About a cat - but, most important, 'Dad left for work each day; he was a librarian'.

An Unshelved comic strip drew me to this book. I liked the story, but I think it needed a couple more drafts.

In general, it's a great little horror story about a family that takes in what appears to be a kitten but what might be some monstrous creature feeding on their life force. For a while, the story could work on multiple levels -- Is the kitten merely a metaphor? Are the narrator's fears simply a projection of his anxieties about unwelcome changes in his family's situation? Ultimately, these possible depths to the story are abandoned, while the story meanders unnecessarily away from the scene of the action, only to return and play out clumsily. ( )