that always frequent Fear Street novels. He thinks he’s a hot shit basketball player. He also doesn’t care that he’s hurt a girl named Riki. He has two best friends: Dwayne and Barry.
The boys always have basketball practice interrupted by a stray cat under the bleachers. She is gray and white with a black diamond on her forehead. She always escapes when the boys chase her. But one day after school, and in the presence of Gayle and Riki, Marty does manage to catch the cat while on the bleachers, but he is about to fall and in the process drops the cat from his other hand and she hits the floor, which kills her instantly.
Gayle calls Marty a murderer. Suddenly the whole school hates him (except for Barry and Dwayne). He is forced to go to Student Court, where he is sentenced to work community service hours at the local animal shelter (I thought they didn’t trust him around animals? But okay).
Meanwhile, Riki is slinking around school pissed about the cat situation and about Marty being an asshole to her for not telling her when he wasn’t interested in her. Marty entertains Jessica briefly, who is one of the hottest girls in school. But then he gets involved with Kit, another groupie who is always around the bleachers during games. Because her name is Kit you should immediately see where this is going.
Anyway, Marty has PTSD in the form of seeing cats stalking him everywhere he goes. They follow him home and hiss at him at the animal shelter. He cannot escape them. Then one night, after leaving the animal shelter early when someone let all the cats out, he stops by Barry’s house. Barry is now with Riki and they are making out so Marty leaves.
I should back up and say at this point Dwayne is dead from a cat mauling him. Except only big cats in Africa can do that but sure, I’ll play along.
Anyway, the next day the police pay a visit to Marty’s house and tell him that now Barry died the same way. And at this point Marty really starts to lose his mind. He goes back to the animal shelter to finish off his last five hours, but of course the cats start meowing right away.
This time, though, Marty notices Kit in the room. But Kit isn’t so happy to see him anymore. She tells him she’s a shapeshifter and that she’s the cat from under the bleachers that he thought he killed. Marty promises to get her help, but once she transforms before his eyes he has to admit that she has a point.
As per ush, Kit starts mauling Marty (she killed Barry and Dwayne). This time, though, there is a wild dog named Brutus in a cage nearby. Marty manages to get to the cage and unleashes Brutus on Kit... and he promptly grabs her by the throat and kills her.
All’s well that ends well, it seems, because the basketball tournament goes on anyway and Shadyside is leading the pack. Until... Marty spots green eyes and a diamond shape under the bleachers. He is passed the ball but drops it as the cat flies at his face.
Since that’s the end, we have to assume that either Marty will soon be committed to Bellevue or that Kit was on her seventh life and came back to kill everyone at the game. I’m lobbying for the former. Marty sucks.
Basically, Marty is the typical teen asshole that always frequent Fear Street novels. He thinks he’s a hot shit basketball player. He also doesn’t care that he’s hurt a girl named Riki. He has two best friends: Dwayne and Barry.
The boys always have basketball practice interrupted by a stray cat under the bleachers. She is gray and white with a black diamond on her forehead. She always escapes when the boys chase her. But one day after school, and in the presence of Gayle and Riki, Marty does manage to catch the cat while on the bleachers, but he is about to fall and in the process drops the cat from his other hand and she hits the floor, which kills her instantly.
Gayle calls Marty a murderer. Suddenly the whole school hates him (except for Barry and Dwayne). He is forced to go to Student Court, where he is sentenced to work community service hours at the local animal shelter (I thought they didn’t trust him around animals? But okay).
Meanwhile, Riki is slinking around school pissed about the cat situation and about Marty being an asshole to her for not telling her when he wasn’t interested in her. Marty entertains Jessica briefly, who is one of the hottest girls in school. But then he gets involved with Kit, another groupie who is always around the bleachers during games. Because her name is Kit you should immediately see where this is going.
Anyway, Marty has PTSD in the form of seeing cats stalking him everywhere he goes. They follow him home and hiss at him at the animal shelter. He cannot escape them. Then one night, after leaving the animal shelter early when someone let all the cats out, he stops by Barry’s house. Barry is now with Riki and they are making out so Marty leaves.
I should back up and say at this point Dwayne is dead from a cat mauling him. Except only big cats in Africa can do that but sure, I’ll play along.
Anyway, the next day the police pay a visit to Marty’s house and tell him that now Barry died the same way. And at this point Marty really starts to lose his mind. He goes back to the animal shelter to finish off his last five hours, but of course the cats start meowing right away.
This time, though, Marty notices Kit in the room. But Kit isn’t so happy to see him anymore. She tells him she’s a shapeshifter and that she’s the cat from under the bleachers that he thought he killed. Marty promises to get her help, but once she transforms before his eyes he has to admit that she has a point.
As per ush, Kit starts mauling Marty (she killed Barry and Dwayne). This time, though, there is a wild dog named Brutus in a cage nearby. Marty manages to get to the cage and unleashes Brutus on Kit... and he promptly grabs her by the throat and kills her.
All’s well that ends well, it seems, because the basketball tournament goes on anyway and Shadyside is leading the pack. Until... Marty spots green eyes and a diamond shape under the bleachers. He is passed the ball but drops it as the cat flies at his face.
Since that’s the end, we have to assume that either Marty will soon be committed to Bellevue or that Kit was on her seventh life and came back to kill everyone at the game. I’m lobbying for the former. Marty sucks.
