Black Cat

by Martyn Bedford

1st Viking trade 2000 edition paperback fine book In stock shipped from our UK warehouse

Genres: Fiction, Noir, Mystery

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Virginia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got quite caught up with the story of dippy Chloe and obsessed, troubled Ethan and thought things would be going in quite a different direction. The writing was as enigmatic as the characters and it was actually fun to figure out who was speaking and to whom, and what they were really saying. The "interviews" were annoying until I caught on to why they were there, and the ending was appropriate and conclusive. 3 stars.

[Cristian · Rating 4 out of 5]

La mia prima lettura di questo autore.
E devo dire che ne son rimasto davvero colpito. Una noir che seppur privo di tipica e palese violenza sanguinolenta, colpisce e rapisce per la sua scrittura nervosa e per il suo stile mai compiacente.
Una storia che molto lentamente si tinge di un nero assoluto che alla fine arriva così in aspettato da spiazzare e lasciare completamente senza parole.
E davvero imprevedibili entrambi i personaggi di Chloe ed Ethan. Credi di poterne individuare i tratti ormai abbastanza stereotipati, invece finiscono col lasciarti di sasso.
Uau.
Bedford, un autore che seguirò' sicuramente.

[Plum-crazy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a new author to me & I liked his style of writing. In short, it's the story of Chloe, a dowser & former eco-warrior, who teams up with recluse Ethan to track down a "black beast" that is roaming the countryside. The tale is told mainly from Chloe's viewpoint with "reports" from various witnesses & officials.

It's an atmospheric tale & the ending was not what I was expecting! I'll certainly be on the lookout for more by this author.

[Joeri Ryckaseys · Rating 2 out of 5]

Niet wat ik ervan had verwacht... veel te veel vulling met "literair gezever" als ik zo grof mag zijn. Het noemt dan ook "literaire thriller". Dit genre is niet aan mij besteed. Geef mij maar een gewone thriller. Voorts is er ook niet veel "thriller" aan dit werk buiten de laatste twintig pagina's. Ik kan wel begrijpen dat de liefhebbers van literatuur pure sang hier wel meer aan zullen hebben.

[Ginny · Rating 1 out of 5]

The only interesting part of this book is the dowsing. I’ve heard of it in different aspects, so it was cool to see a new perspective of dowsing working for actually finding something, physically speaking.

I didn’t connect with any characters or their life journeys. The interactions between them all felt hollow and forceful, and the storyline was incredibly predictable.

I kept thinking of the plot twist when I first started reading it, as a joke. I never imagined that would actually happen lol.

So yeah, it was a reading just for killing time but I didn’t find anything special about it.

[Marie-José · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting topic, rather catching but a really strange storyline.

[Monica · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐

Premesso che mi sono approcciata a questo libro senza conoscere minimamente la trama. Detto questo...Bedford me l'ha fatta! Ci sono cascata come una pera cotta. Non ho capito nulla, nemmeno attraverso gli stacchi tra la trama e le testimonianze che anzi all'inizio erano piuttosto fastidiosi e sembravano totalmente distaccati dal resto della storia, fino a pochi capitoli dalla fine quando finalmente si comincia a percepire la stranezza in alcuni comportamenti di Ethan.
Però, se la trama di per sè non è male, l'epilogo poteva essere sviluppato meglio. Molte cose rimangono in sospeso e non vengono spiegate. Ok, si capisce chi è la bestia nera. Ma...perchè lo fa? Perchè uccide tutti quegli animali? E poi come avrebbe fatto ad aggredire la runner dato che, in base alla narrazione, è sempre stato con Chloe? Che tra l'altro come sensitiva lascia parecchio a desiderare. Ecco, qualche spiegazione sarebbe stata gradita.
Mi è piaciuto però come si è evoluto il personaggio di Ethan: dapprima con le sue stranezze fa quasi tenerezza, poi le stranezze si fanno inquietanti fino a diventare allarmanti.
Altra cosa che ho apprezzato è l'ambientazione: i paesaggi e il contatto con la natura sono talmente ben scritti che le scene delle escursioni e degli appostamenti mi hanno trasmesso una sensazione di pace assoluta, che probabilmente hanno contribuito a far abbassare la guardia nei confronti di Ethan.

[Deirdre · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my third Martyn Bedford novel and, of the three, it was the hardest to get into. I was stuck in the first thirty pages for over a month, but once I broke through, I couldn’t put it down. The main characters, Chloe and Ethan, are each painted vividly in true Bedford style so that you feel you know each character personally by the middle of the book. Of course, this doesn’t keep Bedford from pulling the rug out from under you when he adds his characteristic spin near the end. Never would I have expected this book to end the way it did, but I won’t say more about the ending than that.

Ethan is a social outcast who’s given up his job and his home to live in a trailer outside of a small English town to look for a “black beast” which is rumored to be lurking in the woods nearby. Chloe, an outcast herself, has just left a protest group and taken a job at the local diner where she chances to meet Ethan during one of his rare visits to town. Soon, they’ve teamed up in search of the giant cat, but it is not the intense quest to find the panther which drew me into the book, but Bedford’s constant display of a deep understanding of human emotion and relationships and his ability to weave the English language into tales I can’t walk away from.

[Juarry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this novel some years ago, but remember being blown away by it. It's a mystery to me why so few people know about this book. Martyn Bedford manages to write a complex novel with multi-layered characters and, at the same time, to have you on the edge ot the seat. In short: Very intense, great style, full of small observations and believable dialogue. The setting - the hills where the cat is said to wander - is beautiful and creepy. The main characters, Ethan and Chloe, are sympathetic, unconventional and able to surprise you, even when you think you know them.

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bedford wrote one of my very, very favorite books “The Houdini Girl” which for a long time I thought was his only book; as it turns out, he’s just very hard to find in the US and in fact I bought this one in the UK.

Mysterious and spooky. A “dowser” (which I would have called a “diviner” but not sure if that’s a UK vs. US thing or just a “depends where you heard about it” thing). A myth hunter. A climber. A reporter. A strange quest. A connection made, and then broken.

Really entrancing and beautiful. Some brutal bits. Lovely.