Kitty’s House of Horrors by Carrie Vaughn

Kitty’s attempts to break into television never go well. First, she was outted on national TV by kidnappers in Washington D.C. Then, after hosting a live episode of The Midnight Hour in Vegas, she’s kidnapped again by a cult of feline lycanthropes.  Now Kitty joins the cast of a reality show only to find out it’s really a snuff film.  I think Kitty should stick to radio. 🙂

Title:  Kitty’s House of Horrors
Author:  Carrie Vaughn
Series: Kitty Norville Book 07
Publish Date:  January 1, 2010
Genre:  Urban Fantasy
Source: Purchased

Publisher’s Description: REALITY BITES.

Talk radio host and werewolf Kitty Norville has agreed to appear on TV’s first all-supernatural reality show. She’s expecting cheesy competitions and manufactured drama starring shapeshifters, vampires, and psychics. But what begins as a publicity stunt will turn into a fight for her life.

The cast members, including Kitty, arrive at the remote mountain lodge where the show is set. As soon as filming starts, violence erupts and Kitty suspects that the show is a cover for a nefarious plot. Then the cameras stop rolling, cast members start dying, and Kitty realizes she and her monster housemates are ironically the ultimate prize in a very different game.

Stranded with no power, no phones, and no way to know who can be trusted, she must find a way to defeat the evil closing in . . . before it kills them all.

Possible spoilers beyond this point.

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Kat Mandu says…

Kitty has to decide whether a chance for publicity is worth her own life when she’s trapped in a nefarious plot involving a reality show for supernatural creatures. Violence and trouble follows Kitty everywhere!

I like how even though Kitty’s super paranoid about a lot of things, she still likes to run head first into danger despite those feelings. I mean, she has bad feelings from the get-go about the producers, and of course, the reality show is hosted in a VERY rural area with no cell reception and no escape. Not to mention, even Tina gets bad vibes after a quick psychic session and she’s still like “but it’ll be good publicity.”

That is until things go from bad to worse…Won’t go into too much detail cause I don’t want to get spoilery.

Anyway, this is one of my favorites in the series. It brings back all the good guys from previous books. Tina, for instance, and Grant. Not to mention I have a thing about reality shows (I don’t watch them unless it’s cooking shows but I love reading about reality shows – and technically writing). It also has a bit more humor at the beginning and I think it balances nicely with the thrill that comes later. Kitty gets to kick a little ass but also gets her ass a little kicked. So this book for me was about things balancing out and coming full circle.

Enjoyable read and it gets a five from me!

Invested Ivana says…

House of Horrors is another of my favorite Kitty installments. I love the premise of a reality show with supernatural guests trying to convince a skeptic. I love that we get to visit with favorite characters Jeffrey Miles, Ariel, Odysseus Grant, and Tina McCannon from previous books. I happened to really enjoy the new faces, too: pro-wrestler and werewolf Jerome Macy; politician and were-seal Lee Pontac; author and skeptic Conrad Garrett; vampires Annastasia and Gemma, and their human Dorian.

The beginning of the book is kind of fun–watching all these various personalities interact with silly games and discussions one might see on a reality show. The scene where Lee shows off his seal to the group just when the skeptic has left is priceless.

Then things get nasty. Turns out the show is just a premise to get everyone in one remote location for a big game hunt, and our group of supernaturals are the game. Far too many of them die for my taste. What I do like is how Kitty keeps thinking, “What would Cormac do?” Using Cormac as a template for predicting and out-thinking the bad guys is an excellent strategy and one Kitty can access easily.

What I didn’t care for much in this book is the tension between Anastasia and Grant regarding Roman.  Again, this is part of the Romany story line that never really worked for me. Both Grant and Anastasia believe the other is working for Roman. Since Roman isn’t really a threat yet, as far as the reader is concerned, this feels like a lot of useless posturing.

Overall, this is my favorite Kitty book after the first four, I think just because of the characters and the premise. This one gets a shiny five from me.

Our reviews in this series…

• Kitty and the Midnight Hour
• Kitty Goes to Washington 
• Kitty Takes a Holiday
• Kitty and the Silver Bullet
• Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand
• Kitty Raises Hell

Other reviews…

• All Things Urban Fantasy
• Love Vampires
• Red Hot Books

If you like this book…

…you might try Patricia Brigg’s Mercy Thompson series, Rachel Vincent’s Shifter series, or Eileen Wilks’s World of the Lupi series.