Book Review: This cat's out of mind!

Disclaimer: I like cats till they don't fall into my vicinity

It is a big leap from grammar to horror, but author Lynne Truss (who wrote a punctuation bible Eats, Shoots And Leaves) conquers Gothic style with great courage and (happily for readers) correct sentences. Mostly, I have seen two kinds of pet lovers: One who love dogs and others who love cats. Truss seems to fall in the second category. In her novel, written after almost ten years, the author not only writes about cats, but portrays their great character and powers -- not to mention that the protagonist is a supercat who not only has an ability to talk but is well read, sarcastic and fits perfectly in Truss' stickler-for-correct-English category. It is proved when the narrator is shown memerised by the cat's Vincent Prince diction and perfect grammar: "I wanted to say that I loved the way he had said 'more important' than 'most important' in that sentence..."

The narrator of the story Alec, a grieving widowed librarian, has retreated to a lonely cottage on the Norfolk coast in order to mourn his 'dear Mary'. He is startled to receive emailed files from a former colleague telling the story of Wiggy, an actor whose sister mysteriously vanishes, leaving behind just a cat. For Wiggy's narrative the style jumps a century or two as he tries to explain through his audio recordings, computer pictures, emails and his terrible attempts at screenplays the dark story of Roger the cat and the strange powers of the last remaining felines genuinely to have nine lives.

Roger and his trainer Captain are the only two cats who are in touch with their superpowers in today's world. However, Captain eventually has given into bad intentions of a diabolically-inclined order while Roger is trying to remain friends with normal human beings.

Though the book may look a bit confusing in the beginning (screenplays, email files and voice recordings), you get a hang of it eventually. Moreover, the story compensates where style fails. I also liked the way Truss wrote the climax. It may read a bit movie-like to naysayers, but buffs like me would enjoy it. The characters are well-defined and though Mary is missing in action in the story, her presence is felt by the readers throughout the book. One of the (horror) scenes is worth mentioning where Alec's dog Watson too speaks in Daniel Craig's voice. I am guessing that Truss is a big fan of Holmes and 007. She justifies her puzzling writing style by making Alec saying that if he had written the story straight, "Mary would have guessed it by sixth page." Well pick it up, if not for a good scare then for the right grammar.