Review: Kitty and the Midnight Hour

Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


After recommending this book strongly to a friend yesterday, I realized that it had been so long since I had read it that I had forgotten the plot. I still remembered some of my favorite scenes, but I couldn't recall the story arc of this particular book. So I took it down and read it. And, after reading it, I still found myself flipping to the front of the book to remind myself how it started.



While that might sound like a bad thing, I don't perceive it that way. As I read the book, the narrative seems to progress so naturally that it's often difficult for me to remember the steps that led to any specific event. The events seem to occur organically, each one building to the next.



As the novel opens, Kitty Norville is subbing for a coworker and doing the midnight DJ shift at the radio station where she works--KNOB in Denver. Bored with recent music, Kitty decides to talk instead, and she asks her listeners if any of them have ideas about why The Weekly World News (which is now sadly defunct) had been reporting on Bat Boy for 50 years. On caller suggests that it's a cover up for supernatural activity and hints that he may be a vampire; another caller has heard wolves in an area where they're supposedly extinct. One of my favorite callers asks if she believes in vampires. He asks if she thinks that first caller was a vampire, and when she says she didn't know, he explains that

"I go to nightclubs a lot, and sometimes people show up there, and they just don't fit. They're, like, way too cool for the place, you know? Like, scary cool, like they should be in Hollywood or something and what the hell are they doing here--"



"Grocery shopping?"



"Yeah, exactly!"

The next caller asks about salvation and claims to be a vampire.



Kitty's stint hosting late night and her improvised call-in show turn out to be a huge hit. Her manager is thrilled with the ratings, making it a regular show and even taking it into syndication.



However, at least two people are not pleased--Arturo, the local Master Vampire, and Carl, the alpha male of her pack. Arturo approaches Carl to get Kitty to quite the show, but in a rare showing of stubborness, she refuses.



Kitty is the lowest the member of the pack, and Carl would like to keep her that way. She's the newest wolf in the pack, and Carl wants to keep her as a puppy. So long as she's a puppy, she won't have to stand for herself, and he'll protect her. But the human Kitty is an adult, and she can't stay a puppy forever.



Vaughn's portrayal of Carl's pack is troubling. From the outset it is clear that Kitty doesn't accept her role within the pack, but the voice of the Wolf within her explains that this is how things are supposed to be. As alpha, Carl has sexual access to any wolf in the pack (although he seems to be heterosexual, there's never a clear statement that says that male wolves would not also submit to him). When he chastises Kitty for trying to step outside her role, the yelling will turn into a sexual encounter. As much as Kitty can recognize this as abuse, her Wolf loves him. Changing her relationship with Carl means challenging the pack structure, and Kitty doesn't know if she's ready to do that just yet.



In the course of the novel, Kitty is outed as a werewolf while broadcasting, and society must suddenly deal with the fact that supernatural creatures are real. As she's the only "out" werewolf, the local police come to her when they find themselves facing a series of gruesome murders.



The murders--and Kitty's relationship to her pack--form the story arc for the novel. In some ways, though, they're secondary. The true wonder of this book is Kitty's relationship to her callers. They come to her looking for advice, trying to understand the moral implications of their lives. Or looking for the location of the next vampire orgy. In any case, Kitty tries to talk with them and provide some form of guidance. Through Kitty, Vaughn is able to explore the world she has created in a way that's simply not possible for most urban fantasy.



I adore the Kitty novels, and I can't wait for the newest entry in the series this summer.



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