Reality shows can be killer.

That is the story behind New York Times bestselling author Carrie Vaughn’s “Kitty’s House of Horrors,” as Kitty finds herself trapped in a house with no escape and a rising body count.

Kitty, werewolf and host of a popular paranormal radio talk show, is approached by a junk reality show production team to do a new reality show featuring popular members of the paranormal society. Hearing that a few of her friends and allies are involved, Kitty agrees to join it, only to find out the only reason her friends joined was because they were told that she joined. But that’s just sleazy television production politics, right?

As the cast is taken to a remote cabin in the middle of nowhere with the only way out being by helicopter, Kitty’s a bit nervous, but ready to join in with the other cast members — Macy, a former boxer turned pro-wrestler who’s also a werewolf; Tina, a TV paranormal investigator with a sixth sense; Jeffrey, a TV psychic; Ariel, who hosts a talk show much like Kitty’s; Lee, an Alaskan legislator and were-seal; Odysseus, a Vegas magician whose act is anything but; and two vampires, Anastasia and her ‘child’, Gemma, the winner of the first vampire beauty pageant. There’s also Conrad, an author who likes to debunk all things paranormal and believes everyone involved is a fake. 

At first it seems like trying to convince Conrad they are what they seem will be the point of the show and reality hijinks will be the only thing Kitty and her friends are in danger of. But Tina and Jeffrey’s channeling shows that danger is surrounding them. Then Kitty finds the vampires’ blood donor dead. 

The power is cut, the show has stopped filming, and then they find the bodies of the production crew. While trying to find a means of escape, one of the cast members is killed and that’s when everyone realizes the show is about them being hunted down one-by-one and killed. Kitty soon realizes not many of the cast is going to make it out alive, friends are going to die, and the only way out is to hunt the hunters and stop them — permanently.

This book starts with light usual reality show fare and then takes a dark turn about halfway through. Once everyone realizes what’s really going on, the book picks up speed in a major way and crashes through the rest of the story at a break neck (sometimes literally) pace that will have the reader staying up all night to read it. The characters are really well drawn in this book, and you’re going to care about them, even nasty Conrad. When they are in danger (or even die) you care about what happens to them and want the bad guys punished. I’ve found the Kitty books to be either a hit or miss with me. This one was definitely a hit and is gearing up for something big in the overall world and storyline of Kitty. After this book, nothing will be the same.

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Contact Amy at amendenhall@graffitiwv.com