Tagline: C-A-T spells murder.
Back tagline: The cat came back.
Summary: Marty never liked the cat—It always got in the way at basketball practice. But he never meant to kill it. Now Matty thinks he’s going crazy. He sees Kat wherever he goes. He has nightmares about them. He knows they want revenge. Too bad Madi doesn’t have nine lives. Because his first one is almost over.
First impressions: This is such a simple cover but for whatever reason, I’ve always felt drawn to it so I’m super excited to finally own a copy. I honestly think this might be the worst tagline of any Fear Street/Point Horror and possibly even the worst plot of any of them based on the blurb, but at the same time it sounds amazing. I’m expecting one of those ‘so bad it’s good’ kind of experiences. A group of potentially murderous cats seeking revenge? Iconic. I’m not sure if the girl on the cover will appear because the blurb only mentions cats, but from her eyes, I’m assuming she’s like some kind of werecat or something?? Let’s find out!
Recap
Roll call:
Marty – Our protagonist and the Troy Bolton of Shadyside High.
Barry – Marty’s best friend who’s super smart.
Dwayne – Marty’s other best friend who’s an annoying joker.
Riki – A girl Marty ghosted after dating a few times.
Gayle – Marty’s good friend who turns on him after he kills the cat.
Kit – One of the hottest girls at Shadyside High and Marty’s love interest.
We begin with a [Useless] prologue where our protagonist, Marty Harper [If I’m not mistaken, the first male protagonist! we’ve had on the blog!], explains that he doesn’t like cats, not just because he’s allergic to them, but because they look evil, and he doesn’t like how they stare and slink around so silently ‘as if they have some kind of guilty secret’ [Seriously, these are just filler pages lol].
To the main story now where Marty’s at basketball practice, but he’s not playing his best today. Neither are his two best friends, slightly overweight Dwayne whose wardrobe apparently solely consists of Hawaiian shirts, and Superman lookalike Barry. The three of them are collectively known as the Three Musketeers because they’re the best on the team. But because they suck today, Coach Griffin’s labelled them the Three Stooges and benches them [Gotta getcha, getcha, getcha, getcha head in the game, boys!].
This leads to some banter among friends that leads to some character development – basically Dwayne’s the class clown, Barry takes things way too seriously and Marty fits somewhere in the middle. Marty’s also the frontrunner for a college basketball scholarship, which he suspects his friends are super jealous of [Note from future: This little plot point is dropped pretty quickly, so maybe just more filler?].
Anyway, Marty is surprised to see Kit, the hottest girl at Shadyside High, sitting in the bleachers and points her out to Dwayne, who apparently has a crush on her. This girl is apparently so hot that everyone’s too intimidated to ask her out [OK…].
Next, besties Gayle and Riki walk into the gym and strut right on over to the Three Stooges. Marty’s gone on a few dates with Riki in the recent past, but she completely freaked out when he ghosted her instead of just telling her he wasn’t interested [Ugh, our first male protagonist and of course he’s a shitstain lolllllllll]. Gayle wants to write a story about the Three Musketeers for the school paper and Riki will be the photographer for the piece. Before Marty can discuss it further with them, a black and silver cat crawls out from under the bleachers [!!!].
This cat’s been living in the gym for about a month, with some generous students giving it food and water regularly, and chasing it has become a regular part of basketball practice for the Three Idiots. They’re not that bothered about catching it since the cat always outruns them anyway, but they just loooOoOO00O000ooove the chase. The principal has said the cat’s a health hazard but has done nothing about it, while Gayle’s written a story in the paper begging for someone to adopt it that’s had no takers [Just call the animal shelter to come get it? How hard is that?].
As usual, the cat disappears under the bleachers before the boys can catch it, and Coach Griffin calls them back to practice. Shortly after, as Marty’s running down the court, the cat darts across his path, tripping him over [Hahahahaha]. The cat is fine [For now :(] but Marty’s injured his knee [Oh no! And right before Friday’s big game :O].
