Book Review: Kitty Goes To War by Carrie Vaughn (Kitty Norville #8)

Kitty Norville, Alpha werewolf and host of The Midnight Hour, a radio call-in show, is contacted by a friend at the NIH's Center for the Study of Paranatural Biology. Three Army soldiers recently returned from the war in Afghanistan are being held at Ft. Carson in Colorado Springs. They're killer werewolves and post traumatic stress has left them unable to control their shape-shifting and unable to interact with people. Kitty agrees to see them, hoping to help by bringing them into her pack.

Meanwhile, Kitty gets sued for libel by CEO Harold Franklin after featuring Speedy Mart — his nationwide chain of 24-hour convenience stores with a reputation for attracting supernatural unpleasantness — on her show.

Very bad weather is on the horizon.

My Review: 
Kitty's latest phone in concerns calls about paranormal activity at Speedy Marts which gets her interested-men in cloaks in stores at night and the owner Harold Franklin being in towns before every major weather disaster. Kitty is further intrigued when Franklin decides to sue her and asks Cormac to look into him and his activities. But when the caller to the show who told of Franklin's weather connection is found dead, killed by lightning, it seems that there may be more truth to the rumours than she first thought. Cormac is determined to keep tabs on Franklin and the Speedy Mart in town, which leads him into trouble. However, Franklin is not going to let them interfere with his deadly plans.

Dr Schumacher asks Kitty for help. It seems old enemy Paul Flemming had contact with a werewolf soldier who then set up his own Special Forces werewolf only squad which went rogue and into civil war when the commanding officer was killed on a combat mission. A power struggle erupted and the winner killed all but two others, all of whom have been captured and imprisoned by the Center for the study of Paranatural Biology, being treated for post traumatic stress. Kitty thinks that she can help two of them adapt to Pack life if she can persuade Dr Schumacher to release them into her care. But will Kitty still be able to control Tyler and Ethan the first time the full moon comes round and they are back in wolf form? And what will they do with the caged leader?

Kitty has been concerned with the way Cormac has been since he was released from prison but she isn't sure if he has had trouble adjusting to freedom with restrictions or if something bad happened to him. Either way Cormac doesn't want to talk about it and Kitty has to keep watch on him. Letting him investigate Franklin gives him something to do while she deals with her werewolf problem but of course, trouble from that investigation is about to land outside her door and threaten Denver itself. Her Pack are somewhat uneasy about the thought of strange new wolves coming to join them, especially with their past full of violence and warfare but Kitty is sure that she can make it work with the help of the Pack.

I can't help feeling that I'd have preffered these stories to be split into two books rather than running side by side. My main reason for that is that I really enjoyed the Franklin story and would've loved to see that as a whole novelinstead of in the background of the werewolf plot. I'd have liked to see the Pack staking out the Speedy Marts in the area, seeing a few dodgy things, maybe a few laughs at the weird goings on that have nothing to do with their investigation and more to do with who shops during the night shift in Denver. There was a lot of potential in that story and I just wish that we had seen more of it than we did.

I did also like the werewolf story and it again would have been good to have that as a whole book. We could have had werewolf attacks in Colorado as they tracked the rogues, then more about them-maybe flashbacks to their military service or their leader meeting with Flemming. I did enjoy the way that story developed through this book with Tyler wanting to change his life and Ethan torn between loyalty to his alpha and his friend. I liked their integration into the Pack, which I thought was way too early but since when is Kitty going to listen to me? I liked how that full moon night leads to the climax of that storyline.

I did enjoy the book overall, especially the last third where the two stories came to a conclusion one after the other. I'd have maybe liked to have seen the weather battle involve a bit more interaction with Kitty's Pack and a bit more preparation but I still enjoyed it. It was nice to finally find out what was happening with Cormac though I'm not quite sure where the author is going to take it in future books and whether or not I'm going to like it. (NB since I wrote these notes I have read all but one of the books and have my answer). We are starting to move towards the main events in the series and the conclusion of Roman's Long Game, and the series is still keeping up a good standard.

Read June 2018. 
4 stars.