Review: Kitty's House of Horrors

Reviewed by Jen
 

Let me start off by saying I really liked this Kitty installment. Kitty’s House of Horrors, book 7 in Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty Norville series, kicks off with our heroine getting an invitation to appear on a reality show featuring well-known members of the supernatural community.  About a dozen participants are shipped off to an unknown location to be filmed together for two weeks.  We see a lot of familiar faces: Tina the psychic from Kitty Raises Hell; Grant the magician from Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand; Jeffrey the psychic from Kitty Goes to Washington; and Ariel the radio talk show host we heard about in Kitty Takes a Holiday. (Before I get too far into this, I have to say, I love it when old characters come back in play during a series. It’s like a bonus for fans who have read all the books from the beginning.)  We also have some new faces, with assorted vampires, shifters and one human skeptic that the supernatural folks are tasked with convincing that their gifts are real.

Some weird stuff starts happening and there is immediate tension between Grant and one of the vampires, Anastasia. Each thinks the other may be working with Roman, that really old, nefarious vamp we met in the last book.  If you’re not familiar with Roman, he is part of a vampire faction working what they call “the Long Game,” which is a strategy for world domination.  Anyway, the “weird” quickly becomes more serious as (*spoiler*) people start showing up dead. All the camera and production folks are gone; power is out; there are no phones and no escape.

The “house guests” start getting picked off one at a time as they scramble to figure out who is behind the attacks and how to escape.

It’s tough for Kitty to be away from her pack and Ben… who is (at the same time) working to get Cormac released at his parole hearing.

(Spoiler) A lot of people die in this book. One, especially, made me sad. I’ve always had a soft spot for Jeffery, since he brought Kitty a message from TJ from the other side.  Killing people we know and care about in the story reminded me of the “anything could happen” feel of early Kitty books. I also managed to feel tension, both at what was happening in the house with Kitty and wondering what was happening with Ben & Cormac.

This was classic Kitty Norville. Exciting. Unpredictable. 5 stars.