The school nurse suspects a sprained knee and Marty’s instructed to rest up, but Coach Griffin refuses to let him play in Friday’s game to ensure he’ll be fine for the more important game next week. Marty’s super pissed at the cat for getting him injured [Well, don’t antagonise it, bud], but Coach Griffin reckons it’s his own fault for chasing it all the time [It’s karma, Marty!].
After practice, the scholarship is brought up again and Marty reveals to Barry, Dwayne, Gayle and Riki he actually hasn’t secured the college scholarship yet – it’s between him and another guy [Oh, so he’s a liar too now! Although when the scholarship was brought up earlier, it didn’t seem like he’d told everyone he already had it?]. He explains he got carried away and then didn’t want everyone to find out he lied, and asks Gayle not to write about it in the paper [Do it, Gayle!].
The cat makes another appearance and once again, the Three Stooges give chase. Marty’s super mad at the cat and determined to get rid of it once and for all by sending it to the animal shelter. The cat dashes up the bleachers instead of under them for once and, ignoring his throbbing knee, idiot Marty follows it, eventually managing to grab it right at the top. Kitty doesn’t like that and scratches his face before biting his arm, which causes Marty to lose his footing. As he begins to stumble towards the edge of the bleachers, Dwayne is there to pull him back before he falls, but in order to grab his hand, Marty has to drop the cat:
I turned in time to see the cat fall. It tumbled, end over end, and struck the hardwood floor at an awkward angle.
A sickening crack echoed through the gym.
It didn’t move.
If you ask Riki and Gayle, he threw the cat at the ground and murdered it. Marty argues he’d never hurt an animal because that’d be like hurting his dog, Teddy, but the girls know what they saw [I mean, he did drop the cat on purpose, but he thought it would land on its feet? It’s manslaughter if anything. Well, catslaughter, hehe xo]. Barry and Dwayne don’t even try to defend their best friend, but Dwayne hits the girls with some classic zingers like ‘”How about some roadkill stew?”‘ ‘”Hey, Gayle, maybe you need a fur coat?”‘ and ‘“Cat got your tongue?”’, [Hilarious, Dwayne] and even picks up the dead cat. Gayle and Riki end up storming off, with Gayle vowing Marty ‘”won’t get away with this.”‘
By the next morning, Marty’s the pariah of Shadyside High [Wow, Gayle works quick]. No-one wants to talk to him, everyone gives him dirty looks, and Gayle’s even made posters for a cruelty against animals rally with Marty’s name on them. Barry and Dwayne have been trying to tell people the truth, but no-one wants to listen to them either [Prob cos you’re both wankers].
Marty eventually confronts Gayle in the gym, but she’s a total bitch about it [To be honest, I think she’s taking it a bit far. Was he supposed to let himself fall down the bleachers instead? I get how it looks to the girls, but since they saw the whole thing they should know he was just trying to save himself]. Gayle and Marty had been good friends up until yesterday, but she doesn’t want a bar of him anymore and promises this isn’t the last she’ll hear from her [Ugh, she’s annoying].
Riki pulls Marty aside and tells him to just lay off a bit until it all blows over before changing the subject to his injured knee, which seems better today, but Marty reveals he’s still not playing any basketball until next week. Afterwards, Marty bumps into Coach Griffin who’s got some bad news. Marty knows it’ll be about the cat and explains his side, and although Coach Griffin admits his version sounds fake, he ultimately believes him. Most of the teachers don’t think Marty could be so cruel either, but the students aren’t happy, and if the story ends up in the media [Like…the actual media?? Surely Fkn not hahahahaha], it’ll be bad news for the team because the rumour is that Marty killed the cat and Barry and Dwayne helped him.
Coach Griffin doesn’t want to boot Marty from the team [This is so dramatic hahahaha] though, and explains the school Animal Rights Club, lead by Gayle, of course, is making a huge deal out of the incident, so the principal wants Marty to face their charges in Student Court tomorrow [Student Court?? Is this a real legal system? What the hell is this hahahaha].
