CATS, written by Brit horror author Nick Sharman (Signet, 1977), is a fresh step away from the stray cat syndrome. The story takes place outside of London, where a young college grad student tries to duplicate and improve upon his mentor professor's experiments with chemical warfare. The would-be scientist soon discovers that the unusual heat wave that has swept over England has set off a chemical imbalance that turns his tender tabby lab rat cats into freakish killer kitties. More bizarre than that, the young schoolboy who the scientist had hired to feed and tend to the cats, has become their defacto leader. The young boy sicks his feline followers first upon the schoolyard bully, and then sends them after his monster of a father. And beware anyone who stands between the boy and his kitties.

CLAWS and FERAL deliver on the gore, but it's either too much - for instance, all the cats in both stories can rip open any mans guts with a simple swipe of a talon - or it's too unbelievable - the cats are so clever that it knows that if they were to push a radio into their master's tub, that she would roast; and also wise enough to know that they have to block the two bridges that lead in and out of town. Cats is the clear winner in this circle, being written much more skillfully than the other two books (like I said - the guys a Brit!). Sharman weaves a tantalizing tale full of gory and fantastic word play and imagery, making this a real page-turner. CLAWS is entertaining in a B-movie kind of way - lots of bloody, messy fun

Mr. Miller would recommend locking the kitty up when reading these books.