Ferocity (Mass Market Paperback)

by Stephen Laws (Author)
Key Phrases: stone lair, killing run, opal eyes, Big Cat, Land Rover, Kapler Dietersen (more...)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 337 pages
• Publisher: Leisure Books (January 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 084395695X
• ISBN-13: 978-0843956955
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #615,239 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A surprisingly good horror/thriller, February 13, 2007

By	DanD - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Cath and her daughter have just moved out to the country, after Cath's husband was horribly murdered. In the countryside, Cath hopes to escape her grief and pain, to write her novels in solitude. Her new neighbor, Drew, is also recovering from a spouse's horrible death. Drew was once a successful farmer; after his wife died, he left all that behind. The only thing that keeps him going now is his new hobby: trying to prove the existence of the Big Cats.

For Drew has seem them: black as a panther, yet bigger and more ferocious. Their camoflage abilities are almost supernatural; their scent is musky and dense. They are out there, hiding, waiting, biding their time; but now a violent storm is coming, along with violent humans, and the Big Cats and humans will come face-to-face...

"Ferocity" was surprisingly good. Normally, horror novels of this nature tend to be paint-by-numbers efforts; fortunately, Stephen Laws is a capable writer, who turns a cliched (but interesting) story into a wonderful (and still interesting) novel. The characters (human and demonic feline) are deep and believable; the atmosphere, especially during the final hundred pages, is tense and almost unbearable. This novel isn't flat-out scary, but it IS entertaining, and provides an excellent tale to keep you awake at night.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stephens Laws is a force to reckon with, December 31, 2006

By	K. Sozaeva "Obsessive bibliophile" (Athens, GA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"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 also taught Drew while he was in school, comes out and hauls him into the house. When Fay roaps them both into giving a talk about 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 amused. Drew has actually had an upclose & personal with one of them and he recalls them as being much larger than the panther they resemble and having some way of remaining unseen, even in areas in which they should be readily visible. After the 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. 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 him.

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!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cracking and inventive horror story, February 10, 2008

By	D. J. Williams "Trail Drover" (U.K) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Stephen Laws does it again, it' been a long wait for another of his novels, but worth it.This one is set on the Northumberland moors where it seems a "big cat" could be stalking the livestock. It's only a matter of time before it gets a human victim! There have always been rumours of sightings of large cats on the moors of the U.K. and Scotland. Stephen Laws goes for the jugular here and creates a believable novel of thrills and tension.the story centres on Cath Lane and her daughter who live on the lonely. windswept moors, also living not so far away is Drew Hall, a lonely guy who thrives on the bleak life on the moors. These two lonely individuals are bought together to face up to the possibilty of these big cats. More than that is about to descend into their secluded world. Three desperate criminals are about to change their lives forever. This is a well written novel with great characters you actually find yourself caring about. That is always the case with Mr. Laws , he creates characters you can grow to admire and perhaps on ocassion identify with. At the same time his three villains jump off the page and are truly terrifying. Grab a good read, you won't be able to put this one down.