Book Review: The Thirteenth Cat by Mary Downing Hahn

I started this week reading a book from a MG detective series, but after catching a lot of grammar errors and seeing it had WAY too much dialogue, I abandoned it and read a book from Mary Downing Hahn (in 2 days!!). She never fails to disappoint so I knew I could finish one of her books in a quick time.

Summary

This new middle grade horror thriller of Hahn’s is about a girl and her friend who are cast under an evil spell by her neighbor who happens to be a menacing witch. After trying to save a cat from her neighbor (her 13th cat to be exact), she soon discovers a nefarious operation and herself soon trapped in the middle of it. *SPOILER* After being cursed as a cat, she and her friend must enlist the help of her neighbor’s untrustworthy niece to help them change back into humans before it is too late!

Likes

I liked this story more than I thought I would, considering the main character turns into an animal, but the pace was quick enough to keep me reading.

Dislikes

I think the pace was a little too quick in parts and the characters moved the plot along in ways that I didn’t think were in their character to do so.

Application to My Own Writing

I think the reading I’ve been doing has affected my own writing in the sense that I should try to develop my character from my own MG horror story I’m writing a little more so the stakes in the story are higher and the plot can move forward in a way that is meaningful for the main character.

Recommendations

I recommend this story to anyone (more likely a reader at middle grade level) who likes stories about talking animals or animorpheous books where a human gets turned into an animal. Also, anyone who likes reading witchy or mystery stories.