August 25, 2019
One of the later Fear Street entries, and subsequently a weaker, quicker effort, but still silly fun. Marty is a basketball player who accidentally kills a cat that has been living in the gym and irritating the basketball players. Soon, the whole school hates him - and cats seem to start attacking him wherever he goes! This feels much more Goosebumps-y than Fear Street. The characters are shallow, of course, but they usually are in this series. As was typical at this point in the series, there's an out-of-nowhere supernatural explanation for all the shenanigans. (Something the reboots are annoyingly doing).
At a scant 132 pages, this has zero depth, but it should fit the bill for a quick midnight read.
At a scant 132 pages, this has zero depth, but it should fit the bill for a quick midnight read.
May 4, 2025
I finally got around to reading my most anticipated Fear Street book: Cat.
The reason for that is because I simply love stories about creepy, killer animals, especially felines. There's The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe, The Squaw by Bram Stoker, Cry of the Cat and The Cat's Tale, both by R.L. Stine - just to name a few - and all of which I love.
Needless to say, I was pretty excited going into this one - but did it live up to my expectations?
In Cat, we follow our main character Martin (aka Marty), as he and his friends are practicing for a basketball tournament at school, when a stray cat that's known to prowl the gym keeps getting in their way and making them fall and hurt themselves.
This leads to a pursuit of the feline where Marty ends up catching it, inevitably scuffling with it and getting scratched up, and then dropping it from the top of the bleachers which leads to the cat's demise.
What follows is persecution from an animal rights group in the school, and almost everyone Marty knows ostracizing him for the incidental act - labeling him an animal killer.
To make matters worse, Marty thinks he sees what he suspects to be the same cat he killed pop up, and has some other strange encounters with cats that suggest it - or something - may be back for revenge.
That's all I'll say about the plot so as to avoid spoilers.
Starting off with my positives for this - I loved the setup, and the more drama and character driven angle the story is given at first. The first half of the book is focused more on human action as the evil rather than anything supernatural happening. What happened with the cat was accidental, and Marty faces unjust consequences as a result. I found this more humanistic conflict to be relatable and in its own way, kind of horrifying.
I also liked the second half of the book when we actually start getting into the supernatural scares a bit more, and more intense things happen than just Marty being judged and ostracized. There's also an overtly supernatural reveal at the climax, which is cool considering most Fear Street books are more murder/mystery and typically leave the ghosts and monsters in the Goosebumps universe.
Lastly, I enjoyed the cliffhanger ending that suggests the horror isn't quite over.
Unfortunately, I do have a few negatives with this that keep me from loving it.
For starters, this book almost feels like two separate stories put together. While there were things I liked about both halves of the story, they feel a bit disjointed and there's a jarring transition when it jumps ship from the human drama and conflict and into the supernatural threat. This directional change just felt a bit awkward.
There were also some things in the second half of the book that bothered me a bit - it dragged on with some of the scares too much, by that I mean there were a few too many scenes where a cat or cats would be stalking or haunting Marty in some way, and most of them went nowhere or did nothing to progress the story. Some of such scares were even a bit cheesy, one involving a phone call. (Although, it does make logical sense after the final reveal)
I think some of these could've been cut out, as it's already made obvious something supernatural is stalking our main character.
We do get a couple gnarly moments, involving death(s) of certain characters - but it didn't put enough focus on these, in my opinion. Most of it is briefly described or even happens off-page, and there seemed to be a lack of emotional response in these situations. It just didn't have the impact that it should have.
Going along with that, Marty as the protagonist just was not the most well written character ever.
Now, I'm not going to dock too many points for this since most Fear Street characters are kind of two-dimensional anyway, but Marty just seemed to lack any sort of personality and his almost seeming indifference to the deaths just compounded my disappointment in that area.
And lastly, while I dug the final reveal and climax - it just wasn't as good as it could have been. It was already kind of predictable who the villain was, which I wasn't mad about, but we should've gotten to know more about her and her motives. She just didn't feel as threatening as she should have, and the final showdown wasn't as grisly or intense as I would've liked.
Somehow, Cry of the Cat, Stine's cat-themed horror novel for kids, is actually scarier and darker than this Fear Street entry.
Overall, while I did have quite few issues with this book, I still enjoyed it overall and would put it among the better Fear Street books that I've read. I think with some adjustments to the story and some better writing and characterization, this could've been one of my top favorites of the series. Still, I'd recommend giving it a read, and I'm rating it a 3.5⭐ rounded up to 4⭐.
The reason for that is because I simply love stories about creepy, killer animals, especially felines. There's The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe, The Squaw by Bram Stoker, Cry of the Cat and The Cat's Tale, both by R.L. Stine - just to name a few - and all of which I love.
Needless to say, I was pretty excited going into this one - but did it live up to my expectations?
In Cat, we follow our main character Martin (aka Marty), as he and his friends are practicing for a basketball tournament at school, when a stray cat that's known to prowl the gym keeps getting in their way and making them fall and hurt themselves.
This leads to a pursuit of the feline where Marty ends up catching it, inevitably scuffling with it and getting scratched up, and then dropping it from the top of the bleachers which leads to the cat's demise.
What follows is persecution from an animal rights group in the school, and almost everyone Marty knows ostracizing him for the incidental act - labeling him an animal killer.
To make matters worse, Marty thinks he sees what he suspects to be the same cat he killed pop up, and has some other strange encounters with cats that suggest it - or something - may be back for revenge.
That's all I'll say about the plot so as to avoid spoilers.
Starting off with my positives for this - I loved the setup, and the more drama and character driven angle the story is given at first. The first half of the book is focused more on human action as the evil rather than anything supernatural happening. What happened with the cat was accidental, and Marty faces unjust consequences as a result. I found this more humanistic conflict to be relatable and in its own way, kind of horrifying.