We cut to Student Court the next day, where the gym is filled with students, teachers and parents who all want to witness the case against Marty. Both Marty and the Animal Rights Club have been assigned lawyers, who are really just students, to present the case.
Riki, Barry and Dwayne tell their perspective of what happened, all pretty accurately, while Gayle’s takes the liberty to heavily exaggerate what happened. In her version, Marty, Dwayne and Barry swung the dead cat around to torment her before she left, which we know didn’t happen because only Dwayne touched the dead cat. Marty also gives his version of events, and eventually the student jury find him innocent of murder, but guilty of animal cruelty, and he’s sentenced to 30 hours of community service at the animal shelter [What the hell hahahaha is Student Court a genuine thing? Is he legally bound to fulfil those hours?! This is so funny hahaha]. Just as Marty’s feeling sorry for himself, he spots something moving under the bleachers – it’s the cat!!! He tries to point it out to everyone, but of course there’s no cat there anymore and everyone makes fun of him.
Later, Marty attends basketball practice, but sits on the sidelines and studies instead. Jessica, who’d aced as the lawyer for the Animal Rights Club in Student Court, sits down next to him and apologises for her roll in the case, explaining that every social studies student has to represent a case at some point or other. Jessica’s super cute, so Marty’s pleased when she says she’s glad he was found innocent of murder. They spot Riki nearby and call out to her, waving her over, but she just storms off angrily [I get that you’re upset, Riki, but you need to calm down, hun].
After Jessica leaves with her friends too, Marty hears a cat meowing! Startled, he spots a few girls laughing at him from above on the bleachers, but isn’t sure if it was them making the noise to tease him. After practice, Coach Griffin tells Marty he’s proud of him for taking his punishment like a champ, which must mean a lot because much like me, being nice isn’t easy for him.
Later that night as Marty’s studying, the phone rings and on the other end is someone breathing. It’s not the usual heavy breathing we get in these books; this caller’s breathing softly! He hangs up when they don’t say anything but the phone rings again, and this time it’s Riki telling him he’ll pay for what he’s done. It’s not about the cat killing though, it’s about him flirting with Jessica right in front of her and then waving her over as if everything’s fine between them. According to Riki, it’s he latest in a string of insults – she’s heard through the grapevine that the night he cancelled their date claiming to be sick, he actually went out with another girl, Lisa. And now she hears he’s also interested in Kit [Riki, just cut your losses and move on, please. This guy isn’t worth it].
Marty explains that everyone’s interested in Kit [Hahahaha] and admits he lied about being sick because he didn’t want to hurt her feelings – he still wants to be friends [So you couldn’t just say that from the start?]. Riki’s super mad about the whole thing and tells him she hates him and slams the phone down, but not before he tells her to get a life [And I oop—].
During the basketball game on Friday night, the other team as well as the spectators make cat noises [Hahahaha this is so stupid]. Jessica offers some support again, suggesting once Gayle’s held her animal rights rally everything will settle down. There’s a bit of flirting between them, and Jessica’s happy to know he’s not dating Lisa, the girl he’d gone out with the night he ditched Riki [I’m glad we never meet Lisa; this book already has too many characters]. Later that night as Marty tries to study, he hears some cats screeching and howling outside. A ‘deafening shriek’ ends the racket but then hears a soft hiss and the sound of claws scraping against his bedroom window.
Except it’s not claws at all, it’s Dwayne and Barry in his yard throwing pebbles at his window to get his attention [At least the fake out actually makes sense since Marty’s had cats on the brain for the last few days]. Marty shimmies down the tree outside his window to join them and they head to The Corner, ‘a popular Shadyside hangout about a block from school [That I don’t remember ever hearing about in the Fear Streets I’ve recapped so far. Where’s Pete’s Pizza?!]. The boys ask Marty why he freaked out at Student Court, and he insists he really did see the cat, but the boys find it hard to believe.
Afterwards, Barry and Dwayne walk Marty back to his place, cutting through a stretch of woods for a quicker route. Nek minnut, a cat jumps on Barry’s head from above [!!!!!!], clinging to his head until Marty eventually manages to yank it off:
I dropped the screeching cat on the ground.
