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Book Reviews of Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (Kitty Norville, Bk 5)

Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (Kitty Norville, Bk 5)
Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand - Kitty Norville, Bk 5
Author: Carrie Vaughn
ISBN-13: 9780446199537
ISBN-10: 0446199532
Publication Date: 2/1/2009
Pages: 336
Rating:
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 309

4 stars, based on 309 ratings
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

21 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

reviewed Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (Kitty Norville, Bk 5) on
Helpful Score: 3
This book was a little disappointing - not much development of the relationship btn Kitty and the pack now that she's the alpha. Instead the author takes her away to Las Vegas to have an adventure there. Sort of reads like a long setup for Book 5. This book is the series sophomore slump. The first four each had nice story arcs that kept building on Kitty's character development. In this book, it seems the Vaughn didn't quite know what to do with Kitty and Ben so instead she sends them off to Vegas. Still somewhat entertaining but my expectations were a bit higher based on the previous books.
esjro avatar reviewed Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (Kitty Norville, Bk 5) on + 908 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
In Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand, werewolf couple Kitty and her fiance Ben travel to Las Vegas to get married. Ben is almost left at the alter when Kitty is kidnapped by a bunch of hormone-laden werecats. Kitty's rescue options include a magician whose illusions might be for real, and a head vampire who seems more like a puppet governor - who can she and Ben trust in Sin City?

This was on of my least favorite Kitty books. Like Kitty Takes a Holiday, this story seemed better suitable to an anthology - it would have made a satisfying between the novels tale, but as a full-length book it did not satisfy. I did not find any of the Vegas characters very interesting. The events of the next book are premised on Dead Man's Hand however, so I fully expect Kitty to return to her usual fine form once she is back in Denver.
Spuddie avatar reviewed Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (Kitty Norville, Bk 5) on + 412 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
#5 Kitty Norville paranormal series. Kitty, a werewolf, and Ben (formerly her lawyer, now her fiance and pack mate) finally get fed up with planning a big traditional wedding and decide to get married in Las Vegas, much to the chagrin of Kitty's mother. They plan on combining business with pleasure by having Kitty do a live version of her radio show, The Midnight Hour, at a theatre in Vegas.

However, things start falling apart when Kitty is asked by Rick, Denver's Vampire Master, to carry a message to Vegas' Master, Dom. It gets worse when the happy couple arrive at their hotel only to discover that there is a gun convention taking place at the hotel--and Ben recognizes several Hunters--as in, werewolf and vampire hunters--in the crowd. Then there's magic shows featuring real magic and an animal act featuring several lycanthropes. Kitty begins to wonder if her show will ever get done and begins to wonder at the wisdom of their Vegas wedding plans--which were made to simplify everything--and when Ben is kidnapped hours before the ceremony is to take place, she begins the search for him in a state of near-panic.

Does their wedding ever take place? You'll have to read it to find out! Another good entry in this paranormal series, although this one did seem a little fragmented and scattered compared to previous books, not quite as good. Looking forward to the next one, though!
AuntDi avatar reviewed Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (Kitty Norville, Bk 5) on + 141 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
What is a Dead Man's Hand? I had to google it to see what it meant and I still don't really get it as a title for this book. That aside, this was an enjoyable read, Kitty and Ben are a great couple and the world building continues to be interesting. There was not much here about the characters that had already been introduced, aside from Kitty and Ben, but there were a few new ones that I hope we'll see again. I will definitely keep reading.
solarawynn avatar reviewed Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (Kitty Norville, Bk 5) on + 724 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I love most of this book. However, there were times I thought Kitty make stupid mistakes and I found those sections boring. I have found this with several authors. Their characters get a big case of stupid. Overall the action was consistant and will buy the next Kitty book.
BetsyP avatar reviewed Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (Kitty Norville, Bk 5) on + 566 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Instead of a formal wedding, Kitty and Ben decide to go to Vegas and get married. Instead of a simple elopement, Kitty gets talked into airing her show live in Vegas, her parents decide to attend the wedding, she's booked into a Hotel with a gun show, and Ben enters a Poker tournemant. Then, things get strange. Bounty Hunters decide to target Kitty, and Ben goes missing. I enjoyed this installment of the Kitty series.
escapist avatar reviewed Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (Kitty Norville, Bk 5) on + 70 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This book falls way short of the standard for a Kitty Norville book. It has a lot of boring info. about kitty's wedding plans & the action that was involved was just so-so. She seemed more of a victim then normal.

