This one is the seventh book in the series.
Links to my reviews of the previous Dresden Files books:
One: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/06/25/book-review-wednesday-dresden-files-storm-front-5-stars/
Two: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/07/02/book-review-wednesday-fool-moon-dresden-files-4-stars/
Three: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/07/16/book-review-wednesday-dresden-files-grave-peril-4-stars/?preview=true
Four: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/07/30/book-review-wednesday-dresden-files-summer-knight-5-stars/
Five: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/08/13/book-review-wednesday-death-masks-dresden-files-book-5-5-stars/
Six: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/08/27/book-review-wednesday-blood-rites-dresden-files-five-stars/
I’m going to assume by this point you know what this series is about. So here’s the blurb for this particular book:
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.
I’m finding that as the books go on, the writing gets better. This one was definitely a five star book for me, so no exception to that rule.
We spend a lot more time with medical examiner Waldo Butters, who was introduced in previous books. He finds himself right in the middle of trouble this time, poor guy, He’s a very different character to our usual ones, and his interactions with the other guys is interesting. He’s a little guy with a big heart who is not made for all the scary stuff Harry deals with every day, so of course he ends up with a bunch of really frightening zombies and their crazy leader chasing him around.
This book is a little like a previous one in the series where we meet werewolves. It ended up that there were a lot of different kinds of werewolves, and we met pretty much every type. In this book it’s necromancers. So you’ve got the old fashioned dull brained zombies listening to their leader, all the way to ghosts. A few different groups of necromancers fight over this book that contains the code they need to perform this ritual that will kill hundreds and hundreds of people.
Cue Harry sticking his nose in and making a whole bunch of big powerful enemies as usual. Lots of action and puns commence.
I really recommend this book and the series. It’s definitely getting even better as the series goes on. The writing in this one is full of energy and humor, even more so than I’ve come to expect from the author.
For more reviews on this book go to: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17683.Dead_Beat
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