Dwayne stuck a foot under his belly and kicked it deep into the woods. I heard it crash through branches and bushes, howling all the way.
[Hahahhha poor cat]. Barry’s face is pretty scratched up and he asks Marty if he thinks it was the same cat he’d killed, the one he saw yesterday in Student Court. Although Marty’s sure he saw the black diamond on its forehead, just like the gym cat, he denies it and firmly says ‘“that cat is dead.”
On Saturday, Marty begins his community service at the animal shelter and meets Carolyn, the manager:
Most nights they needed me at the shelter by seven o’clock, when Carolyn left for the night. Between nine and eleven, a night watchman came on, and I was free to go home.
[Wait, so does he goes home at 9:00 or 11:00? Or the watchman can arrive at any time between those hours and then he can leave? Why do I care so much?]. Once Carolyn leaves, he enters the kennel for a quick look at all the animals, but hears a thud behind him when he turns to leave. He calls out, but the only response he gets is ‘a small light flash across the dark room’ which makes the animals go crazy – the dogs bark and howl, the cats screech and hiss, and it just gets louder as the animals throw themselves against their cages [All from a light? What the hell?].
The animals won’t stop their shrieking, so Marty calls Carolyn and begs her to come back. Of course, the animals stop right as she pulls up [Someone’s trying to gaslight Marty!], so Carolyn doesn’t get to hear animals going wild herself.
On Monday, Marty bumps into Kit [I was wondering if she was going to become relevant at some point], who has chestnut brown hair and emerald green eyes [So she’s the girl on the cover! I’ll admit, she’s pretty hot. Does that mean she’s our bad guy though?], and moved to Shadyside not long ago, but quickly became one of the most popular girls in school. Marty asks her for an ice cream date at The Corner after school [Seriously, where’s Pete’s Pizza?], where they talk for a few hours, and Marty can’t believe how cool she is – he’s ‘falling for her, hard.’ [Marty, please, you’ve known her for two hours and were keen on Jessica like two chapters ago].
As they leave the restaurant, Marty notices Riki in a booth by herself, glaring at him [Honestly Riki, get the fuck over it. He’s proven like 104737 times already he’s not worth the energy]. Marty doesn’t care though and walks Kit back to her place, where she invites him inside [And it just clicked… Kit…Kat…Cat! And she’s on the cover, so surely she’s our bad guy? Or is that too obvious? I feel like it is, but like, does Stine have that much faith that his readers would figure that out?]. Anyway, Kit’s some kind of crazy cat lady because there’s 9348281939 cats inside and they all start hissing at him [Big mood].
Kit explains they’re just hungry and will hopefully settle down if he stays to hang out for a while [Why can’t you be more like Amanda, Kit? She knew something was up as soon as her cat didn’t like Chrissy], and Marty can’t believe how lucky he is that Kit Morrissey wants him around! The cats are really creeping Marty out though and he can already feeling his allergies kicking in, so he makes up an excuse about needing to study and leaves.
The next day at school, Barry and Dwayne pour a shitload of white rats from the science lab into that afternoon’s Animal Rights Club meeting [What was the school doing with all those rats anyway? Waiting for them to die so they could dissect or?] to get back at her for her article about Marty’s Student Court trial, and also to make it up to Marty for not defending him the day he killed the cat. Gayle sees the Three Plebs laughing about it and promises this isn’t over, although Marty seems to think it is now that he’s gotten revenge.
He meets with Kit at The Corner again that afternoon and she thinks the whole thing is suuuuuuper funny. Her asks her to the movies for Saturday night and she accepts before kissing him [Sxc]. Marty briefly thinks about Jessica, but soon Kit is all he can think about. He walks her home but doesn’t go inside this time, and as he heads for his own house, he notices a growing number of followers behind him:
I chanced one last glance over my shoulder.
There were at least ten cats now. Ten yowling cats, running hard.
Closing in.
Ten cats chasing me, eyes glowing, paws hitting the pavement so silently…
Silent as ghosts.