I also liked the second half of the book when we actually start getting into the supernatural scares a bit more, and more intense things happen than just Marty being judged and ostracized. There's also an overtly supernatural reveal at the climax, which is cool considering most Fear Street books are more murder/mystery and typically leave the ghosts and monsters in the Goosebumps universe.
Lastly, I enjoyed the cliffhanger ending that suggests the horror isn't quite over.
Unfortunately, I do have a few negatives with this that keep me from loving it.
For starters, this book almost feels like two separate stories put together. While there were things I liked about both halves of the story, they feel a bit disjointed and there's a jarring transition when it jumps ship from the human drama and conflict and into the supernatural threat. This directional change just felt a bit awkward.
There were also some things in the second half of the book that bothered me a bit - it dragged on with some of the scares too much, by that I mean there were a few too many scenes where a cat or cats would be stalking or haunting Marty in some way, and most of them went nowhere or did nothing to progress the story. Some of such scares were even a bit cheesy, one involving a phone call. (Although, it does make logical sense after the final reveal)
I think some of these could've been cut out, as it's already made obvious something supernatural is stalking our main character.
We do get a couple gnarly moments, involving death(s) of certain characters - but it didn't put enough focus on these, in my opinion. Most of it is briefly described or even happens off-page, and there seemed to be a lack of emotional response in these situations. It just didn't have the impact that it should have.
Going along with that, Marty as the protagonist just was not the most well written character ever.
Now, I'm not going to dock too many points for this since most Fear Street characters are kind of two-dimensional anyway, but Marty just seemed to lack any sort of personality and his almost seeming indifference to the deaths just compounded my disappointment in that area.
And lastly, while I dug the final reveal and climax - it just wasn't as good as it could have been. It was already kind of predictable who the villain was, which I wasn't mad about, but we should've gotten to know more about her and her motives. She just didn't feel as threatening as she should have, and the final showdown wasn't as grisly or intense as I would've liked.
Somehow, Cry of the Cat, Stine's cat-themed horror novel for kids, is actually scarier and darker than this Fear Street entry.
Overall, while I did have quite few issues with this book, I still enjoyed it overall and would put it among the better Fear Street books that I've read. I think with some adjustments to the story and some better writing and characterization, this could've been one of my top favorites of the series. Still, I'd recommend giving it a read, and I'm rating it a 3.5⭐ rounded up to 4⭐.
November 6, 2025
Well...
That was a book.
I've been trying to track down Cat for years -- it's one of the few Fear Streets not made available digitally (not sure why, the implied animal abuse? idk.) I interlibrary loaned this copy just to have the chance to read it, and well, I'm glad I didn't spend a lot on it.
A cat dies, a boy finds himself being stalked and haunted by cats, but mostly nothing happens. Finally, when things get good towards the last few chapters, it just...sort of...ends. How do you introduce a
That was a book.
I've been trying to track down Cat for years -- it's one of the few Fear Streets not made available digitally (not sure why, the implied animal abuse? idk.) I interlibrary loaned this copy just to have the chance to read it, and well, I'm glad I didn't spend a lot on it.
A cat dies, a boy finds himself being stalked and haunted by cats, but mostly nothing happens. Finally, when things get good towards the last few chapters, it just...sort of...ends. How do you introduce a
March 16, 2022
From my original blog post on my blog, There's The Girl With The Blog on blogspot.com
The prologue is being narrated by our main character, Martin "Marty" Harper. He tells us that he is allergic to cats and also confesses that it's mostly because they look so evil when they stare at you...he's just not a cat person. He may not like them but he admits that he never meant to kill that cat and we find ourselves getting a flashback to how this whole mess began.
A cat found its way into the gym at Shadyside High and has been staying under the bleachers, people giving it food and water and of course, the girls of the school love it. The ones who don't are the basketball team as the feline disrupts their practices by running out on to the court and tripping the players...it happens so often chasing the cat is part of practice in itself.
On this particular day, Marty and his two friends, Dwayne Clark and Barry Allen, are being ridden pretty hard by their coach and I guess it's just being tough. Marty knows that he and his buddies are the best players on the team since they've been playing basketball since they were kids and he admits it's kind of hard not to get a big ego because of it.
Gayle Edgerton and Riki Crawford, two girls who are friends of Marty's, come by the gym to do a story on the "Three Musketeers" as the guys are called for the school paper. Gayle is the reporter and Riki the photographer, who just so happens to have gone out with Marty a few times and is still hung up on him, but they get interrupted when the cat shows up. The guys chase it for awhile until it disappears but when it shows up again, it trips Marty and he lands on his knee...badly
The nurse says it's just a sprain but Coach Griffin benches Marty to keep him from screwing up the leg even more and Marty is not happy. He told his friends he already had a basketball scholarship but he may have jumped the gun as another person is being considered as well but if he can't play, Marty knows he might not get it...and it's all that darn cat's fault.
When he sees it, all Marty can see is red and the guys give chase again to trap the cat on the bleachers which makes Marty's knee even more painful as he grabs the cat.
This is not a nice kitty it bites and scratches at Marty but I have to admit it might just be out of fear but the blood in his eyes and his knee buckling almost causes Marty to fall. Reaching out to grab Dwayne's hand, Marty lets go of the cat to see it tumble down the bleachers and fall on the ground with a sickening crack.
Gayle and Riki accuse Marty of throwing the cat off the bleachers with real intent to kill it but Marty admits it was just an accident. Barry and Dwayne are not as remorseful and have no tact saying that the cat was just a nuisance but Gayle is not amused...she is steaming mad.
