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Published by Bantam / Penguin Random House

The TERRARIUM

Curiosity just might kill the cat sitter.

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A true-crime fanatic uncovers a nefarious secret when she takes a peculiar cat-sitting assignment in this chilling suspense novel from the author of Peter Miles Has to Die.

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Annie’s life is going nowhere—she’s in her thirties and getting by with cat-sitting jobs. While her clients head off on exotic beach holidays, Annie is left scooping litter and wondering how she ended up as the spectator in other people’s lives. Her one sliver of excitement is Cuppa Crime, a true crime podcast with an active online forum where she obsessively dissects murder mysteries with other fans. That is until a new client, Zoe, reaches out to book Annie’s services.

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Zoe is aloof and mysterious, and she seems intent on keeping it that way. She gives Annie access to her glamourous house and handwritten instructions on how to look after her darling cat, Hades—all without meeting, or speaking, in person. Soon into the gig, Annie is vicariously living through the client she’s never met, her imagination running wild with the possibilities of inhabiting another life.

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And yet something feels wrong about the house. It’s not just the closed-off room Annie is explicitly forbidden from entering. When odd souvenirs begin to pop up in Zoe’s home—souvenirs that seem connected to ongoing murder investigations—Annie suspects that there may be a more sinister side to her client.

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Is it all in Annie’s head, the product of too much true crime and an overactive imagination? Or are her instincts on point? Because the number one rule of Cuppa Crime is “trust your gut.” And if Annie’s gut is telling her anything, it’s that her cat-sitting client is a serial killer.

"For lovers of cats, podcasts, and the insides of other people's homes, The Terrarium is a relatable thriller about the gig economy gone wrong. I was so excited to see what (or who) was kept inside those glass cages that I finished it in a single day. Twisty, fun, and a little scary."
—Tasha Coryell, author of Love Letters to a Serial Killer
 
“Delightful, dark fun.”
—Kelly Mullen, author of This Is Not a Game
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"The Terrarium is a deliciously dark, fun, fast-paced thriller with a deranged ending that absolutely delivers. A must-read for true crime and cat lovers alike, once it sinks its claws into you, it won’t let go.”
—Eliza Jabore, author of Backstabbers
Also by Katie Collom
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PETER MILES HAS TO DIE
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“What happens when three women decide to avenge the murder of their best friend? In her riveting debut, Katie Collom explores what we owe the ones we love and how ordinary life can change in an instant. I couldn’t put down this thriller and was stunned by a plot twist that was a complete shock and yet made perfect sense.”

—Amanda Eyre Ward, New York Times bestselling author of The Jetsetters
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