Night Life

The world that Caitlin Kittredge has crafted for her Nocturne City novels is similar to our own. There are some major differences though. Werewolves, witches, and other creatures that go bump in the night are not only present but out in the public eye.

Night Life is the first novel in this series. The protagonist is Luna Wilder, a homicide detective who also happens to be a werewolf. Luna is an Insoli, or packless werewolf, which basically makes her the very bottom of the totem pole. Any werewolf with a pack can at will mistreat her with no fear of repercussions. Add to that her idiot boss and chauvinistic coworkers and life is fairly rough for Luna.

Our story begins with a murder investigation that quickly becomes much more than a single murder or even an ordinary one. Luna is plunged into an occult mystery that leaves more and more people dead by the day. Luckily Luna finds a powerful werewolf ally and has a cousin who is a witch to help out as well.

Kittredge made at least two obvious factual blunders in the writing of this novel. She at one point refers to a broken tibia in someone’s forearm, and since the tibia is in the lower leg this is abhorrent. The fact that not only did Kittredge skimp on her research, but at least one editor overlooked this as well saddens me. The other, much more minor issue, involved the workings of a Glock pistol.

This is not a heavy read by any stretch of the imagination. While the plot does involve the mystery of who is behind the killings and why, this is much more an action based book than a true mystery. The mystery basically gives Kittredge an excuse to throw Luna into dangerous and exciting situations. It also allows Kittredge free reign to build the setting for future novels.

While this is not a novel on par with the work of someone like GRRM or Scott Lynch, it was a very enjoyable read. Kittredge blends together a lot of different elements including action, mystery, romance, and magic, in a seamless manner. The main characters are all likeable and there are even some people to loath. I had fun reading Night Life and look forward to reading other books in the series. I give it a 3.5/5.