Riki is more shocked but still not happy with what Marty has done even when he pleads with her and Marty seems truly sorry even if he was angry with the cat. Barry and Dwayne say more awful things about the dead cat that send Gayle over the edge and it makes Marty angry how she won't even listen to him.
The next day, Marty arrives to school and gets hateful glares from a lot of girls and even one student's mom and his female homeroom teacher! Gayle works fast at getting the news about Marty killing the cat all around town that even Dwayne's little sister won't talk to him and it just so happens that Gayle is president of the Animal Rights Club at school. She also has put up a poster about a rally to stop cruelty to animals with not only pictures of said abuse but also one of MARTY for his killing of the cat.
Now Gayle says she saw what she saw with her own eyes but apparently not as I for one truly think Marty didn't do it on purpose. Even if the story is from his point of view, it was either drop the cat or both the cat and Marty could have fallen and DIED. Not all cats land on their feet but neither do most humans and the cat could have survived in that scenario but Marty most certainly would not have.
Back to the story from my little tangent, so...
Coach Griffin approaches Marty about the incident, listens to Marty's side of the story, and tells him that if he wants to play in next week's game he will have to go Student Court because basically the Animal Rights Club is putting him on trial for the cat's murder. Marty knows that if word gets to the school where he's hoping to get the scholarship from he most certainly will not get it and agrees.
The next day, Barry and Dwayne actually stand up for Marty (better than the other day) as witnesses and none of the boys are treating this as a joke but Gayle says that Marty was part of the teasing and that they even swung it around. I have no idea what this chick's problem is but Dwayne only held the cat's dead body by the tail and then they tossed it in a garbage can...they didn't skin it and throw the pelt at you!
After deliberating for fifteen minutes, the jury finds Marty not guilty of murdering the cat but guilty of cruelty to animals. His sentence is to do thirty hours of community service at the animal shelter which seems fair considering even if all he did was chase it with the intent of taking it to the shelter but fate went a little differently.
Marty, on the other hand, even tells Coach Griffin that he was cruel to the cat and deserves to serve the full thirty hours when he says he'll try to get Marty's sentence reduced so he can rest up his knee.
For awhile, things go back to normal as if nothing ever happened except for Gayle and Riki being kind of jerky to Marty still. Riki's attitude is more towards Marty being flirty towards other girls and learning from Gayle that Marty lied about a date he broke off with Riki claiming he was sick. Okay so that might actually be the only jerky thing Marty has intentionally done but he doesn't deserve all this hate.
When Marty begins his community service at the animal shelter is when things actually start to get kind of weird. The animals at the shelter start barking and hissing around Marty and well earlier he thought he saw the dead cat back underneath the bleachers and Barry did get attacked and scratched by a similar looking cat but that couldn't be possible...could it?
Marty keeps seeing cats following him...hearing them hiss on the phone late at night and long evil yowls...is he cracking up or did a cat just walk over his grave?
Cat is a really good Fear Street book...probably one of my favorites. It has a likeable male lead character in Marty, some actually good red herrings once you pay attention, and those twists...wow!
The actual twist reveal is pretty easy to spot by some throw away lines but it is presented with something actually outside of the box that you don't really see in Fear Street books as most are actually more murder-mystery stories. The ending is something out of Twilight Zone or Tales From The Crypt which is purr-fectly fine with me... I recommend you check this one me-out.
The prologue is being narrated by our main character, Martin "Marty" Harper. He tells us that he is allergic to cats and also confesses that it's mostly because they look so evil when they stare at you...he's just not a cat person. He may not like them but he admits that he never meant to kill that cat and we find ourselves getting a flashback to how this whole mess began.
A cat found its way into the gym at Shadyside High and has been staying under the bleachers, people giving it food and water and of course, the girls of the school love it. The ones who don't are the basketball team as the feline disrupts their practices by running out on to the court and tripping the players...it happens so often chasing the cat is part of practice in itself.
On this particular day, Marty and his two friends, Dwayne Clark and Barry Allen, are being ridden pretty hard by their coach and I guess it's just being tough. Marty knows that he and his buddies are the best players on the team since they've been playing basketball since they were kids and he admits it's kind of hard not to get a big ego because of it.
Gayle Edgerton and Riki Crawford, two girls who are friends of Marty's, come by the gym to do a story on the "Three Musketeers" as the guys are called for the school paper. Gayle is the reporter and Riki the photographer, who just so happens to have gone out with Marty a few times and is still hung up on him, but they get interrupted when the cat shows up. The guys chase it for awhile until it disappears but when it shows up again, it trips Marty and he lands on his knee...badly
The nurse says it's just a sprain but Coach Griffin benches Marty to keep him from screwing up the leg even more and Marty is not happy. He told his friends he already had a basketball scholarship but he may have jumped the gun as another person is being considered as well but if he can't play, Marty knows he might not get it...and it's all that darn cat's fault.
When he sees it, all Marty can see is red and the guys give chase again to trap the cat on the bleachers which makes Marty's knee even more painful as he grabs the cat.
This is not a nice kitty it bites and scratches at Marty but I have to admit it might just be out of fear but the blood in his eyes and his knee buckling almost causes Marty to fall. Reaching out to grab Dwayne's hand, Marty lets go of the cat to see it tumble down the bleachers and fall on the ground with a sickening crack.
Gayle and Riki accuse Marty of throwing the cat off the bleachers with real intent to kill it but Marty admits it was just an accident. Barry and Dwayne are not as remorseful and have no tact saying that the cat was just a nuisance but Gayle is not amused...she is steaming mad.
