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Dead Beat (A Dresden Files novel) by Jim Butcher
01/06/2005 . Source: Jennifer Howell 
pub: ROC. 393 page hardback. Price: $23.95 (US), $35.00 (CAN). ISBN: 0-451-46027-8. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.penguin.com
Poor Harry Dresden. As if life isn't hard enough for Chicago's only professional wizard, this time around the tiny puppy he acquired in the last book is now the size of a small pony. Not to mention that the vampire half-brother he also managed to gain has moved into his apartment and is prone to leaving discarded clothes and half-naked blondes strewn around when Harry comes home. Yes, he's a succubus, but seriously.
With two houseguests eating him out of house and home, Harry has to find some work somewhere. Unfortunately, being blackmailed by a particularly malevolent old vampire enemy into finding the Word of Kemmler isn't leaving him a whole of time to put food on the table. Especially as he doesn't have a clue what the Word even is...
When he does find out, Harry immediately wishes he hadn't. Cue murder in the Museum of Natural History, a horde of particularly nasty necromancers with fun names like 'Corpsetaker' and, of course, a polka-playing forensic pathologist called Butters.
There's a pleasant streak of absurdity running through these books, which contrasts nicely with the fact that Harry himself has a pretty crappy time of it usually. It's one thing being powerful but that basically just means he has to fix everyone else's problems and the people in Harry's life have a weird and wonderful problems that you just don't encounter anywhere else.
Butcher has a nice way of setting his fantasy firmly in the real world (reading this and 'The Time Traveller's Wife' in quick succession left me with a strangely comprehensive knowledge of Chicago street names and geography), along with the idea that there's a thoroughly believable network of shady supernatural characters running around just below the surface of our reality. What works especially well this time is the way the way the magical storm pending at the grand finale manifests itself in 'reality' with nicely atmospheric tension building for the last few chapters.
It seems to be the time in this series to raise the stakes more dramatically - in the last book there were major revelations about Harry's family and 'Dead Beat' sees a big change in terms of an ongoing wizard/vampire war. I haven't read the first five books in the series yet but the last two have been perfectly readable with no prior knowledge.
Harry is simply a great character with an instantly entertaining narrative voice and Butcher is an accomplished enough writer to make sure it spans both the amusing and distinctly dark and disturbing. It's something like Laurell K Hamilton back when she was still good. Only way, way funnier. Highly recommended.
Jennifer Howell
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