Book Review: Kitty Rocks The House by Carrie Vaughn (Kitty Norville #11)

On the heels of Kitty's return from London, a new werewolf shows up in Denver, one who threatens to split the pack by challenging Kitty's authority at every turn. The timing could not be worse; Kitty needs all the allies she can muster to go against the ancient vampire, Roman, if she's to have any hope of defeating his Long Game. But there's more to this intruder than there seems, and Kitty must uncover the truth, fast.

Meanwhile, Cormac pursues an unknown entity wreaking havoc across Denver; and a vampire from the Order of St. Lazaurus tempts Rick with the means to transform his life forever.

My Review: 
Rick and Kitty are trying to gather allies for the upcoming battle against Roman and the arrival of a vampire priest to see Rick coincides with a deadly entity starting to cause chaos around Denver

Kitty is having a lot of domestic problems to deal with. Her sister Cheryl is angry that Kitty isn't devoting more time to her family and it leads to a fall out between them. She is upset that her wolf Trey feels he has to phone into the radio show to get Kitty to help with his problem, as she seems to have little time for her Pack and their personal problems. With a new member Darren, a friend of Nasser the Master of Tripoli looking to join the Pack, Kitty is unsure if upsetting the group dynamic is a good idea at this moment in time. Darren soon starts breaking rules and finds a few allies and suddenly there is dissent over her Pack leadership and control might be up for grabs. It is not what Kitty needs when things are going wrong all over Denver.

The arrival of Father Columban also has Kitty worried as he wants Rick to give up Denver and join the vampire priests on their Pope sanctioned mission to stop Roman. Rick has always been religious and the idea of doing good and being welcomed back into the arms of the Church is a tempting prospect. Fearing that this is some kind of trap, Kitty asks Cormac to keep an eye on the priest, especially when Jessi tells her that the Father is wanted in Europe for arson and murder. Things come to a crisis point when Rick's vampires report that he hasn't been seen in days and they and Kitty can't seem to get in contact with him. With an important ally arriving to see Rick, Kitty is left to deal with the situation. The last thing she needs is some kind of entity running wild through the city, which seems to be connected to the arrival of Father Columban.

I have to agree with Trey that Kitty barely seems to be around to look after her Pack as she is often out of town on missions connected to stopping Roman. While I get that she is trying to save the world from the Long Game, she should be paying more attention to her Pack and involving them in what she is doing, instead of leaving them to their own devices. Darren's arrival and disregard for her rules is making her look even weaker and a few of the Pack are wondering if it is time for Kitty and Ben to be replaced. Dealing with Pack politics is the last thing that Kitty needs when she is having all the problems trying to find out what is happening to Rick. Cormac is also giving her a headache as he gets knee deep in trouble while he tries to find out where Rick is.

I wouldn't say that this was the best book in the series. I was really annoyed by what Amelia and Cormac did in connection with Father Columban AFTER Kitty has sorted out the situation involving Rick. I was so angry with Amelia who just didn't seem to care about what she had done and the consequences for the upcoming battle with Roman. GRRR! I would have liked to have seen more of Rick and the Father in this book as I felt that the story was interesting. Rick is a favourite character and I didn't like seeing him AWOL for so much of the book. As for Becky, she was driving me crazy with her stupidity. I did like seeing Jessi feature more in a pro-active manner in this book rather than Kitty trying to avoid her. 

The whole dynamic of the series changed with what happened in this book and at the time I read this (months before getting round to writing this review), I wasn't quite sure how I felt about it. Having read the entire series now I obviously know where the story actually goes so the plot twist in this one doesn't seem as bad. It was still a decent read in the series and it was good to see a bit more of the Pack who have been vastly underused by both Kitty and the author.

Read September 2018
3 stars.