Riki is more shocked but still not happy with what Marty has done even when he pleads with her and Marty seems truly sorry even if he was angry with the cat. Barry and Dwayne say more awful things about the dead cat that send Gayle over the edge and it makes Marty angry how she won't even listen to him.
The next day, Marty arrives to school and gets hateful glares from a lot of girls and even one student's mom and his female homeroom teacher! Gayle works fast at getting the news about Marty killing the cat all around town that even Dwayne's little sister won't talk to him and it just so happens that Gayle is president of the Animal Rights Club at school. She also has put up a poster about a rally to stop cruelty to animals with not only pictures of said abuse but also one of MARTY for his killing of the cat.
Now Gayle says she saw what she saw with her own eyes but apparently not as I for one truly think Marty didn't do it on purpose. Even if the story is from his point of view, it was either drop the cat or both the cat and Marty could have fallen and DIED. Not all cats land on their feet but neither do most humans and the cat could have survived in that scenario but Marty most certainly would not have.
Back to the story from my little tangent, so...
Coach Griffin approaches Marty about the incident, listens to Marty's side of the story, and tells him that if he wants to play in next week's game he will have to go Student Court because basically the Animal Rights Club is putting him on trial for the cat's murder. Marty knows that if word gets to the school where he's hoping to get the scholarship from he most certainly will not get it and agrees.
The next day, Barry and Dwayne actually stand up for Marty (better than the other day) as witnesses and none of the boys are treating this as a joke but Gayle says that Marty was part of the teasing and that they even swung it around. I have no idea what this chick's problem is but Dwayne only held the cat's dead body by the tail and then they tossed it in a garbage can...they didn't skin it and throw the pelt at you!
After deliberating for fifteen minutes, the jury finds Marty not guilty of murdering the cat but guilty of cruelty to animals. His sentence is to do thirty hours of community service at the animal shelter which seems fair considering even if all he did was chase it with the intent of taking it to the shelter but fate went a little differently.
Marty, on the other hand, even tells Coach Griffin that he was cruel to the cat and deserves to serve the full thirty hours when he says he'll try to get Marty's sentence reduced so he can rest up his knee.
For awhile, things go back to normal as if nothing ever happened except for Gayle and Riki being kind of jerky to Marty still. Riki's attitude is more towards Marty being flirty towards other girls and learning from Gayle that Marty lied about a date he broke off with Riki claiming he was sick. Okay so that might actually be the only jerky thing Marty has intentionally done but he doesn't deserve all this hate.
When Marty begins his community service at the animal shelter is when things actually start to get kind of weird. The animals at the shelter start barking and hissing around Marty and well earlier he thought he saw the dead cat back underneath the bleachers and Barry did get attacked and scratched by a similar looking cat but that couldn't be possible...could it?
Marty keeps seeing cats following him...hearing them hiss on the phone late at night and long evil yowls...is he cracking up or did a cat just walk over his grave?
Cat is a really good Fear Street book...probably one of my favorites. It has a likeable male lead character in Marty, some actually good red herrings once you pay attention, and those twists...wow!
The actual twist reveal is pretty easy to spot by some throw away lines but it is presented with something actually outside of the box that you don't really see in Fear Street books as most are actually more murder-mystery stories. The ending is something out of Twilight Zone or Tales From The Crypt which is purr-fectly fine with me... I recommend you check this one me-out.
April 11, 2015
I just finished Cat and it was one of those Fear Street books that wasn't awful and also wasn't amazing. While the plot was somewhat original and the mystery (for the most part) was intriguing, nothing else really stood out very much. The characters were wooden, the ending was cliche, most of the scenes that were supposed to be suspenseful fell a little flat, and I was unfortunately able to uncover the killer's identity just a few pages before the reveal. I'd have to categorize this as another "just OK" Fear Street book.
Plot Synopsis: Marty always hated the cat that lived in the school gymnasium. It was always causing trouble during basketball practice and he and his friends could never catch it. But he never meant to kill it. Now, Marty is seeing cats wherever he goes. And cats are following him everywhere he goes! Marty's sure the cats are out for revenge. Will he be to survive his feline foes?
I could never really make a connection with any of the characters, including Marty. Plus, Gayle (one of Marty's "friends") turns into a real B after the cat murder and starts making everyone hate Marty-all because of a cat. Thankfully, Riki also acted pretty bad, although her behavior is more understandable and it also doesn't last too long.
As for the mystery element, I wasn't sure who did it for most of the story. But just a few pages before the big reveal, I had suspicions that
Anyway, this book might not have been as good as other Fear Street books I've read, it was good enough to keep my interest throughout the whole thing. Fear Street fans should check it out at least once.
Pros: The creative plot, the action scenes, and the villain's motivation.
Cons: The generic characters, the annoying behavior of Gayle and (to a lesser extent) Riki, the predictable reveal, and the cliche ending.
Plot Synopsis: Marty always hated the cat that lived in the school gymnasium. It was always causing trouble during basketball practice and he and his friends could never catch it. But he never meant to kill it. Now, Marty is seeing cats wherever he goes. And cats are following him everywhere he goes! Marty's sure the cats are out for revenge. Will he be to survive his feline foes?
I could never really make a connection with any of the characters, including Marty. Plus, Gayle (one of Marty's "friends") turns into a real B after the cat murder and starts making everyone hate Marty-all because of a cat. Thankfully, Riki also acted pretty bad, although her behavior is more understandable and it also doesn't last too long.
