Silver Publishing, $5.99, ISBN 978-1-920468-98-9
Paranormal Romance, 2010
The Cat’s Meow is an amusing noir-tinged paranormal romp with some inside jokes – Noah Anderson, the OCD recluse, is a copy editor for Silver Publishing – but it also has me scratching my head in bewilderment now and then.
The plot is pretty simple. One day, a man hops into Noah’s car without invitation. That man, Gage Tynan, is an efficient killer on the move after his latest gig. Noah, by virtue of being at the wrong place and the wrong time – or is it the right place and the right time? – is going to have his whole life turned upside down as he’s not getting rid of Gage that easily. Of course, Noah isn’t sure whether he wants to be rid of Gage. But there is one more possible complication in the mix: Noah isn’t what he seems to be. (Hint: if the title of this story doesn’t tell you anything, look at the cover art.)
Now, I like this story. It has fabulous chemistry between those two men, the sex scenes… well, the phraseology don’t make me cringe at the very least, and there are enough quirky moments to keep things interesting. Noah and Gage are both rather eccentric characters in their own way, Noah especially so, but Ms Glenn manages to make their quirky nature amusing rather than over the top and distracting. The pacing is fine, the build-up is well done, and really, the whole story is pretty fun.
But there are some logic problems, such as Gage telling Noah his name (“Gage Tynan”) without hesitation and generally behaving not very much like a professional assassin who is supposed to be good at his job. I can suspend my disbelief at Noah’s generally sanguine reaction to Gage’s job because Noah isn’t wired to the same frequency as the people around him. Gage is human, however, and therefore it is hard to overlook the more illogical actions from him.
The Cat’s Meow is a pretty entertaining read that manages to make the whole shifter thing feel a little bit new all over again. But it is also a bit rough around the edges. Some tightening around to remove the more illogical moments would have made this one a much better read.
