Bernard King – Witch Beast

Bernard King – Witch Beast  (Sphere, 1989)

Alun Hood

Blurb:
Uptown, the depressed Victorian slum area of Monkhampton, long overdue for development, is dying: its shopping precinct boarded up, its church abandoned, its people moved away – apparently into thin air …

At the heart of Uptown, in Salvation, an affectionate snow-white Newfoundland recovers slowly from the vicious maltreatment of his previous owner. And as Leader regains his strength, his coat starts to change colour, and he grows – and grows …

Detective Chief Inspector Ben Wilson, investigating a strange case of arson in Uptown, is attacked by a pack of dogs turned feral, a pack that behaves like a disciplined army …

Then the murders start. And Wilson begins to see a hideous connection; a link that shatters all our comfortable preconceptions about domestic pets. If he and the eccentric Professor Harker are right, man’s best friend is man’s most dangerous enemy – an enemy beyond human control.

Jessica Hamilton – Baxter

Jessica Hamilton – Baxter (Sphere, 1979)

 

Blurb;
Beware Of The Baxter

`The child was even weaker than I thought, and I acted quickly. I was careful not to touch its delicate skin with my teeth. It was a simple matter to grasp its clothing and drag it to the water. It cried out only briefly before I forced it under. It quickly went limp, and I stood back and watched it until I knew its feeble hold on life was broken.’

HE LOOKS LIKE A PET DOG, ONE OF MILLIONS. HE EVEN BEHAVES LIKE ONE – MOST OF THE TIME. BUT HE’S EVIL. INHUMANLY EVIL. AFTER YOU HAVE READ THIS NOVEL, YOU WILL NEVER, EVER, LOOK AT YOUR FAMILY’S PET QUITE LIKE YOU USED TO..

see also the Baxter thread on the Vault of Evil forum

Andrew Sinclair – Cat

Andrew Sinclair – Cat (Sphere,  1977)

Thanks to killercrab of Vault for providing the scan!