[That’s an interesting simile for a cat, Marty…]. By the time Marty gets to his front door, there’s 12 cats and they’re leaping to attack him. He manages to avoid any serious damage as he fumbles with the key before eventually realising the cats have completely disappeared [Ooky spooky!].
The next day at school, Gayle’s her usually bitchy self and even Jessica’s acting cold now. Marty assumes she heard about his dates with Kit from Riki and hopes she’s not too hurt, because he ‘liked her a lot—but Kit was awesome!’. Riki also sneers at him in one of their classes together, raising her hand and making cat-clawing motions [Riki is soooooooooo annoying at this point Get the fuck over it]. Marty’s also able to participate in basketball practice after school for the first time in a week, so that’s good news I guess.
Kit comes over to study that night she and Marty kiss and kiss and kiss, [♪ And then they kiss some more ♪], and Marty feels like the only time he’s not worrying about what’s been going on is when he’s with her [I can’t wait for her to pull that rug right from underneath him, hehe]. Later, Marty’s woken in the middle of the night by a phone call from someone meowing and hissing on the other end. He initially thinks it’s Riki but hangs up when he realises it’s not her, super freaked out [Ooky spooky!].
On Friday, Marty overhears Dwayne arguing with Riki, demanding she drop all this cat nonsense and leave Marty alone so he can focus on basketball, because if they lose, he’ll tell the whole school that they lost the big game tonight because of her [Because everyone cares about sport, right?!]. Riki’s a no-show at the game that night, but Gayle’s there in all her stink-eye glory to watch Shadyside thrash the other team and advance into the state tournament. Marty figures they can’t lose with the lineup they’ve got, but what he doesn’t know is that ‘the lineup was about to change’ [Who’s gonna cark it, Barry or Dwayne? Let’s hope they both die, hehe!].
The Shadyside Tigers celebrate in the locker room before everyone heads home for the weekend, but halfway home Marty realises he forgot his backpack. He heads back to the school, arriving just in time to see a frantic-looking Gayle dash across the parking lot from the gym [OK, so Gayle’s definitely just the red herring. I mean, I know Kit’s the villain anyway, but still]. By the time Marty exits his car, she’s nowhere to be seen, so he heads inside the empty building through the gym door.
Hitting the lights, Marty spots his backpack, and as he picks it up, he notices a sneaker underneath the bleachers. Attached to the shoe is a leg, and as Marty drops to his knees to get a better look, he sees the rest of the body:
The face, the skin, clawed to pieces.
The shirt ripped and slashed. Covered with blood. Soaked with blood.
But I could still see that it was a Hawaiian shirt.
“Dwayne!”
Dwayne, lying dead and cut. Soaked in his own blood.
Slashed and torn.
“Nooooooooo,” I wailed.
And over the sound of my cry, from the far bleachers, I heard the meowwwwww of a cat.
We jump to Marty’s house, where the police have just left and Barry’s scolding him about not telling them he saw Gayle at the school. Marty insists Gayle couldn’t have done something like that, but refrains from revealing his suspicion that a cat may have killed Barry [Could a cat really have done that? Like, surely their claws can’t cut that deep to kill someone, even if they were slashed multiple times?].
Marty then heads to Kit’s to tell her the bad news before stopping by Gayle’s to confront her about running from the school. Surprisingly, as soon as she opens the door, Gayle apologises for being such a jerk and wraps him in a big hug and cries about the death of their friend. He asks why he saw her running from the school before he found Dwayne’s body and we get this flimsy but obviously true excuse:
“I hung around school after the game. The gymnastics coach said I could use the weight room. Then I realized how late it was. I had a baby-sitting job to get to. So I changed clothes in the locker room and ran out through the gym. If I hadn’t been in such a rush, I might have seen the psycho who killed Dwayne.” she explained.
Marty promises to never doubt her again before leaving.
