Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand

Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand is the fifth book in the Kitty series. This series is not very good. The first two books were very slow and only two of the books have been good. This installment doesn't really help the series any. Its plot seems disorganized and there is no new characterization. Vaughn either hits or misses and there seems to be more misses than hits. I don't think Carrie Vaughn will be ranking in my top to read list.

These books are set in modern times where the sidhe, vampires, werewolves and other things that go bump in the night are real. Until now, the general public has been unaware of them. But thanks in part to Kitty's radio show and to the research of the paranormal division of the CDC, the fact of the existence of the supernatural has come into the daylight of public opinion.

Kitty and Ben have become the Alpha pair for the Denver pack, they took down the previous ruling alpha pack and have become the head of the pack. They have also helped Rick to become the ruling master vampire of Denver. So everything seems good. Then Kitty and Ben decide to get married. Their wolf sides are already paired and they decided to make it official on the human side of things. Kitty nor Ben care too much for the large wedding decision making process so they decide to go to Las Vegas to do the deed. The manager of Kitty's radio show also decides that it would be an excellent time for Kitty to make a foray into TV. So they set up a TV show for Kitty to do while she is in Vegas. Kitty plans on doing the show, attending her wedding and sitting by the pool. But a werewolf's life is never that easy. When they arrive in Vegas they discover a gun convention is in their hotel complete with all they bounty hunters that would love to shoot Kitty. Also there are no werewolves in Vegas and a lycanthrope Vegas show could be the cause of there being no wolves. Can Kitty manage to do her show and get married while keeping her nose out of trouble? Its not likely, you will have to read the book to see how deep the trouble goes.

I thought the plot to this novel was a little unfocused and it moves slowly. The first part of the novel is okay, but as we get more involved with Vegas Show group, things happen that aren't fully explained. And some aspects of the plot don't seem to fit together. The ending also seemed a little rushed--things were not explained well, and a lot of the action happens off-screen.

Kitty and Ben are still good characters but they really haven't done anything new and we don't have any new characters that are all that interesting.

This book is simply another weak installment to a weak series. This book is the last nail in the coffin so to speak that does the series in for me. I will probably stop here (although there is one more book out) and hopefully move on to better novels.