Tiddles by S. Carey

Eerie series. Puffin, 2013. ISBN: 9780143307372. Paperback, 72 pages. RRP:$9.99.
I love cats. I love my Aunty Shirley. I love little holidays away from my family. How about you?
Brother and sister, Ben and Cathy, have to stay with their Great-Aunt Pam for a week while their parents are busy organising a new house and new job. Poor Aunty Pam has lost both her husband and her much loved cat. So far, a pretty normal regular storyline you might think.
But wait . . . Great-Aunt Pam resembles Jabba the Hutt and is twice as nasty. She certainly does seem to miss Tiddles, and Tom as well. But if her beloved cat is dead, then why does she still put out a cat tray and why does the cat bowl have fresh blood around it . . . . . . . and why, oh why, are there dead maggots all around the cat door which keeps flapping in the night.
Trapped in Aunty Pam's house, with doors and windows chained and bolted and no means of communicating with their parents, Ben and Cathy are faced with a horrible realisation and even more terrifying situation.
'They stayed huddled together, only aware of the own racing hearts as the black, dead thing pulled itself relentlessly towards them.'
The Eerie series, written by S. Carey (just think about that name for a moment, folks) is going to be a huge hit with independent readers especially of the zombie-loving kind. Mister 10 is going to eat this series up - oops, perhaps the wrong turn of phrase!
Sue Warren