Black Dog: Hellhound Chronicles

by Caitlin Kittredge

Overview

From the mind of Caitlin Kittredge, the award-winning author of the Iron Codex trilogy and Vertigo comic Coffin Hill, comes Black Dog, the first book in a new urban fantasy series about revenge and hell...it's Kill Bill with demons!

Ava has spent the last hundred years as a hellhound, the indentured servant of a reaper who hunts errant souls and sends them to Hell. When a human necromancer convinces her to steal her reaper’s scythe, Ava incurs the wrath of the demon Lilith, her reaper’s boss.

As punishment for her transgression, Lilith orders Ava to track down the last soul in her reaper’s ledger . . . or die trying.

But after a hundred years of servitude, it’s time for payback. And Hell hath no fury like an avenging Ava. . . .

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062316929
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	10/28/2014
Series:	Hellhound Chronicles Series , #1
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	387,182
File size:	596 KB

About the Author

Caitlin Kittredge has written several comic books and novels for adults and teens. She spends her time in Massachusetts fixing up her 1881 Victorian house, which she shares with several spoiled cats and a vast collection of geeky ephemera. You can follow her on Twitter @caitkitt.

Editorial Reviews

09/15/2014
After a hundred years as a hellhound collecting souls for a reaper named Gary, Ava fails to collect Leo Ivanof, a human necromancer who talks her into trying to kill Gary and win her freedom. It doesn't quite work out, and Ava and Leo end up on the run from Gary's demon boss, Lilith, who wants Ava to collect one last soul. But the man she sends her after doesn't have a soul, and now the three of them are running from a pretty angry demon. VERDICT Ava's backstory is told in flashbacks, but she never seems to come alive on the page, waffling between angry ass-kicker and crying victim. Though Kittredge ("Nocturne City" series) employs an enjoyable variation on the standard urban fantasy worldbuilding, with angels, demons, warlocks, and hellhounds, the elements don't gel into a compelling story.

Library Journal

08/04/2014
This confusing hodgepodge of the damned—comprising hellhounds, shapeshifters, warlocks, vampires, demons, fallen angels, and two varieties of deadheads, among others—is an inauspicious start to the Hellhound Chronicles. The unnecessary clutter of characters gets in the way of the story and deflects the reader’s attention from the heroine, Ava, a hellhound. In both human and canine form, she collects souls of the damned for her employer, a particularly nasty reaper called Gary. Ava is a potentially sympathetic character, struggling to make sense of her previous life, chafing against the hellish abuse of her reaper, and dealing with the existential loneliness of the hell-bound. Had she not been forced to share the spotlight with a necromancing Russian mobster, an enfeebled fallen angel, and a 1,000-year-old demon, Ava’s strong presence might have been just enough to bring this book back from the dead. Even fans of Kittredge’s Iron Codex Trilogy will struggle with this one. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

With an unrelenting pace, wildly imaginative details and moments of shocking emotion, this is a book - and surely a series - that is going to earn an eager following.” — RT Book Reviews (top pick)

“A fast-paced read perfect for lovers of dark fantasy.” — Kirkus Reviews

“...Kittredge employs an enjoyable variation on the standard urban fantasy worldbuilding.” — Library Journal

“That was wicked! Couldn’t put it down. Black Dog is off the chain and Kittredge is in top form in this dark, twisty trip down a gritty road to Hell.” — Kat Richardson, bestselling author of Greywalker

“Caitlin Kittredge at her ferocious best. Black Dog sinks its teeth and claws into you and doesn’t let go. And you won’t want it to.” — New York Times bestselling author Richard Kadrey

“A riveting, fun and dangerous ride with angels, demons, necromancers and a badass heroine to root for!” — Melissa de la Cruz, New York Times bestselling author of Witches of East End

“Some books steal your heart, but Black Dog will steal your soul. Caitlin Kittredge has given the urban fantasy genre a kick in the face.” — Chuck Wendig, author of Blackbirds

From the Publisher

A riveting, fun and dangerous ride with angels, demons, necromancers and a badass heroine to root for!

Melissa de la Cruz

Caitlin Kittredge at her ferocious best. Black Dog sinks its teeth and claws into you and doesn’t let go. And you won’t want it to.

New York Times bestselling author Richard Kadrey

With an unrelenting pace, wildly imaginative details and moments of shocking emotion, this is a book - and surely a series - that is going to earn an eager following.

RT Book Reviews (top pick)

That was wicked! Couldn’t put it down. Black Dog is off the chain and Kittredge is in top form in this dark, twisty trip down a gritty road to Hell.

Kat Richardson

Some books steal your heart, but Black Dog will steal your soul. Caitlin Kittredge has given the urban fantasy genre a kick in the face.

Chuck Wendig

2014-08-13
The first book in a new series by Kittredge (Dark Days, 2013, etc.) is the tale of Ava, a girl-turned-hellhound who is convinced to rebel against her abusive master by a necromancer who has an agenda of his own. Foulmouthed, black leather-clad, motorcycle-riding Ava tears through towns lustily ripping bodies apart and "scar[ing] the shit out of bottom-feeding predators." As a hellhound in service to an abusive master, Gary, one of many reapers responsible for collecting souls from the damned, this is all Ava is programmed to do. But when her latest assignment goes awry, Ava is captured and tortured by a necromancer named Leo who wants her to kill Gary. Leo sweetens the deal by informing Ava that the reaper's death will mean her freedom. What does Leo want in return? For Ava to steal Gary's scythe so Leo can kill his own father, a necromancer who will not stay dead any other way. Knowing she's so badly messed up this latest soul-fetching assignment that Gary will kill her anyway, Ava agrees to Leo's plan. But you can never trust a necromancer, and after a skillful double-cross ends up with Gary dead and his boss—none other than the 1,000-year-old demon Lilith—more than a little put out, Ava and Leo set off with Gary's little black book of lost souls, determined to come up with a plan to outwit Lilith, take care of Leo's father and keep them both alive in the process. But one can't help but wonder: Why doesn't the all-powerful Lilith just exterminate the pair with her fearsome abilities at any second? And will it be Leo or his father who has the last word in their game of cat and mouse? A fast-paced read perfect for lovers of dark fantasy that ultimately raises more questions than it answers.

Kirkus Reviews