Dwayne’s funeral is Monday morning [Are funerals usually that quick?] and at practice that afternoon, Coach Griffin presents all the players with a black armband to wear in Dwayne’s memory at each practice and game [How sweet!]. Marty’s not sure he can play without Dwayne, and although Coach is supportive, Barry arks up because Dwayne would have wanted them both to keep playing. Marty slips on his armband and vows to win the whole tournament for Dwayne [Woo!].
After practice, Barry asks Marty for a lift home, and they make plans to study at Barry’s after Marty’s 6-9 shift at the shelter. Marty’s done in the showers before Barry, so he kills time by walking another teammate to the car park where he notices Gayle exiting the gym’s back exit once again, looking anxiously at her watch [Late for another babysitting job, Gayle?].
Barry’s taking his sweet ass time in the showers, so Marty heads back inside the locker room to get him. He’s nowhere to be found in the locker room though, so Marty heads to the gym, finding it in complete darkness. Then he spots a ‘crumpled, still form at half-court’ and is convinced he’s just found the dead body of another friend. He fumbles for the light switch, relieved to see it’s just Barry’s backpack on the floor, not his body [………………………… Are you fucking kidding me, Marty? They’re not even the same size, how do you confused a backpack for a body?!].
He hears voices out in the hall and finds Barry and Riki having a little smoochy-smooch. Marty’s completely unfazed, glad that Barry’s found a girlfriend and Riki’s finally moved on [About fucking time, Riki]. Marty tells her Gayle’s waiting outside, presumably for her, and since Marty’s already running late, Barry leaves with Riki to get a lift with the girls.
At the shelter, Carolyn introduces Marty to Brutus, a huge mongrel of a dog set to be put down tomorrow, and warns him to keep his distance because Brutus is dangerous [So I’m sure he’ll be released at some point]. Carolyn leaves and Marty gets to work, but while sweeping the floors he hears a scraping sound, followed by footsteps, followed by the sound of a cage door slamming against a cage.
To Marty’s horror, a cat steps into the aisle, followed by another, then another as he hears more cages being opened [He’s in the middle of the room, ‘in the aisle between the cats and dogs’, so wouldn’t that mean he’d be able to see who’s opening the cages?? Or is it like, an aisle of cats, an empty aisle, and an aisle of dogs? I’m confused by the floor plan here, but I guess that would make sense? Again, why do I care so much?]. All the animals in the shelter are barking and screeching by this point, and still more cats are released from their cages:
The hissing and yowling sounds were deafening. But I couldn’t pay attention.
The cats were forming a circle. Surrounding me.
They arched up on their hind legs. A dozen hissing cats. They bared their teeth. Raised their claws.
And leapt to attack.
[Hahahahaha this is such a funny image in my head]. He swings the broom he’s holding, sending two of the cats flying across the cages [Omg lolllll. The animal cruelty isn’t funny but like, it is funny at the same time because everything that’s happened in this book is so stupid hahaha]. Carolyn suddenly appears, demanding to know what he’s doing [Wait…could Carolyn our bad guy?! She’s just relevant enough to go undetected, so it would definitely fit in with the usual Point Horror bad guy pattern of the least likely person being the villain].
Marty explains that someone else was here, someone else let them out, but Carolyn tells him the door is locked so no-one could have gotten it. After getting the cats back in their cages, Carolyn takes Marty to her office and insists he let the cats out himself. Marty argues that they attacked him, but Carolyn explains that she came back because she forget her purse and found him attacking them, with the cats just watching him [It really sounds like she’s gaslighting him… maybe she is our bad guy? But like, Kit’s on the cover so surely it’s her…].
She suggests Marty head home and talk to his parents, maybe think about seeing a doctor, and come back to serve his remaining hours when he’s ready. Her huge concern of his welfare makes him wonder if she’s right – did he let them out of their cages? [It seriously seems like gaslighting, but why would she do that if she’s not our bad guy? I guess she genuinely thinks Marty’s going crazy]. Marty heads to Barry’s for their study date and finds the front door open. Letting himself in, he finds the place dark and gets no answer when he calls out for his friend. Then he trips over Barry’s body [!!!!!].
