The Goosebumps book about an evil cat, as well as the first Goosebumps Series 2000 book.
Allison Moore is riding her bike on the way to school when she accidentally runs over a black cat. When she tries to break the news to the owner, a little girl named Crystal, she is informed that this is an evil cat named Rip. The cat then suddenly springs back to life and runs away. Soon she starts seeing the cat everywhere. She keeps killing him but Rips keeps coming back. Is what Crystal said true? And why does Allison start feeling more catlike after Rip scratches her?
It was loosely adapted into the 5th and 6th episodes of the 4th season of the 1995 TV series.
The book provides examples of:
- Animorphism: If Rip scratches someone, they slowly turn into a cat person. He did it to Crystal's mom and it starts happening to Allison as well.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Subverted with Tanner. Allison finds him adorable, which annoys him to no end. He teases her but she usually isn't bothered by it.
- Animal Testing: The reason Rip exists is that he was a victim of this. While all the other test subjects died, Rip stayed alive due to just how evil he was.
- Bloodier and Gorier: It sets the more violent tone for Series 2000 up early on when Allison decapitates Rip.
- Cats Are Mean: R.L. has gone on record to say he dislikes cats and thus Rip takes this trope up a notch.
- Chekhov's Gun: Allison has a toy mouse collection and she later uses one of them to distract Rip and his ghost cat minions.
- Covers Always Lie: A slight example. Rip is all black on the cover but in the book he is gray with a sliver of white.
- Hairball Humor: As part of her transformation, Allison barfs up a hairball at one point.
- Here We Go Again!: Rip is defeated but Ryan got scratched and starts to become a catperson.
- Fake-Out Opening: The book starts with a sequence involving two kids going up against an evil cat creature, which turns out to just be a film Tanner is watching. Its name? Cry of the Cat.
- School Play: Allison's class is putting on a play their teacher wrote called "The Princess and the Jewel Thief". They practice it a couple times but it gets dropped about midway through the story.
- Whole-Plot Reference: Stine has said the whole premise was inspired by Pet Sematary. The book even features a "pet graveyard" to be sly, despite calling it a cemetery before revealing it is for pets.
