I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
Alien in the House
by
Gini Koch
It is part of the Katherine "Kitty" Katt #7 series and is a romance, science fiction in Paperback edition that was published by DAW Books on May 7, 2013 and has 524 pages.
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Other books in this series include [books_series]
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Touched by an Alien, Alien Tango, Alien in the Family, Alien Proliferation, Alien Diplomacy, Alien vs. Alien, Alien Research, Alien Collective, Universal Alien, Alien Separation, Alien in Chief, Alien Nation, Camp Alien, Alien Education, Aliens Abroad
Seventh in the Katherine “Kitty” Katt romantic sci-fi comedy series revolving around Kitty Martini. This story is based in Washington D.C.
My Take
Go into this knowing it’s off the wall…Koch has so much fun writing these…almost as much fun as I have in reading them…*grin*… She does go over the top with the Royal Peregrines and the Poofs and Kitty’s being able to interpret their minds — it cracks me up when Kitty does the translation of whatever the critters are tellin’ her. And I do adore how much Kitty and Jeff love their daughter. Just makes my heart swell up and conga.
I got to thinking about it, and y’all know how OCD I am about chronology, but you could read this one alone. I don’t think you’d get as much out of it without having read what comes before as there are so many associations that relate back to earlier stories, but, no, it’s not an essential of life.
Koch has a ball peeling back the reality of politics and the Washington life of one hand washing the other. It’s such a dreamy treat to think there might be people there who actually do have the public’s, their constituents’, interests at heart. It’s rather Dave-like in that the A-Cs want to help and not just take. The characters reflect this with their family values, honor, and loyalty…with all the snark in the world to make ya laugh!
Oh, you will not believe who wants to be best man for Chuck’s wedding! And, yes, they did follow through on the Zoo, acquiring the building next door and extending the embassy into it.
Kitty just hates the diplomatic thing. She’d rather pull out her Glock and be done with it. Instead she’s gotta play co-ambassador with Jeff. Of course there are perks to the job, namely sex with Jeff anywhere they can manage it.
Sadly, so many of [the Cabal of Evil] had suggested many different “fun” ideas during Operation Assassination that I now associated them equally with World Domination Dreams and Triple-X Porn.”
Their friends, heck, I was gonna say coworkers, but nobody is actually a coworker in any of this. They are all either friends or family, whether blood is involved or not.
Arghhh, it’s the dreaded oh, I’ll look at it later trope.
I do enjoy the rock ‘n roll, Star Wars, and Wolverine references. That Apprentice thing, though…that’s just nasty.
My only whine is that scene at the end — and it’s difficult to whine without revealing too much, dang it! I never did get the logic of how Y set Z up for that kill shot when Koch is explaining how it’s Y who initiated that murder.
The Story
Events in Alien vs Alien, 6, have thrown everything off and elections for the year have been put on standby. But that hasn’t held up the process of removing representatives from office as a number of them are dying from seemingly natural causes until one is murdered at a dinner at the American Centaurion embassy. It leaves Jeff and Christopher worried that groups will start blaming the Alpha Centaurions — since their secret is out.
Only Kitty gets there first, suggesting it’s an act of war against the A-Cs. It’s one quick way to hush up a roomful of diplomats and politicians.
Spying on the A-Cs is a given, but with all the murders, it’s confusion and attack until a pattern emerges.
The Characters
Kitty (with a major thing for Aerosmith) and Jeff Martini, the world’s strongest telepath, are both ambassadors for the American Centaurion Diplomatic Corps. Through her pregnancy, Kitty’s has hyperspeed, superstrength, and the Doolittle thing besides being able to channel what the bad guys are thinking while Jeff got boosted in another of their adventures. Their daughter, Jamie-Kat, is quite forward with powers of her own, and her first birthday is coming up! The Poofs who belong to these three include Poofikins, who is Kitty’s; Harlie, the head Poof, is Jeff’s; and, Jamie-Kat’s is Mous-mous. Bruno is Kitty’s Peregrine; Lola is his mate, and she keeps an eye on the kids.
Mom, Angela Katt, is head of the Presidential Terrorism Control Unit (PTCU) and the only non-Jew to ever be in Mossad. After Alien vs Alien, the Katts’ critters moved into the embassy: Sugarfoot, Candy, and Kane (the cats) and the dogs include Duchess, Dudley, Dotty, and Duke. Sol is her dad.
