0
0
Though I enjoy a good literary read that leaves me with a deeper understanding of the world around me, a fun, mindless read like Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand by Carrie Vaughn is still my first love—and Ms. Vaughn delivers two-fold.
Kitty and Ben are Denver’s werewolf pack’s alpha pair. Now their human sides want to get married—and what better way to do it than Vegas-style? But things are never simple. Kitty’s boss wants her to do her popular radio show, The Midnight Hour, on live TV, and she ends up in a hotel packed full of werewolf-hating bounty hunters who are in town attending a gun show. Still, Kitty is determined to relax beside the pool with a frou-frou drink and hopefully marry the love of her life. That is, if she can keep from getting killed first.
Meanwhile, the vampire community of Las Vegas is hiding a dark secret. The star of a suspicious animal act wants to drag Kitty into his world, and a strange magician has a few secrets of his own. Kitty might just have to rely on the enemy to save her life—and her wedding.
It’s been a while since I’ve truly enjoyed a fantasy read involving werewolves and vampires. But the fact that Kitty is so normal and human for a werewolf makes her irresistible. I loved her spunk—and the fact that she has enough sense to be scared in harrowing situations. Still, she doesn’t let it stop her. Instead, she proceeds with
caution, not with guns blazing. She’s a very smart chick in my book.
Another thing I liked about Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand is that the bounty hunters are the bad guys. The twist from hunters killing the big, scary monsters to werewolves as the good guys is refreshing—something different to shake up the fantasy genre.
Filled with intrigue and mystery and unusual characters (I especially liked the strange magician), Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand wraps you in an illusion unlike any other, bringing the Vegas strip to unique life and putting you right there in the middle of it. Bright, trendy, and marvelous describes this novel perfectly. I absolutely loved it.
I haven’t read the earlier offerings in the Kitty Norville series, but I now want to go back and pick them up. I also look forward to any future novels from Ms. Vaughn—she’s definitely on my auto-buy list.
