The Barnes & Noble Review
In the ninth installment of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files -- a supernatural saga that blends hard-boiled mystery with contemporary dark fantasy -- everyone's favorite staff-toting wizard detective, Harry Dresden, investigates a series of suspicious suicides involving Chicago-based witches. Soon, though, he is drawn into a deadly and potentially apocalyptic power struggle that includes rival vampire factions, a nightmarish army of ghouls, a gangster kingpin, an undead femme fatale, and Dresden's vampiric half brother, Thomas.
When Dresden finds bizarre calling cards magically hidden on the bodies of alleged suicide victims (references to Exodus 22:18: "Suffer not a witch to live"), he sets out to find the killer before more innocent practitioners can be killed. Accompanied by tough Chicago cop Karrin Murphy, his overzealous apprentice, Molly Carpenter, and his trusty temple dog, Mouse, Dresden is shocked when he discovers that his list of suspects includes more than a few old adversaries -- and his very own brother, who has been keeping something secret…
If imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery, Butcher should be more than pleased with the success of his Harry Dresden novels (Proven Guilty, Dead Beat, Blood Rites, et al.). Since the publication of Storm Front in 2000, dozens of comparable series combining pulp noir mystery with contemporary fantasy have been released -- some of which, like Charlie Huston's Joe Pitt novels and Mario Acevedo's Felix Gomez saga, are quite exceptional. Longtime fans of Butcher's series, as well as new devotees of the Sci-Fi Channel's Dresden Files show (www.scifi.com/dresden), should thoroughly enjoy Butcher's latest romp through Chicago's paranormal underworld. Paul Goat Allen
Ever since he blew onto the scene in 2000, Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden has helped to redefine what we think of when we think of urban fantasy. Where would the genre be without the reluctant wizard private investigator from Chicago? For eighteen years, Butcher has delighted fans with the exploits of his snarky, technology-phobic wizard, filling […]