Christopher White is Jeff’s cousin and an Imageer married to Amy Gaultier White, one of Kitty’s best friends from high school and a lawyer. (see Alien Proliferation, 4). She’ll be spending time with the board of directors for Gaultier Enterprises now that Daddy Dearest is dead. Toby is Christopher’s Poof; Mignon is Amy’s. Alfred and Lucia Martini are Jeff’s parents. Clarence Valentino is Sylvia‘s husband (Jeff’s oldest sister) and a traitor (see Alien Proliferation).
Charles Reynolds has been Kitty’s best friend since they were thirteen; now he’s head of the CIA’s Extra-Terrestrial Division, and about to get married to Mimi. Fluffy is his Poof, and Han and Leia are his Royal Peregrines. Clifford Goodman as Head of Special Immigration Services reports directly to the Secretary of Homeland Security. Chuck likes him. Pia Ryan was CIA, until she played body-in-the-car. Representative Santiago Reyes sounds like a really nice guy. Colonel Marvin Hamlin was in charge of Andrews Air Force Base before he took off a couple days before Operation Destruction. Only, it turns out he took off a lot longer ago than that…! Esteban Cantu is also CIA, but his true role was revealed, and he’s in prison.
Embassy inhabitants include:
Len and Kyle are former college football players who are now CIA bodyguards for Kitty and Jamie (see Alien in the Family, 3 and Alien Diplomacy, 5). Their peregrines are Barney and Betty for Len and Kyle’s are Fred and Wilma. Malcolm Buchanan is a bodyguard assigned by Kitty’s mother in Alien Diplomacy. Former Pontifex Richard White is Kitty’s new partner and has a thing for the catsuit and Nurse Carter. Richard’s birds are Samson and Delilah. Dr. “The Great” Tito Hernandez (Alien in the Family) is Kitty and Jamie-Kat’s personal physician while Melanie and Emily, both Dazzler A-Cs (and Lorraine and Claudia’s moms), assist Tito. Walter Ward is in charge of embassy security with the help of his Royal Peregrines, George and Gracie. Pierre is James’ friend and the Majordomo Concierge for the embassy and did they ever luck out getting him! Kevin Lewis is second-in-command for PTCU as well as the Defense Attaché for the Embassy. He, his wife, Denise, and their children, Raymond and Rachel, live in the embassy; Denise is in charge of the embassy daycare and is the in-house teacher. Doreen (her parents were the traitorous former heads of the Diplomatic Corps) and Irving Weisman (he’s human) with baby Ezra also live at the embassy. Nurse Magdalena Rijos-Carter has signed on to help Tito, and she and Richard are hooking up!
Alpha team includes:
Paul Gower is a half-A-C/half-human and can read dreams and memories; he’s ACE’s habitat and the new Supreme Pontifex. Commander James Reader is a gorgeous former supermodel, who is in a relationship with Paul and Head of the Field for Centaurion Division; Kitty considers him one of her best guy friends. Gatita is Reader’s Poof. ACE is an alien entity, who is missing in action. Michael Gower is Paul’s younger brother, a playah, and an astronaut at NASA (although his playboy days may be coming to an end!); Fuzzball is his Poof. Naomi, a.k.a., Mimi, and Chuck are getting married — she’s going Bridezilla! She and Abigail are Paul’s hybrid sisters and the new cultural attachés. Serene, the head of Imageering, is married to Brian Dwyer (Kitty’s old boyfriend), and they have a little boy, Patrick. Yeah, he’s maturing at hyperspeed too. Gladys is head of overall security for the A-Cs. Jennifer Barone has been assigned, along with her brother, permanently to the Embassy. Camilla is the double, triple, possibly quadruple agent.
Airborne includes:
Captain Tim Crawford is the new head of Airborne in Kitty’s place; he’s married to Alicia?? The unmarried ones include Captain Jerry Tucker, Matt Hughes, and Walker. Joe Billings is married to Captain Lorraine, and they have a son, Ross Edward. Randy Muir is married to Captain Claudia, and they have a son as well, Sean Zachary.