Except it’s just a rolled up rug [Omfg lol, Marty, come on]. Barry calls out from the back room, and Marty heads in there to interrupt his make-out session with Riki [Sxc!]. They ask why he’s here so early, since Barry was expecting him later that night, and Marty starts to tell them what happened at work, but can see they don’t believe him. They clearly want to get back to sexy make-out time, so Marty takes the hint and leaves [Woooooowwwww, Barry. Your best friend is upset and frazzled and all you’re concerned about is tongue wrestling with Riki! Shame on you].
The next morning, Marty heads downstairs to find two police officers in the living room and notices his mum’s been crying. He thinks they’re there about what happened at the shelter, but they’re here for another reason entirely:
“I’m sorry, Marty,” he said softly. “Someone murdered your friend Barry last night. He was clawed to pieces.”
[RIP]. The police have already talked to Riki who’d mentioned Marty had stopped by Barry’s last night, and they want to know what time he left. He tells them a little before 10pm, which doesn’t make sense because he left work early, so would have gotten to Barry’s before 9pm, and he was only there for, like, five minutes? A neighbour mentioned seeing Marty leave looking frazzled, so the officers wanted to question him since they’re aware of all the incidents surrounding Marty over the past few weeks – killing the cat, his outburst at Student Court, finding Dwayne’s body, even last night’s incident at the animal shelter [OK, I can understand the police being made aware of the cat’s death, but as if they care about his outburst in fucking Student Court?! Come on. This book is so fkn stupid hahaha]:
“…You don’t really think I killed Barry, do you?”
“Not really,” Martinez replied. “But we have to follow up on every lead. Riki Crawford told us that you left the house before she did. She left at eleven, and called Barry as soon as she got home. He was still okay at eleven-thirty.”
“That gives you an alibi,” his partner said.
“It gives her an alibi too,” Martinez added.
[What the hell? That doesn’t give either of them an alibi! Riki could easily be lying, or either of them could have snuck back to Barry’s house to murder him? No wonder so many teens die in Shadyside, the cops are fkn idiots]. Before they leave, the officers ask Marty about Barry’s front door being open when he got there. Apparently Riki swears the door was shut and locked when she and Barry moved to the back room, and that implies the killer was already in the house by the time Marty got there [Ooky spooky! It would also mean that the killer had a key to Barry’s house, right?? Because if the door was locked, Riki and Barry would have heard someone breaking in? Unless Riki’s our bad guy and lied to the police :O. Doubt it though].
School’s cancelled for the day and the next morning, a special assembly is held at Shadyside High for Dwayne and Barry. Afterward, Coach Griffin calls a team meeting to decide whether the boys want to continue in the tournament or, understandably, pull out, but they ultimately decide to continue on in honour of their fallen teammates. Afterward, Marty heads to his locker where he finds Riki and Gayle talking nearby. Their conversation stops when he approaches, but they quickly admit to talking about him. They’re worried about Marty, you see:
“We mean… Dwayne… Barry…You guys were the Three Musketeers—right?”
I nodded.
“And someone murdered them. And now there’s only one left. You.”
[Ooooh, I didn’t even think of that!]. A few nights later, Marty shows up at the animal shelter, much to Carolyn’s surprise. Although she says he can serve the remainder of his sentence in a few weeks, he wants to keep his mind busy. Marty notices Brutus is still around, and Carolyn reveals someone is wanting to adopt him as a guard dog for their store [I bet he’ll be uncaged tonight!]. She leaves shortly after and our final showdown kicks off [Woo!].
As Marty sweeps the aisles, the animals start up their symphony of barks and hisses etc. Marty decides he’ll just leave, and that’s when Kit [!!!] steps out from behind a row of cat cages. He’s super glad to see her [??? Buy a vowel, Marty], but her expression is hard and cold, and all she says is ‘“It’s your turn, Marty”‘. And then we get this gem:
She raised one hand. The hissing and barking stopped.
“Hey—magic!” I cried. “What’s going on here?”
