The Cat From Hell
Horror
By: Stephen King
Reviewed by Dylan Camp
4 out of 5 stars
Harlston’s business was death, he had brought it to eighteen men and six women. Just another job for the private hitter when an old man confronts him with another job. Only thing is this job is different. Drogan- the old man- was close to death, Harlston could see this. The only thing he had wanted from him was to make a kill. This was the unusual part, the hit had been placed on a cat. When Harlston confronted the cat for the first time, a long silent moment passed, in a strange way he felt he had know the cat, but a man of his type had no superstitions whatsoever. He had been ready to add one cat to his record by using his hybrid .45 caliber pistol but that was not the plan. This whole thing seems like a joke to Harlston but Drogan is as serious as it gets. Unlike him, Drogan was superstitious. He was the only one of his siblings, and to his belief the cat had killed three before, in his very own mansion. He was a pharmacist, his medical experiments resulted in the deaths of thousands of cats, and now he feels as though this one is back to get him.The Cat From Hell is actually a surprisingly good story. It sets a certain chilling mood in your mind, seemingly like a mystery unraveling itself. The story was very descriptive and relative. It seems like a gritty, blackened story because of the hitman but ends up as an elegant well planned story. For something he was just placing in a short story book it was surprisingly fun to read.
The Cat From Hell is a novella in the short stories book Just After Sunset by Stephen King. King puts a new twist on this story by adding elegancy and twisted images into your mind. If this was published as a full length novel I would say it would have to be a must read. This story is very chilling but at the same time extremely interesting, therefore making it a fun and easy read. Not only was this story good but also many others in this book. The only downfall was its length. I had read The Mist in The Skeleton Crew and I believed it was good but it was missing a lot. Later they published an actual book of it and it felt completed after I had read it. Had this been longer it would make for a fun, time occupying read, even though it is pretty “filling“ as it is. Overall I believe it deserves a 4 out of 5.
