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ZOMBIE CAT: The Tale of a Decomposing Kitty (Book Review)

When the press release for this one came across my desktop many months ago the subject matter was so sick and pictorially disgusting that I knew I had to have a piece of it.  Of course I’m talking about the ever-popular world of zombie cat apocalypses.  ZOMBIE CAT: The Tale of a Decomposing Kitty, from the creative and humorous mind of author Isabel Atherton, is the latest body of work tackling the zombie cat epidemic that’s currently afflicting our nation.  Illustrator Bethany Straker brings the adult picture book to life courtesy of Skyhorse Publishing.  Reminiscent of Adam Mansbach’s 2011 unforgettable children’s book, Go the F@#k to Sleep, ZOMBIE CAT is the perfect addition to any horror fan’s collection of truly unique, but equally disturbing and grotesque items.  And I mean that in a good way.

Tiddles is your everyday normal kitty cat.  What do normal cats enjoy doing?  Yep you guessed it.  Living life carefree, chasing mice, lounging around, courting female companions and annoying the hell out of his owner are among his top priorities in life.  But just like every day life, you never know what’s around the corner…even if you’re just a cat.  Your life can always change for the worse at the drop of a dime.  When a nuclear power plant spill happens, Tiddles finds himself savagely attacked by an infected radioactive mouse and as a result he wakes up as one of the undead…a ZOMBIE CAT!  However, unlike most normal “zombie cats,” Tiddles retains his conscience and fights the urge to feed off the living and his craving for the grey matter…brains!  He really just wants his normal life back, complete with his owner, in midst of the zombie outbreak invasion that’s seemingly sweeping the nation.

Now ask yourself this.  If you were Tiddles owner, would you take him back into your house in his diseased state?  Or would you force him to roam the streets and eventually give into his zombie indulgences and undead tendencies?  And now you see the dilemma our protagonist, Tiddles, faces.  I betcha you’re curious to read about all that happens now?!

So this is what I call a page turner.  Literally!  And what I mean by that is like Mansbach’s book I mentioned above, ZOMBIE CAT is a quirky, sick and disturbing, humorous fast read (yes…I realize that’s a mouthful of adjectives).  Does it warrant it’s $12.95 jacket price?  Come on!  Do I really need to answer that?  But that’s why there’s Amazon folks..to ease the suffering that’s inflicted upon our wallets everyday.  It’s like I said before, ZOMBIE CAT is the perfect addition to your horror collection, but not much more.  The plot and premise is very basic and elementary.  It’s the grotesque visuals that brings the story to life here, in my opinion, that’s the real centerpiece.  Atherton literally could have wrote anything she wanted and I would have remained thoroughly entertained by Straker’s illustrations.  They are what makes this book.  And no, having a little girl falling off her tricycle and being eaten by other zombie cats is probably something you don’t want to share with the younger ones unless you want them to hone their horror writing craft at an early age, then by all means…share away!.  Like Mansbach’s Go the F@#k to Sleep, ZOMBIE CAT: The Tale of a Decomposing Kitty is for adults only, and the sick, twisted and demented kids in all of us…a Halloween centerpiece so to speak.  Perhaps a party favor?  Trick or Treat!  Enjoy!