Zoey is staying with her aunt over the summer, when she notices the neighbors cats watching her from the fence. They are all mean, black cats that like to terrorize the neighborhood. After one of the cats seem to take a liking to Zoey, she decides that she should rescue it from the mean neighbor, Miss Dupree. This does not go over well, and Miss Dupree decides there needs to be consequences to her actions.

The premise sounds fun, but this book really didn't do anything for me. Although this is a middle grade book, I think it would do better with upper elementary kids who are transitioning to bigger chapter books. I am not the intended audience or age range, but I'm not sure most middle graders would enjoy it. The writing, pace, and plot all seemed to be for a younger audience. It was hard to believe that our main characters were 12 year olds with how they talked and acted.

Parts of the book were fun and make you want to know whats happening next, but the ending wasn't a good payoff. I have only read a couple of books from this author. Even though this wasn't my favorite, I still plan on picking up more of her work in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced reader's copy and the opportunity to read this early. Review has been posted on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Mary Downing Hahn is the quintessential spooky story writer! This is another hit that my middle grade readers are loving!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC.

I love this book! My readers are going to love this book. Zoey is a tad freaked out about the woods near her beloved aunt's home. She realizes there are black cats often. Any book with cats, a witch, and magic are my love.

I am a huge Mary Downing Hahn fan and her books can be big go-tos in my eighth grade classroom. Plus as an adult, I love the horror genre so I talk-up this genre and her work to my readers. I didn't think The Thirteenth Cat was my favorite, as some of the dialogue was too cringey (unrealistic) for me. I don't think I'm aging out of middle grade fiction because that's my bread and butter as an educator so I will anxiously await her next book. Thank you to #NetGalley for the opportunity to preview #TheThirteenthCat - looking forward to many more Mary Downing Hahn releases in the future!

I really wish this book did not have this ending. It destroys me thinking that this former girl /now cat’s family will never know what happened to their daughter. I don’t think it is a good life lesson to be that stubborn and full of pride that you cannot give years, possibly decades, of relief and closure to a grieving family.

I also just don’t think the totally writing and plot wasn’t as amazing as Hahn normally is.

I like Mary Downing Hahn’s older books, (Wait Til Helen Comes is my favorite of hers) but this one was disappointing. It wasn’t very scary and had a slow moving plot. Some of the writing and dialogue was juvenile and others didn’t seem like it fit with a twelve-year-old. The ending was underwhelming and left me wanting more.

The best combo ever written of cats and witches, I could not have loved it more. The kind of book that by the time you figure out there is a danger the MC is already in too deep.

I had great expectations for this book, but was extremely let down. The premise was interesting, but the execution was not great. I kept hoping something scary would happen, but the plot was dragged out and SO dull . The main character was boring and annoying and I was hoping for something terrible to happen to her and her jerky friend. Can’t recommend this one for library purchase. Read Small Spaces or Spirit Hunters instead.

I was not a fan of this book at all. My expectations were very high for suspense, and even fright, which is what I’ve come to expect from Mary Downing Hahn. However, this book fell very short. I did not enjoy the storyline, nor did I think the ending was satisfactory enough to have resolved all the problems and questions presented in the book. I thought the premise of who/what The Thirteenth Cat was, was weak, and I do not think my students, who are familiar with Hahn’s work, would be satisfied with this effort. Sadly, I do not think I will be purchasing it for my library.

Mary Downing Hahn is the best author of spooky, scary, creepy books for kids that I know of. (R.L. Stein is a close second, but for me he is second.) This is an excellent addition to her bibliography and to any library that serves kids who may be into the spoopy stuff.

I really thought the premise to this book sounded really interesting. However, it just wasn’t exciting. The story just felt like it dragged on and on and wasn’t at all creepy. It took so long to get to ending that really didn’t matter anyway. The characters were all one-dimensional and weren’t relatable. The writing over all was flat and felt very juvenile even for a middle grade book. For being written by the “queen of middle grade horror”, I was pretty disappointed. Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for a copy of the arc in return for an honest review.

Mary Downing Hahn, the queen of ghost stories, delivers a different type of scary story with The Thirteenth Cat. Rather than going head to head with a ghost, Zoey, our main character, will face a bunch of terrifying black cats and an exceptionally evil witch.

Zoey always spends the summers with her Aunt Alice in the suburbs. It’s a nice change from Brooklyn where she lives with her mom. This summer, Aunt Alice is living in a new town, Bexhill, and Zoey is even more excited about spending the summer in this new neighborhood. But, Aunt Alice has a very strange neighbor who lives in a dilapidated house surrounded by overgrown woods and a fence, with a lot of no trespassing signs. Miss Dupree also has a seemingly unlimited number of black cats, and they are very mean, all except for one. The cat called Thirteen by Miss Dupree always seems to be trying to escape; she is chased and bullied by the other cats, and she looks severely malnourished. So, naturally, Zoey decides to rescue her, but by doing so she incurs the wrath of Miss Dupree, and the interest of Miss Dupree’s niece, Zleta. When Zoey finds herself kidnapped by the two, she will face a challenge she never expected.

