Ferocity Book

"Ferocity" is a fun thrill-ride; I wouldn't even call it horror, because there aren't really many aspects of horror - I honestly don't consider wild animals acting like wild animals DO to be horrific, but that's just me! Whomever wrote the description on the back of the book got it ALL wrong, so don't go by what it says. Here's the essential plot in a nutshell:
Cath and Drew are neighbors who haven't met. Both had spouses killed in tragic accidents - Cath's husband was stabbed while they were visiting New York to celebrate her first book being made into a movie and Drew's wife fell into a harvesting combine when the brake that was holding it on the hill vibrated free and it started moving. One night, while Drew is driving home, a reckless driver runs him off the road in front of Cath's house. Cath's housekeeper - Fay - who happened to have taught Drew while he was in school, comes out and hauls him into the house. Then Fay ropes them both into discussing their personal specialities - Cath is a novelist (one of the few things the description on the cover did right) and Drew has been tracking the Big Cats of the Northumberland Fells for several years. Many people believe the Big Cats to be a myth, but the farmers who are losing livestock are not among them. Drew has actually had an "up-close and personal" with one of the Cats and he recalls it as being much larger than the panther they are said to resemble. Apparently they also have some way of remaining unseen, even in areas in which they should be readily visible. After their talk they all go out to dinner and of course Drew and Cath hit it off.

A few days later Drew calls Cath over to announce he has hit a Big Cat with a tranquilizer dart but when they go to check on it, it has somehow escaped; leaving being a spitting, clawing cub that itself is two feet long and a foot high, even though it is only 3 months old (how they know this, I'm not sure - based upon its development, I guess). It unfortunately gets itself caught in the net that Drew had put up to keep the older one in and while they are trying to extricate the little one, the big one attacks. When they are forced to shoot the big one again - in the mouth - to save their lives, Drew is horribly afraid they might have given it an overdose, so they haul it home, putting it into a cage that Drew built over the years. A major storm is rising - one that no one has been able to forecast, which has happened increasingly over the past few years - and the two are overcome with passion, coming to themselves just in time to hear the Big Cat die, which upsets Drew, as he never meant to hurt it.

Add murderous drug runners into the mix, who take Cath and Drew hostage after Cath rescues them from a car accident of their own, and the momma Big Cat, who comes looking for her mate in the middle of the storm, and this book, especially the last half of it, is quite a page turner.

I admit I would have preferred this to be more in English-speak rather than Americanized, but it was still a terrific book and Stephen Laws knows, like no other, how to spin an eerie thriller. Don't miss it!