[‘”Hey—magic!”‘ Hahahahaha why do I find this so funny?!?]. And then we get even more batshit crazy:
“You killed me,” she said in a low, even tone. “You killed me and then your two friends laughed.”
I stepped up to her, my mind spinning. “Kit—are you okay?” I asked. “You’re not making any sense.”
Her expression grew even colder. She pulled back her lips and uttered a frightening hiss. “I’m the cat, Marty,” she whispered. “I’m the stray. The cat from the gym. The cat you and your friends killed.”
[This book is insane and I love it!]. Marty thinks the strain of the past few weeks has gotten to her, but Kit explains that she’s a shape-shifter, ‘”one of the last shape-shifters on earth”‘ and can easily shift between a girl and a cat. She reveals that the reason she was always hanging around the gym in cat form was to be closer to Marty – that’s how much she liked him [OK, but like… couldn’t you just hang around in your human form?]:
She sneered. “That’s true love, Marty. And how did you pay me back? You dropped me off the bleachers. You tried to kill me. You didn’t know that I’m blessed with nine lives.”
[This is so damn stupid hahahaha]. He thinks she’s totally insane and promises to get her help, but Kit’s decided she’s played with him for too long and now it’s time to finish it:
Gray fur sprouted quickly over her face. Her features melted together as whiskers poked out from under her nose.
She slid out from her clothes, covered in gray fur now. Shrinking… shrinking…
Down on all fours. Her hands and feet turning into paws. A tail rising stiffly behind her. Her lips pulled back in a shrill cat hiss.
[Ooky spooky!]. To Marty’s horror, he’s staring at the same cat he killed, the one with the black diamond on its forehead. Kit leaps up and slashes his face with her paws, and Marty sees chunks off his flesh caught in her claws as she pulls them away. She claws him again, on his chest this time, and as she goes to strike a third time, he manages to dodge the attack. Kit gets in a few more swipes before Marty steadies himself on Brutus’ cage and realises he can use the vicious dog to his advantage [But like, the dog could also attack you, Marty?]. He manages to get the dog’s cage unlocked and passes out just as ‘Brutus snapped her neck between his teeth’.
We cut to the emergency room, where Marty’s been stitched up by a doctor who can’t believe a cat did this to him [I guess Brutus was fine with killing the cat, then?]. Marty knows he can’t tell anyone the real truth, since he doesn’t ‘know anyone who believes in shape-shifters’. He heads home with his parents and a few hours later, Riki calls, and Marty decides she’s actually pretty great and he’d like to give her another shot [Wow, Marty, you are pathetic. Barry’s not even cold in his grave yet. What even happened on this phone call to maker you think Riki’s so wonderful all of a sudden?].
The next Friday night, Marty plays in the basketball tournament. His injuries still hurt, but he’s sooOooO000O0Oo happy to be back on the court that he ignores the pain. With a few minutes left, the Shadyside Tigers are down by one basket, just needing a three-point shot to win the game, and the book ends with a nice little twist:
I faked left. Joe could see that I was open.
“Pass it! Pass it!” I shouted.
He stopped dribbling and raised the ball as if he were going for the three-pointer himself.
Then he heaved the ball to me.
I reached for it.
And saw a green glow under the bleachers.
Two green glows.
Two green eyes. Of a cat.
A gray cat with a black diamond on its forehead.
The ball bounced off my chest.
The crowd groaned.
I didn’t care.
I stared at the cat. She raised blood-smeared claws.
And I started to scream.
[She’s still got seven lives, mother fuckerrrrrr!]
Final thoughts
This book was so damn stupid, but thankfully in a very entertaining way, so I really enjoyed it! Kit being a shape-shifting cat? Iconic. I wasn’t a big fan of any of the characters, but none of them were overly painful, thank god. It’s a shame our first male protagonist of the blog was such a letdown though. Oh well.
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. It’s very possible that I’m slightly biased because I’ve wanted this book for so long, but I really feel like this is the peak Fear Street craziness that we all love ♥♥♥.
65 shape-shifting cat-people out of 80!