As for the mystery element, I wasn't sure who did it for most of the story. But just a few pages before the big reveal, I had suspicions that
Anyway, this book might not have been as good as other Fear Street books I've read, it was good enough to keep my interest throughout the whole thing. Fear Street fans should check it out at least once.
Pros: The creative plot, the action scenes, and the villain's motivation.
Cons: The generic characters, the annoying behavior of Gayle and (to a lesser extent) Riki, the predictable reveal, and the cliche ending.
October 29, 2015
A pretty good horror for younger readers, not much of a mystery
October 3, 2023
Ziemlich wilde Idee mit der Katze, die sich in einen Menschen bzw. in ein Mädchen verwandeln kann. Allerdings hätte ich mir diese Geschichte wirklich länger gewünscht, aber das ist nunmal Stines Schreibstil.
Sind wir mal ehrlich Marty hats nicht anders verdient.
Sind wir mal ehrlich Marty hats nicht anders verdient.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 13, 2012
I was a huge R.L. Stine fan in my early teens! I loved all the fear street books! They are what got me into reading again! :)
December 1, 2018
I’d give this more like a 2.5/5, compared to other Fear Street books. The writing style was really choppy, the characters were all pretty flat, and the “twist” was obvious from the get-go.
April 13, 2023
Hab jetzt Angst vor Katzen >.<
October 23, 2017
Used to love them as a teen but this one was one of the weaker ones.
July 10, 2023
Normalerweise brauch ich für 150 Seiten keine 4 oder 5 Tage xD
Aber ich hab mir Zeit gelassen
Und bevor sich gleich Leute wegen meiner Meinung angegriffen fühlen: Meine Meinung okay?
Ich fand das Buch besser als Friedhof der Kuscheltiere von Stephen King ;)
Aber ich hab mir Zeit gelassen
Und bevor sich gleich Leute wegen meiner Meinung angegriffen fühlen: Meine Meinung okay?
Ich fand das Buch besser als Friedhof der Kuscheltiere von Stephen King ;)
May 10, 2021
Es ist nicht alles wie es scheint
In dem Buch Mörderische Krallen: Der Tod kommt auf leisen Pfoten (Fear Street) von R. L. Stine, geht es um Marty, er ist gegen Katzen allergisch und mag sie einfach nicht. Außerdem geht es noch um seine Freunde Barry Allen und um Dwayne Clark, welche auch Basketball spielen. In der Shadyside Highschool in der Sporthalle lebt eine Katze und diese Katze läuft immer mal wieder über das Spielfeld, während das Basketballteam Basketball spielt. Beim Basketballspiel stolpert Marty über die Katze und vertaucht sich sein Knie. Als Strafe für die Katze, weil er beim Basketball spielen über sie gestolpert ist, jagen seine Freunde und er sie. Dadurch kommt die Katze durch Marty ums Leben. Danach sieht Marty die Katze einfach andauernd und seine beiden Freunde, werden ermordet, aber von wem ist unklar, bis Marty auf den Täter stößt. Wer der Täter ist und warum er Barry und Dwayne umgebracht hat, sollte jeder selber lesen.
Meine Meinung:
Ich fand die Geschichte sehr spannend, wenn auch am Anfang etwas kindisch, was zu den 4 Sternen führt und nicht zu 5 Sternen. Nach dieser anfänglichen Schwierigkeit mit diesem kindischen Verhalten von Marty, Barry und Dwayne ging die Geschichte richtig spannend los und ich bin nur so durch die Geschichte hindurchgeflogen. Ich kam bis zum Ende der Geschichte nicht auf die Idee, wer die Freunde Barry und Dwayne umgebracht haben soll. Den Verdacht den ich hatte, war zwar richtig aber nicht komplett und das Ende war dadurch ziemlich überraschend.
Fazit:
Ein spannendes Buch, der Fear Street Reihe und bestimmt nicht mein letztes Buch davon.
In dem Buch Mörderische Krallen: Der Tod kommt auf leisen Pfoten (Fear Street) von R. L. Stine, geht es um Marty, er ist gegen Katzen allergisch und mag sie einfach nicht. Außerdem geht es noch um seine Freunde Barry Allen und um Dwayne Clark, welche auch Basketball spielen. In der Shadyside Highschool in der Sporthalle lebt eine Katze und diese Katze läuft immer mal wieder über das Spielfeld, während das Basketballteam Basketball spielt. Beim Basketballspiel stolpert Marty über die Katze und vertaucht sich sein Knie. Als Strafe für die Katze, weil er beim Basketball spielen über sie gestolpert ist, jagen seine Freunde und er sie. Dadurch kommt die Katze durch Marty ums Leben. Danach sieht Marty die Katze einfach andauernd und seine beiden Freunde, werden ermordet, aber von wem ist unklar, bis Marty auf den Täter stößt. Wer der Täter ist und warum er Barry und Dwayne umgebracht hat, sollte jeder selber lesen.
Meine Meinung:
Ich fand die Geschichte sehr spannend, wenn auch am Anfang etwas kindisch, was zu den 4 Sternen führt und nicht zu 5 Sternen. Nach dieser anfänglichen Schwierigkeit mit diesem kindischen Verhalten von Marty, Barry und Dwayne ging die Geschichte richtig spannend los und ich bin nur so durch die Geschichte hindurchgeflogen. Ich kam bis zum Ende der Geschichte nicht auf die Idee, wer die Freunde Barry und Dwayne umgebracht haben soll. Den Verdacht den ich hatte, war zwar richtig aber nicht komplett und das Ende war dadurch ziemlich überraschend.
Fazit:
Ein spannendes Buch, der Fear Street Reihe und bestimmt nicht mein letztes Buch davon.
