Reviewed by Alice DiNizo for Readers' Favorite

Fairbanks, now named Sisypuss, a young cat, riddled with FIV from his laboratory days and his days on the road, is now living happily out his days with Booley who has his own physical problems. Fairbanks was born to an old homeless cat mother who birthed him, his brother Bob with whom he bonds for years, his little sister Alice, and the rather aggressive brother Simon in an empty dog house in a dentist's backyard. Animal control is called and they are taken to an animal shelter. Alice and Simon find good homes but Bob and Fairbanks along with a nice old German Shepherd named Shep are "adopted" by someone who sells them to an animal dealer who sells them to an animal research laboratory, Able Testing Laboratory, where they are horrifically treated by lab workers. Fairbanks, Bob, Shep and the other poor animals are tortured to probe the mysteries of human diseases such as spinal cord injuries, strokes and other traumas. Fairbanks' eyes are stitched shut, he and Bob have holes and rods drilled into their heads, all in the name of research. But then, one day animal rescuers raid this horrible research laboratory and gather up Fairbanks, Bob, and as many other animals as they are able to and get them to veterinary care immediately. Can this story possibly have a good ending?

"Sisypuss" is a well-written tale of a cat's survival under the most horrifying conditions that will have raised the hackles on the necks of animal loving readers. Fairbanks and his brother Bob, their first rescuer Elizabeth, and all the other characters, human and animal, are totally believable even to the yellow lab who is viciously chained to a post. The plot moves smoothly with the ups and downs in Fairbanks' life to the book's conclusion. If a reader is not an animal activist upon reading "Sisypuss", that reader is guaranteed to be in the forefront of protecting dogs, cats, and any animals by the book's ending pages.