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🌑 ARC Review – The Cat by Georges Simenon
📅 Release date: 6th November 2025
⭐️ 3/5 stars
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Synopsis

In the oppressive silence of the sitting room, the woman finally smoothed out the paper and, without putting on her glasses, read the two words her husband had

The cat.

Amidst the din of their Parisian neighbourhood, Émile and Marguerite live in total silence. After a hasty marriage in their sixties, their uneasy peace was shattered when Émile’s beloved cat mysteriously disappeared and was later found dead. Branding his wife the culprit, Émile’s retaliation against Marguerite’s cherished parrot sparked a silent battle of wills. Now they live parallel lives, communicating only through spiteful notes, mocking glances and mute accusations. As their suspicion and resentment mount, this bitter game of psychological warfare becomes a twisted necessity, binding them together in a relentless cycle of torment from which there can only be one escape.

What I thought

The Cat is a short but intense portrait of marital cold war, where comfort has curdled into something sharp-edged and quietly cruel. Simenon’s prose, in this new Penguin Classics translation, is as spare and unflinching as ever, capturing the claustrophobic world of Émile and Marguerite; two people who share a home but not a word, locked in a battle of petty revenges and unspoken grievances.

It’s uncomfortable reading at times, which I think is the point. The silence between them feels heavier than any argument could, and their mutual bitterness becomes both their prison and their only connection. The Parisian backdrop hums quietly in contrast, making the domestic battlefield all the more striking.

The psychological tension is well-crafted, and though brief, the story carries a surprising weight. The writing is excellent, the atmosphere suffocating yet compelling, and the character study razor-sharp. I felt like a fly on the wall in their everyday life, watching the quiet hostility and emotional games unfold.

A sharp, bleak, and slightly absurd slice of human nature, best suited for readers who enjoy quiet, character-driven tales of flawed people and fractured relationships.

3 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.