Cat Out Of Hell by Lynne Truss

A cottage on the coast on a windy evening. Under a pool of yellow light, two figures face each other across a kitchen table. A man and a cat. The story about to be related is so unusual yet so terrifyingly plausible that it demands to be told in a single sitting. The man clears his throat, and leans forward, expectant. 'Shall we begin?' says the cat....

I bought this book purely because of the cover and title while visiting London last December. I had never heard of it before, hadn't seen it on Goodreads and had no idea what I was about to get myself into.

In short, this book is fantastic. Combining humour and horror we follow the recently widowed librarian Alec as he's unwillingly drawn into an adventure he never in his life imagined could be possible or even plausible. We're talking talking cats, pacts with the devil, mysteries that needs unravelling and broken hearts. Like I said, fantastic.

I read it for the spring readathon and swallowed it in one sitting. The writing is excellent, the humour is on point and I kept glancing at my own cat just to be sure she wasn't secretly plotting to murder me as I read.

If you're in the mood for something dark yet funny that has to do with black magic / cats / librarians / mysteries or if you just fancy something completely different then this is the book for you. Danish publishers - get to work with this one.

CAT OUT OF HELL by Lynne Truss ISBN13: 9780099585343 256 pages / Published in 2014

Review by Iben Jakobsen, BoB, 2015