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When Mavra, the leader of the Black Court vampires, makes a deal with Harry that he cannot refuse, he discovers that Murphy may not be the only one in trouble if he doesn't succeed in finding a book that more than one person who's into the dead wants. The search for the Word of Kemmler becomes a race for power between Harry and Kemmler's remaining apprentices while the Red Court battles it out with the White Council. At the same time, Harry must deal with a fallen angel, demons, and more undead than he ever thought he'd meet in the space of three days.

Impression: The Dresden Files tends to be a little inconsistent in the writing (although they are all good), but Dead Beat definitely falls in as one of the best in the series -- better than Storm Front, maybe even better than Grave Peril. I think my only concern about the novels at this point is that all this wanting Harry won't pay off later in the series It's been shown time and time again he's not the best mage in town -- both in raw power and control there are definitely bigger fish in the magical pond, and yet he seems to have more than a few who want him on their side in some formal capacity. As more offers come out of the woodwork, you really have to wonder why. The guys who want him dead make sense, now Butcher needs to make the guys who want to give him a job make sense too. Of course, this is a concern only those who have read the whole series. For anyone reading just Dead Beat, there are other issues.

Dead Beat definitely needs to be read only after reading previous books in the series, or the events will seem too fantastical, too overdone. For those who have read the previous books in the series, however, the novel fits right in where it should. There is one lapse at the end -- something Harry said he would do that he didn't, and I wonder if that was deliberate or if Butcher will need to deal with/fix it later. Regardless, this was a fun, can't put it down read for me.

One of the stronger books in the Dresden Files, I didn't find any "holes" and wasn't distracted by anything being too obvious or too obscure. Butcher manages to keep making Harry's life more and more complicated without losing who Harry is (which is one of my major complaints about the Anita Blake books -- her life gets more complicated, but rather than using those complications to reveal Anita's character, the author has Anita do an about face and practically become a different character; it was disappointing and eventually, combined with the steady decline in the quality of writing, made me stop reading the books), and I definitely look forward to seeing how these additional complications work out. And I got to admit, I loved Sue. The writing from book to book may be inconsistent at times, but the Dresden Files is still a rare series that keeps improving with each additional book. Dead Beat definitely at the top of my recommendation list, both as part of the Dresden Files and as a dark fantasy book in general.

Btw, I did read the 2 books between Summer Knight and Dead Beat. I have no idea why I didn't review them -- probably busy because of work and all that. My plan is to reread them and do the missing reviews. They'll be out of order, but they'll be done. ;)