June 5, 2018
Marty is ready to take the Shadyside Tigers to the playoffs, if it weren't for that stray cat living under the bleachers. The cat got under Marty's feet causing him to mess up his knee and have to sit out of basketball for a week...so his friends and him try to get revenge on the cat, revenge that ends on Marty dropping the cat off the bleachers and killing it. And now he's haunted by cats! Meowing on the phone, stalking him down the street, scratching him up at the shelter...Marty can't seem to shake them! But maybe a new girlfriend can distract him from the horror of his friends being murdered? Clawed to death?
It was a really well-paced read and I would have given it four stars if the damn cover didn't spoil the entire book. Admittedly the twist was cheesy and dumb but it could have been a fun "wtf" moment if the cover didn't blow it. Marty just wants to play basketball and forget about the accident but everyone thinks he's some animal abuser...and then the freaky stuff about the cats stalking him...it was just really well done. Definitely one of the better Fear Street titles.
It was a really well-paced read and I would have given it four stars if the damn cover didn't spoil the entire book. Admittedly the twist was cheesy and dumb but it could have been a fun "wtf" moment if the cover didn't blow it. Marty just wants to play basketball and forget about the accident but everyone thinks he's some animal abuser...and then the freaky stuff about the cats stalking him...it was just really well done. Definitely one of the better Fear Street titles.
January 9, 2012
I don't know if cat lovers will be a fan of this book or not, but I liked it. It makes you think about animal cruelty and the punishment for it, which was something I didn't expect from an R.L. Stine book. I was also engrossed with the fact that the main character Marty gets completely railroaded over the accidental death of the cat. The ending was really morally interesting because the reader has to ask themself, "Does Marty deserve this?". It doesn't help that Marty is kind of a jerk to girls.
June 4, 2017
I really got a kick out of this one ... lmao I am so a cat person
in 2013 my local library was getting ride of all paperback books and they had all the R.L. Stine / Christopher Pike books so I bought all of them and read them with a massive teen book marathon .. I really hope that a whole new generation of teens gets to fall in love with these books !!! as they are simply the best I loved all of these books in my teens .. :) and I really enjoyed going down memory lane re reading them as an adult ... :)
in 2013 my local library was getting ride of all paperback books and they had all the R.L. Stine / Christopher Pike books so I bought all of them and read them with a massive teen book marathon .. I really hope that a whole new generation of teens gets to fall in love with these books !!! as they are simply the best I loved all of these books in my teens .. :) and I really enjoyed going down memory lane re reading them as an adult ... :)
November 17, 2014
I love R.L. Stine. I bought this book because the cover looks like Luxo Jr and I. Unfortunately, the twist is present from before even opening said cover. Was it always like that and we just grew up or was this one particularly obvious? Either way it was fun and took like an hour to read. Love me some Fear Street.
April 28, 2011
My least favorite R.L. Stine book it was just so jumbled and well stupid. I didn't like it one bit.
September 7, 2014
This kind of end I didn't expect. Amazingly written story. 5/5
January 1, 2023
A quick, easy read. I enjoyed it, but I would have liked it more if there hadn't been animal cruelty/death. 3/5 Stars
August 29, 2023
Bad.
Many of the male characters in Fear Street are dripping with toxic masculinity and are completely one dimensional. The protagonist of thus book is unfortunately one of the few written from the point of view of one of these awful male characters.
Being from the 90s I can stomach a fair amount of entitled, aggressive, and piggish behaviour from the male characters in these books but Marty us a severe douche (can I say that?).
After chasing and flinging a cat off bleachers to its death Marty exhibits no remorse other than feeling sorry for himself when the two girls who witnessed it are angry that he indeed killed a cat for no reason. At least he shows about the same amount of feeling when his two loser friends are murdered by what seems like a cat. The ending is abrupt but I like to believe that Marty got what was coming to him and was also murdered by a cat.
I have been working my way through the series start to finish. I loved Fear Street when I was in jr high. This particular book came out when I had already outgrown the series so I never read it back then. It doesn’t have the charm of the earlier ones. The last few have been missing some of the Shadyside staples like Pete’s Pizza and Division St Mall. It also has none of the characters that reoccur in the first couple dozen. I know their are rumours that Stein didn’t write them all and I am wondering if these are among those since they lack the continuity of the series. Or, he could have just gotten really lazy after 50 odd books.
Either way this one was one of the harder ones to find and by far the most expensive one but I can’t see why. Yes it has a good cover, but they are all pretty good. Cats appear in a few books and although this one is called “Cat” it is not as good as the use of cats in the other plots. Plus, I am a teacher now that I am an adult and there is no way a school would just let a stray cat live in the gym. I couldn’t get passed that, it doesn’t make sense. The coach should also be fired for letting those boys torment the cat that way.
If you are thinking of reading this, don’t. Pick an earlier one or something like One Evil Summer which also features a cat but has everything you want in a Fear Street book.
Many of the male characters in Fear Street are dripping with toxic masculinity and are completely one dimensional. The protagonist of thus book is unfortunately one of the few written from the point of view of one of these awful male characters.
Being from the 90s I can stomach a fair amount of entitled, aggressive, and piggish behaviour from the male characters in these books but Marty us a severe douche (can I say that?).
After chasing and flinging a cat off bleachers to its death Marty exhibits no remorse other than feeling sorry for himself when the two girls who witnessed it are angry that he indeed killed a cat for no reason. At least he shows about the same amount of feeling when his two loser friends are murdered by what seems like a cat. The ending is abrupt but I like to believe that Marty got what was coming to him and was also murdered by a cat.
