Night of a Thousand Claws is the twenty-eighth book in the Give Yourself Goosebumps gamebook series. It was published in 1998.
The cover illustration depicts the inside of a house with a window looking out upon a lighthouse in the background. In the foreground, a cat girl with long fingernails is grinning as she is preparing to strike.
Blurb[]
FEELING CLAWS-TROPHOBIC?
You arrived on Cat Cay Island today. And it's already a cat-astrophe! You should have listened to that cabdriver's warning: Never go outside after dark!
But your brother Sam has disappeared. And it's up to you to save him- and yourself. From the hundreds of evil mutant cats dying to get their claws on you. And from Katrina the Cat Woman' who wants to make you—or your parents—the next Keeper of cats!
The choice is yours in this scary GOOSEBUMPS adventure that's packed with over 20 super-spooky endings!
Plot[]
You and your family go on vacation to Cat Cay Island, which is inhabited by strange catlike creatures. You are told not to go out at night, but you're forced to do so when one of your younger brothers goes missing. You and your other brother find the missing brother in a lighthouse. In there, a man warns you about the cats being evil and that you should stay in the lighthouse. You must then choose whether to stay in the lighthouse or to leave, and it is that choice that the two main storylines are separated. There is some randomization and a puzzle included to further the plot along with the choices you make.
Story A[]
You decide to leave the lighthouse and run from the man, but your brothers spot some cats moving towards the sand dunes, and you all decide to investigate. You witness hundreds of cats taking part in a ritual with Katrina Madd, the "Keeper of the Cats" - but her time is coming to an end, and she needs to find a replacement. It's up to you to find out what the cats are planning and stop them.
Story B[]
You stay in the lighthouse but get trapped as the cats break in. The man (Jacob Madd) is injured by the cats, and tells you to "go to the light" - but you don't know what he's talking about. You and your brothers have to escape while evading the cats, and the booby traps that Jacob set up for protection.
Side story C[]
From story A, rather than follow the cats, you decide to just go home. You notice that a pair of black cats are following you, but you don't think anything of it - until you're warned that it's unlucky for a black cat to cross your path. You and your brothers try to enjoy the day, but have now been cursed by the cats. There is no good ending to this Side Story.
List of endings[]
There are twenty-two bad endings, three ambiguous endings, and one good ending.
Bad endings[]
| Ending | Paths |
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Enchanted cat fur turns you and your brothers permanently invisible and unheard. |
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You swing on a rope towards what you think is another room, but it is really outside the lighthouse, so you fall to your death. |
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You and your brothers go up the lighthouse in a dumbwaiter (elevator) but arrive in a room full of cats. You jump back into the dumbwaiter, but it's already gone, and you all fall down the elevator shaft. The page implies that you are somehow magically stuck falling forever. |
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You're trapped in a room with the cats, so you activate the lighthouse's sprinkler system, and the cats drown. But so do you - since there's no way out of the room, and you can't switch off the sprinklers. |
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Alternatively, you successfully find enough words in the phrase "SPIRAL STAIRCASE", but become so obsessed with the puzzle that you don't notice the cats approaching you or your brothers' warnings. Just as you say "Last", one of the many words you find, the cats kill you; ironically making "Last" your final word. |
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You can't figure out enough words to create from the phrase "SPIRAL STAIRCASE", and the cats kill you. The book makes out that this is your punishment for being too lazy to solve a simple puzzle. |
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You don't know which button to press to activate the lighthouse lamp. You frantically press different ones, but this causes cats to rain down upon you from the walls and ceiling. You're buried under all the cats. |
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You and your brothers fall into a pit and realize there is a panther in there. You try to climb out, but it's too slippery, and the panther eats you. |
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While defending yourself from a robotic saber-toothed tiger, you catch something which switches on a bunch of other robotic predators that were in the room. They trap you for the tiger to kill. |
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Walking into an electrified booby-trap that the cats set up to catch you. You're stunned by the electricity and can't move, and the room fills up with cats, which will kill you. |
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You're trapped in a room with the cats, and use bubble gum to ward them off - by covering them in the gum bubbles so that they stop to lick it off their fur. But it is extremely strong gum created by Jacob as a booby trap. You and your brothers get stuck to the gum-covered floor, and the cats will kill you as soon as they've finished licking themselves clean. |
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You let Katrina out of a cage and then she puts you in the cage. |
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You ignore the warning that you're cursed with bad luck, and go out in a motorboat. But the curse strikes, so the boat sinks rapidly and you drown. |
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You and your brothers hire a boat and get away from the cats. You decide to explore an island, only to discover it looks just like Cat Cay but full of dogs. |
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You discover a cemetery but end up falling into a pit - apparently a trap the cats set for you. The cats advance and rip you into pieces. |
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You're attacked, and apparently killed, by hundreds of ghost cats. |
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You try to walk through a sand storm, but are overpowered and buried alive in the sand. |
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You try to take a photo of the cats as evidence. But the camera has the flash on, alerting Katrina and the cats that you're there. The cats catch you and attack you. |
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You call for a taxi and request the driver who took you to Cat Cay (thinking that he would believe your story about the cats.) But when you get into the taxi, Katrina is driving. She traps you in the cab and drives away. You're too scared to ask where she's taking you. |
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Katrina, who's transformed into a giant cat, chases after you. You try to spray her with a garden hose (since cats hate water) - but the hose isn't connected to the water supply, and Katrina catches you. |
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You hatch a plan to trap Katrina inside a garage, but get caught in there with her. Katrina traps you and plays around with you like a mouse - you realize that she'll kill you once she gets bored. Your brothers won't save you, because they are obeying your instructions not to open the garage door under any circumstances. |
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Your brother is missing and you think he's in Katrina's cottage, so you go to look for him. But Katrina catches you and is furious that you broke into her home. Your parents punish you by making you do chores for her, so you spend the whole summer taking care of her cats and cleaning all the litter trays. |
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Ambiguous endings[]
| Ending | Paths |
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You switch on the lighthouse lamp, and all the evil cats hurl themselves off the lighthouse. Jacob Madd regains consciousness and explains that you guessed correctly about what he meant. Your parents show up, but — to your horror — they have adopted a kitten from one of the evil cats. |
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You break the cats' curse. The evil cats crumble into dust, and your parents are saved. But, when you get home, it turns out that now you have a dog tail and a hunger for kibble. (There are two ways to reach this ending.) |
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Your parents get turned into the new cat leaders, breaking the curse over Katrina. You're mostly alright with this, as your parents now let you stay up late at night, except for the fact that they keep transforming into giant cats in public. |
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Good endings[]
| Ending | Paths |
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You save your brothers and the real Katrina from Jacob Madd. He is turned into a cat, and Katrina turns back into a human. She thanks you for saving her and takes you back to the house. (The "Katrina" you met before was an impostor.) |
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Page map[]
International releases[]
| No. | Book | Country/Language | Translated title | Release date | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 |
Night of a Thousand Claws  |
United Kingdom
English |
Night of a Thousand Claws | 2001 | Scholastic |
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Artwork[]
Trivia[]
- Cover illustrator Craig White said that the cat woman on the cover of this book was inspired by his wife and his pet cat.[1]
- This book went under the working title Evil Cats of Cat Cay.[2]
- Whether Jacob and Katrina are good or evil depends on the choices you make in this story.
- There is only one truly "good" ending to this book; there are several other endings that are mostly good, but something goes wrong at the last minute.
- This story bears many similarities to one of R.L. Stine's Ghost of Fear Street books entitled, Night of the Werecat.
- Catgirl is a possible reference to the Catwoman from the Batman DC comics.