The premise of this story was really interesting and unique, however it wasn’t as exciting as I would have expected from a thriller. The characters all felt very one-dimensional, with no growth throughout the course of the novel. The ending was also extremely disappointing, making it feel that the entire story was kind of a waste of time. The characters and story in general also rely heavily on the stereotypical black cats are bad, which hurt my black kitty mama heart.

Mary Downing Hahn will always find an audience, so The Thirteenth Cat is still a worthwhile purchase. However, be prepared for some unhappy kiddos as they finish the novel with no satisfaction or closure.

The anticipation can be intense at times, just like being around cats. MDH does a great job developing the main characters and painting a picture of their circumstance. The reader is transformed into the dark world of magic and mystery right along with the characters.

Spooky and fresh for fall! Take a break from the ghost stories and pick up this tale of animal transformation. After two girls mistakenly stumble across their neighbors secret they are forced to spend most of their summer as cats! How will they escape, and why is this happening? You will enjoy this original story from Mary Downing Hahn!

I am not usually a fan of horror books, but I have to say this one was surprisingly good. The a story was believable enough to be creepy without going to far for middle grade readers. In the Thirteenth Cat, Zoe comes to spend the summer with her Aunt. She's drawn to the woods next door but is told not to enter them because of the scary, unfriendly lady that lives there. When Zoe tries to rescue a cat that runs into the woods, Zoe Meets the mysterious Mrs. Dupree and her thirteen cats. Now they seem to be watching her, and Zoe is afraid of what will happen next. If your looking for a spine tingling read, this is the book for you. It would make a perfect read aloud for October.

This was well written and engaging. I would recommend it for middle grade students. It is not as scary as some of Mary Downing Hahn’s other books. It has an interesting twist and kept me engaged, even as an adult.

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Zoey lives in New York with her very busy mother, so she is glad to visit her Aunt Alice during the summers. Her aunt is a public librarian, and lives in a small town with nearby woods, so there are a lot more interesting things to do. This year, however, Zoey has an unpleasant run in with neighbor Miss Dupree. Miss Dupree has many cats, who wander around and terrorize the neighborhood, and Aunt Alice tells Zoey to steer clear of the woman, since she doesn't like trespassers on her property, and is generally difficult to deal with. When Zoey sees a smaller cat who makes her miss Suki, her cat back home, she decides that the cat (known only as Thirteen) would be better off and takes her. She names the cat Nia, convinces her aunt to let her keep her, and hides her from Miss Dupree, although the woman knows that Zoey has the cat, and threatens her unless she returns it. Zoey also meets a neighbor girl, Lila, who is sure that Miss Dupree is a witch and that the cats are her familiars and spy for her. The girls work together to investigate Miss Dupree's activities. Soon, however, Zleta Delgata the glamorous niece of Miss Dupree approaches Zoey and convinces her to come to the house to talk. Zoey reluctantly agrees, as there is something mesmerizing about Zleta and her perfume. Before she completely understands what is going on, she has been turned into a cat! Her aunt panics, her mother comes from New York while the search is going on, and even though Miss Dupree is interviewed, there's nothing that can be found. When Lila tries to look for her new friend, she is also turned into a cat. Miss Dupree is a witch who has turned girls into cats so that she can make them sew her line of haute couture designs all night long, and believe during the day that they really are cats (complete with eating mice and birds) so that they don't escape. Thirteen remembers a little bit about being a human, but not a lot, so Zoey and Lila know that they must work quickly to trick Miss Dupree into turning them back into girls. Will they be able to convince Zleta to help them before they are condemned to a bizarre twilight life?
Strengths: This is certainly a new and hauntingly bizarre premise for a horror book.
Weaknesses: There's an awkward turn to this when Zoey and Lila return from being cats, and don't remember a lot of their experiences. If this had been written in the third person rather than first person, it would have been easier to show that transition without seeming odd. I also found it hard to be sympathetic to Zoey. Don't steal animals from neighbors (there's not hard evidence that Nia is being abused; Zoey just doesn't like Miss Dupree), especially if you think they are witches!
What I really think: Definitely purchasing, since I have a huge Hahn following in my library. What a career she has had! I wish that some of her books, like The Old Willis Place, would be reissued, although perhaps it's just as well they aren't. The Puppet's Playback didn't hold up as well as expected. I liked this one better than Guest and Took and not quite as much as The Girl in the Locked Room or One for Sorrow.

Anther great story from Hahn, whenever she has a new book I always add it to my library, and after a somewhat bringing beginning this book will be added to my shelves. Once I got about a third of the way through I could not be it down, and off course cats and scary stories go together great. Thanks netgallery

The Thirteenth Cat is a bit of "The Metamorphosis" and a bit of "The Witches". It takes a bit for the plot to get moving, but gets to be a bit entertaining once the magic starts.