- Paperback: 240 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (5 July 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140272895
- ISBN-13: 978-0140272895
- Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 11.2 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 171,371 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
"How do you know what any man is capable of?": in his new thriller, Black Cat, Martyn Bedford's takes that question into the realms of contemporary (urban) myth. The rumour of a black panther, stalking its prey on the moors, is the starting point for a curious relationship between Chloe Fortune--a wild child who doesn't "fit in", a dowsing anti-roads protestor whose transatlantic telephone calls with "mom" are one of the highlights of the novel--and the mysterious Ethan, one-time local housing officer turned hermit-hunter. Told from multiple perspectives--speeches and interviews from a variety of "witnesses" who reflect back on whatever it is that has happened between Chloe and Ethan on the moors--Black Cat sustains a genuine sense of mystery and threat (one that it does not necessarily resolve).
Like the critically-acclaimed The Houdini Girl, this novel is clever--knowing in its depiction of lives lived on the edges of respectability and impressive in its rendering of a range of different voices and characters. Independent, wayward, unpredictable, Chloe's emerges as the dominant, and engaging, voice--as is clear from the very beginning of the novel in her exchange with an unsavoury reporter: "Gavin: 'How did you learn to dowse?' Chloe: 'Because no-one ever told me I couldn't.'" In this sense, the violence that unfolds towards the end of the book comes as a shock that is crucial to the suspense, and success, of this whimsical tale. Vicky Lebeau --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Chloe Fortune has been anti-roads, anti-capitalist, anti-everything for so long. Now she wants to be pro-something. Perhaps hooking up with Ethan in his search for the black beast rumoured to be at large will give Chloe the goal that she needs. Or maybe her motivation is Ethan, geographically and mentally on the margins of society in his caravan on the moors, but self-contained and certain in his quest. For Chloe, with her wild dreadlocks, doesn't fit in herself. And when Ethan discovers that she is a dowser, her acute sixth sense allowing her to locate anything she sets her mind on, they seem made for each other. But as they hunt their quarry, they close in on other truths: about themselves, about each other and about obsession itself.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I loved The Houdini Girl and Exit Orange and Red but was a little disappointed by Black Cat. The central character, Chloe is a little too similar to Rosa - the Houdini girl. They are both beautiful, compelling, complex young women, outsiders from mainstream society, independent, transient, and emotionally damaged in ways that are gradually revealed. Both have the same talent for smart one liners. The books also have similar structures, interspersing written sources, newspaper reports, transcripts of interviews with characters, legal submissions, into the narrative to expand on things already hinted at, or give a teaser for those to come. The parallels between the habitually black dressed Chloe and the eponymous cat are rather obviously drawn - both finding a home in an alien environment, both the object of unhealthy obsession. However, while the story of Houdini made for a suspenseful thriller, Black Cat's story is much thinner. That said, the writing is very sharp, particularly the dialogue and descriptions of the moorland settings, and all the main characters are well drawn. But read Houdini Girl first.
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