Review: Dead Beat

Dead Beat by Jim Butcher

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Book Info: Genre: Urban Fantasy
Reading Level: Adult
Recommended for: Fans of Urban Fantasy

My Thoughts: Things become really ugly in this book. Not to say life has been all roses for Harry up to this point, but... things are really becoming ugly now. Admittedly he has some help now, between Thomas and Mouse. On the other hand, there’s a lot of funny, like always. I always love anything Butters is involved in.

Part of the thing is that Harry has become harsher and harsher as time has gone on, between all that has happened to him and the Denarian influence (although Lasciel isn’t really that bad as far as Denarians go). But Butters provides a bit of comedy relief, and insinuates himself into the “Scooby Gang” through his actions.

And then there’s Sue... A friend of mine was discussing Sue in her review, and how Sue made this book one of the best in the series, but I had managed, in the course of the 8 or 9 years since I first read this book, to mostly forget about Sue. I remembered vaguely the Tyrannosaurus Rex incident, but I had forgotten the name and the details. When I reached that point, and started to remember, I just starting laughing wildly. Wonderful stuff. There are definite problems with having memory problems, like I have, but on the other hand, it makes rediscovering these things so wonderfully fun.

A wonderful addition to the series.

Disclosure: I purchased this book in hardcover for myself, and backup e-book copy. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: There's an entire world that exists alongside the everyday life of mankind. There are powers, nations, monsters, wars, feuds, alliances—everything. Wizards are part of it. So are a lot of other things you've heard about in stories, and even more you've never heard of... Vampires. Werewolves. Faeries. Demons. Monsters. It's all real.

Harry Dresden knows full well that such creatures exist. Paranormal investigations are his stock-in-trade, and Chicago is his beat as he tries to bring law and order to a world that exists on the edges of imagination. Luckily Harry's not alone in this struggle. And though most inhabitants of the Windy City don't believe in magic, there's a department that's been set up within the Chicago PD to deal with "strange" cases: the Special Investigations department.

Karrin Murphy is the head of SI and a good friend of Harry's. So when a deadly vampire threatens to destroy Murphy's reputation unless Harry helps her, he has no choice. The vampire wants the Word of Kemmler and all the power that comes with it—but first Harry has to determine what the Word of Kemmler is. Now Harry is in a race against time—and six necromancers—to find the Word before Chicago experiences a Halloween night to wake the dead.



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