Bunny's Reviews: Cat Key Review Spotlight

We have THE perfect book to curl up with as the days darken. Check out Cat Key by Mason Gallaway and be sure to add it to your fall TBR!

Cat Key by Mason Gallaway is a standalone paranormal story with some hints of horror thrown in. At first glance at this book's cover, you definitely get the paranormal aspect. With the grayness of the character on the cover, with the key being in such a prominent position it immediately draws the eye. It piques your interest in what lies between this book's covers and what the characters will be faced with.

The book starts off with a young woman standing outside of a hospital. The reason why she's there? To say goodbye to her grandmother. She thought that they had more time to get to know each other better, spend time together, and more. The grandmother thought that she had a little more time to reveal her secrets to her granddaughter. Secrets that she would need moving forward to keep balance in the world. But that time was stolen away.

There is a thick air of mystery that this book is steeped in. You get the vibe very quickly as you delve deeper into this story. Kitt, the main character, is embarking on her journey into college. The relationship between her and her dad is strained. That vibe is prevalent from their first interaction. You get the feeling that it stems from his relationship with his girlfriend. There really isn't any clarification when it comes to this particular aspect of the story.

Kitt can't be described as dynamic or vivacious. She comes off as bland, to be honest. She's not a character that draws you into the story. It feels more like she gets pushed and pulled in whatever direction the author deems necessary to move the story along. It's disappointing how emotionless she tends to be throughout this book. You get some flares of emotion, but not enough to draw you in.

The biggest draw for this novel is the cat, Key. Key, so named by Kitt (you'll get why) holds the key that Kitt needs. It's all very strange, but it does the trick of drawing you deeper into the story and wondering what is going to happen next. Key has the literal key that Kitt's grandmother left for her. But some circumstances and situations arise that keep Kitt from getting the key and all that it entails.

This book has some interesting elements, but when it comes to the "horror" aspect, it's a miss for me. I don't get much of that unless you count the weird creatures that pop up now and then. Do they contribute some form of threat at times? Yes. Is it a continuous one that the characters have to constantly be on edge for? No.

The storyline moves along with additional characters that come together with Kitt. You get a few explanations as to what is going on, but there are still questions that are left unanswered. Which at the end, of the day is disappointing. I would have liked a bit more detailed background into the origins of the keys, and the skipping of a generation, but this book still remains decent at the end of the day.

This book is left with a bit of an open-ended feeling. It begs the question of whether will there be a return to these characters. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

4 out of 5 stars

Thank you to the author, Mason Gallaway, and R&R Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this book. I look forward to what comes next.

Cat Key

Publication Date: May 23, 2023

Genre: Horror/ Paranormal

After the mysterious death of her grandmother, Kitt learns that she is heir to a key talisman with potent healing power, granting her a place in the mystical Order of the Keys. But dark forces also want power, and they are willing to destroy the balance of form and void to get it. When Kitt tries to obtain her birthright, the key is accidentally lost, carried away by a common house cat in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Along with the other Key Holders, she must evade fierce, ravenous entities to find the cat and reclaim her key. Otherwise, the wounds in time and space will grow and darkness will consume all.

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Excerpt

Most grandkids might find themselves in tears after reading a letter from a recently deceased grandparent. Some might not feel much at all. But Kitt just felt confused. Loved and grieved,
certainly. But mostly confused and a little creeped out. Her eyes went back to “simple and safe” and “anything else.” What else would there be?

She folded up the letter and stuck it into her pocket. She stepped out of the car and walked up the drive toward the house. Time to find the book, and, she assumed, the necklace with the key. It would be strange to see the key again, to actually hold it. Finding it sounded simple enough. Simple and certainly safe. How could it be otherwise?

As a girl, Kitt would flush with joy at the thought of visiting Bella, but she hadn’t ever visited her alone. Her mother would never have allowed that. And when Kitt and Gwen were within Bella’s walls, Gwen would never stray far from Kitt’s side, as if she were some kind of tether holding Kitt to the ordinary world, to the simple and the safe.

Kitt always wanted to snap that tether and sointo ar the realms of the strange, the unexplained. But now, as she walked up the path to the rust-colored door of that grey stone cottage house, she thought of all the good things tethers could do for people, for high-rise construction workers who didn’t want to splat on the concrete, for astronauts avoiding the pull of oblivion.

Because the light of Bella’s house did have its attendant shadows. Doubt was the best word Kitt could think of to describe it. If doubt could creep, whisper, if it could tap on shoulders and chuckle in ears, Kitt might have imagined it as the unseen guest she always sensed lurking in Bella’s house.

What that thing represented was unclear. Perhaps her grandmother truly was crazy, unstable, and bereft of any special powers. Or that she did have powers, but only for the ill? Some of those feelings might have been her mom’s influence, but Kitt wasn’t so sure. The sense of warmth, secure,ity and love presented themselves first––the good feelings. Those energies always seemed the strongest to Kitt, but Kitt wondered if that darkness of doubt would be waiting for her now, ready to pounce on her and force itself into her mind and heart.

She inserted the key and unlocked the door. The door opened and she entered her grandmother’s house for the first time in seven years––for the first time ever alone.

***

No ghosts seized Kitt when she stepped into the gloomy foyer. But she was hit with a cloud of dampness and warmth, and a smell of sodden soil, as if a dense forest surrounded her instead of bricks and wood and antiques. Interwoven in the aroma was a charred smell that made Kitt think of vampires gone to ash. All the curtains in the front room were closed, so the house was
flooded in darkness.

Kitt inhaled a couple breaths of the strange aromas, but when she sniffed a third time, she found the air was suddenly flat and stale and vacant. As though her opening the door had released some essence that had been trapped inside…

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About the Author

Mason Gallaway is a writer of mostly dark, weird, and scary stories. He is the author of CAT KEY and SEA SECRETS, and his short stories have appeared in various publications. He lives in Tennessee with his family and has a life that's not too dark, weird, or scary.

You can find him on Instagram - @masongway, or at masongallaway.com