Judging from this book and the short excerpt in the back for the next, I don't think I'll be running out to buy the next Norville book. Such a shame. I really loved this series.
KellitaJ avatar reviewed Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (Kitty Norville, Bk 5) on + 550 more book reviews
Kitty travels around and still does her radio show. All of these books are pretty small in the page dept, and would be a better buy if 2 books were bound together. This story about Las Vegas could have been combined with the last book and all flowed together. I think if you haven't read the previous Kitty Norville books you will not appreciate this latest installment about a werewolf radio show host.
LiteraryLadybug avatar reviewed Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (Kitty Norville, Bk 5) on + 5 more book reviews
I was excited to dig into this book and I was not disappointed!

Kitty and Ben are trying to plan their wedding. As is typical (even for us non-werewolf types) the details are overwhelming and the feeling that the event is out of control overtakes Kitty. She comes up with the brilliant idea to get married in Vegas instead. Of course nothing that simple stays that simple with Kitty.

When her work gets wind of her plans they quickly set it up so her radio show will be broadcast live from Vegas - on tv! Kitty is excited about her first live tv show - but it's her wedding/honeymoon weekend. Add to that Rick (Master Vampire in Denver) wants her to deliver a message to the head vampire of Vegas. And when Kitty get's to Vegas she finds out that she was booked to stay in the same hotel as a gun show - not exactly a great place to relax for a Werewolf.

I really liked how the story played out in this book. I was a little let down at first and thought it was going all Mafia/goodfellows on me - but the story caught me and I enjoyed the ride. I hope we hear more from Odysseus Grant - the strange and otherworldly magician - in future books. (I feel like I am always wishing for characters in her books to rejoin future books - and they don't tend to. Frustrating!)

I am looking forward to the 6th book in the series which should be coming out in March 2009. (YAY!)
annapi avatar reviewed Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (Kitty Norville, Bk 5) on + 334 more book reviews
Kitty and Ben plan to marry in Vegas, and at the same time do a live TV broadcast of Kitty's show. Of course, being Vegas, things go wrong - Kitty discovers that there is a gun convention going on in their hotel, attended by many werehunters from Ben's past life. Then she gets mixed up with the local vampires and a strange magician who seems to practice actual magic; and the local lycanthropes (leopards and tigers) have something strange going on that Kitty is determined to discover. When Ben gets kidnapped on their wedding day, the fur really starts to fly. Another exciting chapter in the Kitty series, Vaughn manages to come up with new twists and turns to her stories to keep them interesting and fresh.
ophelia99 avatar reviewed Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (Kitty Norville, Bk 5) on + 2527 more book reviews
This is book 5 in the Kitty Norville series. It was definitely not a strong book in this series. The book really spent more time kind of setting up a new story.

In this book Kitty and Ben decide to go to Las Vegas to get married. Only things start to get complicated. Kitty's boss talks her into doing a televised version of her radio show while she's in Vegas and Rick asks Kitty to deliver a note to the Master vampire of Las Vegas. Things begin to fall apart when Kitty finds out about the local Las Vegas pack and stumbles upon new types of magic and a secret that the local vampires have been keeping under wraps.

This was an okay book in the series. I felt like Kitty spent a lot of time running around sticking her nose in where she shouldn't and in general not really accomplishing anything. It was a bit frustrating to watch Kitty not have a clue what she was doing. She even had trouble getting guests for her radio show. In general the pace of this book was a bit frantic and not in a griping and engaging sort of way. There is also a large shortage of action scenes; I think there is one action scene in the whole darn book...maybe two.

None of the characters were really developed any further. A lot of main characters from the previous books are conspicuously absent for most of this book. Even Ben is only actually present for a very brief amount of time. Overall it seemed like the sole purpose of this book was to introduce some new characters and set up some big events for the next book; so let's hope the next book is better.

Which leads me to the positive points of this book; it wasn't a total loss. Balthasar and Odysseus Grant are amazing characters. New and interesting magic elements move throughout the story. The book is a quick and still fun read. It is somewhat engaging. This is an okay book about Kitty; just don't get too excited about it. See it as a necessary read to continue on in the series and hope that the 6th book is awesome.
SoCaliGirl avatar reviewed Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (Kitty Norville, Bk 5) on + 37 more book reviews
I love the "Kitty" series. It is very fast reading . One of those books that you just can't put down.
reviewed Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (Kitty Norville, Bk 5) on
I loved this book and am really looking forward to the next in the series. Vaughn's writing just keeps getting better!
blanche avatar reviewed Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (Kitty Norville, Bk 5) on + 8 more book reviews
I love this series. It's warm and loving but keeps you on the edge of your seat!
haggatha avatar reviewed Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (Kitty Norville, Bk 5) on + 55 more book reviews
I loved this book. I really enjoy reading about Kitty
imnellen avatar reviewed Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (Kitty Norville, Bk 5) on + 246 more book reviews
Poor Kitty just can't catch a break. She gets to do a live show from Las Vegas, but she's staying at the same hotel as a bounty hunters dream... a gun show. Being around guns is bad enough, but people who'd like to take her out? Not the way to calm your nerves!
Then there is the eerie "animal act" at another hotel on the Strip. A few vampires with secrets and a magician who might have something that is very real magic.
Ben is caught in the mix too.
I enjoyed this installment in the Kitty series.
jai avatar reviewed Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (Kitty Norville, Bk 5) on + 310 more book reviews
I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop in this book, but no action really seemed to be happening for the first 150 pages except me feeling paranoid as the reader that "Ok this person is hiding something and wants to do something to Kitty. Or maybe that person. Or that one!" - Kitty gets herself into trouble a lot. Not that she's stupid, but her very nosy nature that comes along with asking questions for a living doesn't help. When the action finally does arrive though, I can't blame her for it - it's more the fault of her being a werewolf than Kitty's curiosity.

This book felt more like a transition book than the previous four. Although there is an ending to what happened in Vegas - it does not stay in Vegas (ha ha, sorry, but look at the next books back cover blurb, I'm not the only one saying it). It looks like things end in a small cliffhanger and we'll have to see what happens next in Kitty Raises Hell. Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand was released February, and Kitty Raises Hell a month later in March, so that works out well. Several interesting new characters are introduced and Kitty and Ben's relationship moves forward, but there was a lot of set up in the first half before the action occurred.
carlamo avatar reviewed Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (Kitty Norville, Bk 5) on + 269 more book reviews
So far, this is my least favorite of the Kitty Norville books. The new characters introduced had no depth - to point that I got them mixed up later in the book - the names just didn't seem connected to the people who were in on the action. Ben is gone for most of the book and whatever happened to him while he was gone was dismissed with a few sentences. New paranormal beings/powers are introduced, but seemed more like an effort to open new avenues for later exploration in the series than something to make this book interesting. Kitty's parents (especially her mother) come across as clueless one-dimensional afterthoughts. And let's not even bother discussing Ben's mother (why should we? The author didn't.)

If you haven't read the earlier books in the series, don't read this one first. It's barely worth it, even if you intend to continue reading the series. This would have been far better as a short story published in some anthology.
tinkykat avatar reviewed Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (Kitty Norville, Bk 5) on
Another great Kitty book! I love the change of scene and the new things that come with it.
4fabfelines avatar reviewed Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (Kitty Norville, Bk 5) on + 112 more book reviews
Kitty is getting married and she and her lover do not want to do the big long drawn out ceremony.
She and ben deciede to get married in Las Vegas. They go to Vegas, and while there are going to put on a live Kitty and the midnight Hours show.
Ben goes to a poker tournament and ends up qualifying for the big one the next night.
Supernatural abounds and Kitty is right in the middle of vampire politics and mystery surounding a animal act of big cats.
Are they really cats, or more? Why is the magician telling her to stay away?
What is up with the Vampire Lord also?
reviewed Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand (Kitty Norville, Bk 5) on + 1568 more book reviews
Wow, this one makes me really anxious to see what's going to happen next. I can hardly wait!

From back cover:
Already the alpha pair of Denver's werewolf pack, Kitty and Ben now plan to tie the know human-style by eloping to Vegas. Kitty is looking forward to sipping fru-fru drinks by the pool and doing her popular radio show on live TV, but her hotel is stocked with werewolf-hating bounty hunters.
Elsewhere on the Strip an old-school-magician might be wielding the real thing; the vampire comunity is harboring a dark secret; and the irresistible star of a suspicious animal act is determined to seduce Kitty.
Sin City has never been so wild, and this werewolf has never had to fight harder to save not only her wedding, but her very life.