Hacker International
The boys are now residing at the Embassy as well, much to Jeff’s disgust. Stryker Dane, a.k.a., Eddy Simms, is a brilliant hacker who is the resident UFO and extraterrestrial languages expert, and undercover in the military along with Big George Lecroix, who is Europe’s best hacker and speaks some twenty languages fluently. Also Doctor Henry Wu is a software expert, China’s most expert hacker, and covers the languages the others don’t; Ravi Gaekwad, a.k.a., Ravi the Geek, is India’s best hacker and big on hardware and software — he and Jennifer Barone have hooked up; and, Omega Red, a.k.a., Yuri Stanislav, is blind but killer with audio cryptology.
Mister Joel Oliver is a photographer with World Weekly News, and he’s inherited Bellie, the parrot from hell. He also rates a Poof, Button. Peter “the Dingo” Kasperoff is an assassin who has assumed the role of Uncle with Kitty. A really good uncle as he’s keeping an eye on all those assassins targeting her and hers. Vic is his cousin and partner and therefore another uncle. Akiko is the Embassy designer on retainer and doesn’t that just make a number of the other women miaow! Rajnish Singh (he has troubadour power) is from the New Dehli A-Cs and most likely to be transferred over. Mona Nejem and her driver/bodyguard, Khalid, are Bahraini; Oren and Jakob are Mossad. “Herman“, a.k.a., Officer “Melville”, is one of the cops from Alien Proliferation with whom the Martinis have a good relationship. Prince is his K-9 partner.
Senator McMillan of Arizona’s philosophy for being in politics is one that I wish a lot more politicians espoused. Kelly is his wife. Caroline Chase is a high school friend of Kitty’s and works for the senator.
Olga Dalca (she’s former KGB) and Adriana, her granddaughter and personal assistant, are with the Romanian embassy and very interested in events at the AC embassy after events in Alien Diplomacy. Andrei, Olga’s husband and the ambassador, is a stand-up guy.
Princess Rhami is the older and Princess Rhee the younger are Queen Renata’s daughters from the planet of Free Women. They’re here to help celebrate Jamie’s first birthday, they think. In truth, it’s their training mission.
The Cabal of Evil includes:
Well, most of them are now dead or in prison, but there are still a few hanging on… Senator Vincent Armstrong is the senior senator from Florida who owes and is owed favors by the A-Cs. Elaine is his wife — both Kitty and her mom like her! Lillian Culver, a powerful lobbyist, is a well-dressed skeleton and the unofficial spokesperson for the group. Abner Schnekedy, odious and an artist, is her husband. Eugene and Lydia Montgomery — she’s the junior senator from New York. Eugene’s on Kitty’s naughty list for his shenanigans in Alien Diplomacy. The French Nathalie Gagnon-Brewer, a former international model, is married to vintner, Representative Edmund Brewer of California. Guy Gadoire , a lobbyist for the tobacco industry, and his husband, Vance Beaumont, are too interested in anything Kitty, although Vance is a big fan of Oliver’s. Senator Zachary Kramer and his wife, Marcia, are also at the party.
Marion Villanova is chief aide to the secretary of state, and she’s dating Langston Whitmore, secretary of transportation. They make good beards for each other.
Raul Diaz, a.k.a., Dier, a.k.a., Lars Reid, was adopted by Leventhal Reid and became an assassin who is usually hired by the CIA.
Dazzlers are how Kitty collectively refers to the A-C females because that’s what they do: they dazzle everyone with their beauty, intelligence, and compassion. Imageers manipulate images electronically and in front of you and can learn all about a person simply by touching an image. Empaths feel emotions.
Poofs look like “tiny, fluffy kittens with no ears or tails, but with shiny black button eyes”, who can morph into Jeff-sized, very, very protective critters. Once you name one, they’re yours for life. And they’re procreating all over the place…there’re dozens of ’em. Enough that even the cats get a Poof.
The Royal Peregrines have become very welcome gifts from King Alexander; they make great guardians and help the gifted with their powers. The Poofs and the Peregrines have an alliance and help each other. Harold and Maude are stressed about an invasion.
The Elves are Kitty’s term for those invisible helpers who produce anything and everything…and clean it as well. They exist in any habitation for A-Cs. I wanna be adopted!
The Cover and Title
The cover is very different from previous books with a white background and red-framed circular insets of Jeff in his fedora, Edmund falling from a building and the State Capitol, two Royal Peregrines are flying in between them, one couple is running and Kitty in a white dress is standing in a chalked outline of a murdered man.
The title is too true, although it did not go where I first thought it would. Poor Kitty, there’s an Alien in the House.
