The Cats

by Berton Roueché

This splendidly horrific yarn opens with a couple returning to New York after a holiday on Long Island, during which they had acquired a kitten. They cannot keep the kitten in the city and so dump it, hoping it will find a new home. Berton Roueché has always based his stories on fact--and it is not difficult to imagine that the prevalent practice of dumping unwanted domestic pets in rural areas could lead to the gripping and sinister situation that is the thrust of this compulsive story.

For the cats have developed into a rapacious community of their own, and begin to plague this couple when they return to the Long Island village of Amagansett. At first the cats just seem to prowl. Then they begin attacking - rats, birds. Soon large game - deer, dogs - begin to feel their madness. Then they become cannibals, ki;lling and eating each other. In the shattering climax to this novel there is only one animal left to feel their wrath - man himself.

This is a thriller of nature gone wild. Berton Roueché, a New Yorker writer and author of the thriller, The Last Enemy, as well as several volumes of true medical detection, keeps the reader constantly on the edge of his chair.

Genres: Horror

126 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Berton Roueché was a medical writer who wrote for The New Yorker magazine for almost fifty years. He also wrote twenty books, including Eleven Blue Men (1954), The Incurable Wound (1958), Feral (1974), and The Medical Detectives (1980). An article he wrote for The New Yorker was made into the 1956 film Bigger Than Life, and many of the medical mysteries on the television show House were inspired by Roueché's writings.

Reviews

[ItzSmashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short but enjoyable read. Pretty standard creature tale with a few standout moments but not one I will remember vividly. The author builds some solid tension, but it's let down by a tame payoff and a very disappointing ending. Would recommend if you are really in to these feral animal stories but not the best I've read recently.

[Andy]

I absolutely love the cover for this book. Cannot remember a single thing about it though (I read it many many years ago). This also appears to be the same book as Feral by the same author which was apparently recommended by Stephen King.

[Tristan Berrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this as a kid and it scared the s*** out of me.

[Zahirah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A typical creature horror. Nice pacing. The author leaves you hanging at the end of major events which forces you to read further if you want to know what really happened. Kind of ingenious