I have been working my way through the series start to finish. I loved Fear Street when I was in jr high. This particular book came out when I had already outgrown the series so I never read it back then. It doesn’t have the charm of the earlier ones. The last few have been missing some of the Shadyside staples like Pete’s Pizza and Division St Mall. It also has none of the characters that reoccur in the first couple dozen. I know their are rumours that Stein didn’t write them all and I am wondering if these are among those since they lack the continuity of the series. Or, he could have just gotten really lazy after 50 odd books.
Either way this one was one of the harder ones to find and by far the most expensive one but I can’t see why. Yes it has a good cover, but they are all pretty good. Cats appear in a few books and although this one is called “Cat” it is not as good as the use of cats in the other plots. Plus, I am a teacher now that I am an adult and there is no way a school would just let a stray cat live in the gym. I couldn’t get passed that, it doesn’t make sense. The coach should also be fired for letting those boys torment the cat that way.
If you are thinking of reading this, don’t. Pick an earlier one or something like One Evil Summer which also features a cat but has everything you want in a Fear Street book.
October 21, 2023
So I fluctuated between loving and hating this book! In typical RL Stine fashion, there is animal cruelty…but he went sooo far with it in this book! As usual in our beloved town of Shadyside, the adults and police officers are completely inept and terrible at interacting with teenagers, and hardly ever does anyone think, “so hey, maybe we should handle trauma in a better way, or anyway at all!” The lack of adulting is always problematic but as a someone that was a teen in the 90’s, I remember seeing this standoffish behavior in our teachers, employers and sometimes our parents. Stine was always able to turn this deficiency of adulthood to his advantage and sometimes strikes storytelling gold by bypassing logical reasoning and letting the teen characters act wacky and thus completely unpredictable, which in turn, makes for great reading! I gave this book 4 stars and would have given it 5 if not for the excessive animal cruelty. However the ending was brilliant! The twist Stine loves to throw at the reader was great!
September 20, 2024
I absolutely love Fear Street. Out of all the vintage YA books, Fear Street is my favorite. This wasn't one of my favorite out of all of them but it wasn't bad either. It was a quick, short read. I don't like when Fear Street books barely happen on Fear Street though. Some books people live on the street, some people visit it often, and sometimes the book just takes place in Shadyside. This one had only a small glimpse of Fear Street, so I would have preferred more of it's setting being there. A lot of people said the twist was obvious, but I actually didn't see it coming, so it was a pretty good twist for me. Overall, I liked it. It's not one of my top favorites but not a least favorite either.
October 16, 2025
Moral of the story —- DONT BE CRUEL TO ANIMALS! And I certainly do support that message!
I am so glad I hunted down this random mix of fear street ! This is the first I read and mannnnn I am so excited !
I loved RL Stine fear street as teen /kid and it is no different as an adult - nostalgic to say the least
I also find it funny now reading this like maybe this is where my crazy started why was I reading about murder as a young teen/preteen???! But I also think this maybe where my rooting for the underdog and dislike for cruelty to animals began lol
I really need to get the whole fear street collection and read them all
I am so glad I hunted down this random mix of fear street ! This is the first I read and mannnnn I am so excited !
I loved RL Stine fear street as teen /kid and it is no different as an adult - nostalgic to say the least
I also find it funny now reading this like maybe this is where my crazy started why was I reading about murder as a young teen/preteen???! But I also think this maybe where my rooting for the underdog and dislike for cruelty to animals began lol
I really need to get the whole fear street collection and read them all
December 17, 2024
So, we have a cat/shape shifter villain. Honestly, cool concept. My only real complaint? This book is too short. Fear Street books usually aren't too long, usually in the 150-160 page range, but this one clocks in at 132. I think a few more chapters would make this feel more fleshed out. Maybe a little more info on the villain or something. I'm not too sure what to add, but it needs something. Still, what was there was enjoyable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 21, 2025
Der Protagonist Marty ist ein Egoist. Er hat gerade eine Katze getötet und sein Problem ist, dass er ein bisschen blutet, dass sich kein Mädchen mehr mit ihm treffen möchte, dass er erstmal kein Basketball mehr spielen kann. Ich fand ihn wirklich unsympathisch. Auf dem Klappentext steht übrigens etwas Falsches. Nicht Barry, sondern Dwayne wird von Marty tot in der Sporthalle aufgefunden. Die Geschichte fand ich aber spannend. Wenn mir das Ende, das übernatürlich war, auch nicht so gut gefiel.
March 5, 2021
Full review at: https://www.jackreacts.com.au/post/fe...
Snippet: I would definitely consider this a must-read, not because it's an amazing book but because it's just so insanely dumb that everyone should experience it.
Check out my full review linked up top for an in-depth recap :)
Snippet: I would definitely consider this a must-read, not because it's an amazing book but because it's just so insanely dumb that everyone should experience it.
Check out my full review linked up top for an in-depth recap :)
July 16, 2024
Marty accidentally kills the cat that lives in the gym, but now he and his friends are being targeted and those that end up dead are marked by claws. A bit silly, but still a quick, fun Fear Street read. This book was hard to source, and I am glad that my local library had an Interlibrary Loan program.
November 26, 2025
Wieder ein sehr guter Band mit einem übernatürlichen Twist. Ich fand das mit dem Schülergericht sehr interessant und die Stelle mit den Ratten hat die Scheinheiligkeit der Tierschutzgruppe an der Schuhe sehr gut gezeigt. Auf den Twist bin ich deutlich früher gekommen, trotzdem interessanter Teil der reihe.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews