After reading a Kitty Norville short in an anthology I picked up for a completely different story, I decided I would give the series a try.

Although Kitty has a lot in common in with her sister heroines in this genre, including supernatural abilities, a hard-knock life, and an attitude, there is something that sets her apart: she is not special. Every other heroine in the genre that I can think of has some trait that makes her different: she is an Omega, she is a super-powerful necromancer, she is telepathic, she is Pythia... the list goes on. Kitty is, of course, a werewolf, but she is no different than any other werewolf and, apart from getting furry every once in a while, isn't much different than most other humans. The only thing that sets her apart is the Midnight Hour.

Kitty's talk show is the lynchpin on which the entire plot depends. Without the Midnight Hour, the joy it brings her, and her determination to keep it, she would never find the strength to stand up to her abusive Pack. She would also not have anyone trying to kill her, or be called in as a consultant in a police investigation.

Unfortunately, Kitty has some issues. The character herself seems, for the most part, to be a good character: talkative, stubborn, mouthy, resilient but weak (at least at the beginning). Part of plot, however, requires Kitty to grow a backbone, and that's where the problems come from. The change from weak, submissive, and cringing to strong, assertive, and confident is often arbitrary: sometimes she tucks her tail between her legs and sometimes she growls, apparently without any reason. The impression is not so much that Kitty is slowly gaining confidence in herself, but rather that the author is making Kitty react in ways that suit the plot. The way Kitty accepts the abuse that is heaped on her is somewhat sickening. Patricia Briggs' Anna (from the Alpha and Omega series) is also a werewolf who has been changed against her will and severely abused by her pack. Yet the way Anna acknowledges that it is abuse and that it is wrong makes her acceptance of her situation much more bearable. Kitty just comes across as rather pathetic and disgusting.

Nonetheless, as the story progresses and Kitty grows as a character, she becomes much more confident. The solution to her abusive Pack was disappointing, but perhaps it will be resolved better at in a later book--a later book I will definitely read.