Death Masks - Jim Butcher

   2003; 379 pages.  Book 5 (out of 15) of the “Dresden Files” series.  New Author? : No.  Genre : Urban Fantasy; Murder-Mystery.  Overall Rating : 9*/10.

    The Shroud of Turin has been stolen!  It’s thought that a group who call themselves the “Churchmice” did it, since they are known to be thieves who specialize in robbing sanctuaries and cathedrals.

    Since the Shroud was being kept in Italy, you might ask what that has to do with Chicago’s one and only resident wizard, Harry Dresden.  Well, word has it that the thieves are coming to the Windy City to unload the merchandise.  The Roman Catholic Church is worried about nefarious supernatural creatures getting their hands on it, since many believe the Shroud has magical powers.  Hence they’ve hired Harry to do his best to find it, procure it, and return it to them.

    But there appear to be other prospective buyers, including, strangely enough, some Chicago gangsters.  Lord only knows what they want it for, but they have no qualms about sending their thugs to get rid of the competition.

    Harry’s happy for the work; he can certainly use the money and the Church is willing to pay him generously.  Unfortunately, he has other obligations that take priority, most notably an official challenge to a duel by one of the deadliest vampires of the infamous Red Court.  His opponent has hundreds of kills in duels over the centuries.

    And an official challenge is not the sort of thing one can refuse.  Best of luck, Harry.  You’re gonna need it.

What’s To Like...

    The action is fast and nonstop in Death Masks as Jim Butcher smoothly jumps around among no less than five storylines.  They are:

1.) Harry’s magical duel with the Red Court vampire champion.

2.) Trying to keep the gangsters’ hitmen from killing him with very non-magical bullets.

3.) Recovering the Shroud of Turin.

4.) Helping the Chicago PD ID a handless, headless corpse that looks like a ritual slaying.

5.) Helping Harry’s ex-GF Susan cope with, or counteract, her vampiric nature.

    These are not spoilers; they’re listed on the back cover of the book.

    There’s a plethora of critters to meet and flee from.  The vampires, wizards, and knights are recurring characters in the series, but we (and Harry) are now introduced to a formidably evil bunch of demons called “The Fallen”, aka “The Denarians”.  “Bob the Skull” is back, although he doesn’t have much to do this time around.  “The Archive” is an interesting newcomer, who I hope will show up in future stories.  And finally, I had never heard of “homing ducks”, although now that I think about it, ducks do have that innate ability.

    We get some hints about Harry’s parents, and I suspect this will be developed more as the series progresses.  There were some similarities to Harry Potter’s folks, and I’ve come to the conclusion that if you find your toddler happens to display some magical talents, whatever you do, don’t name him Harry!  

    Harry is asked why he chose to be a wizard (pgs 109-110), and the answer is rather interesting.  So is the conversation he has with Molly, Michael’s daughter (pages 179-181).  It’s fun to watch how Jim Butcher continues to develop Susan’s character, and I liked the concept of “magic germs”.

    As is true of any book in this series, there’s a fair amount of cussing, lots of violence, and at least one roll in the hay.  The story is told in the first-person POV (Harry’s), and the chapters average out to about 13 pages in length.  The characters come in three shades: black, white, and gray.  I’m always most fascinated by the gray ones, particularly when they are “dark gray”.  It was great to see one of the baddies have a sense of honor, and another one showing a “tender” side.

    The ending is suitably exciting and climactic.  Most of story threads are tied up.  Susan’s vampire issues remain unsolved, and one of the main baddies lives to slay another day.  I suspect both of these threads are continued in subsequent books in the series.  Death Masks is a standalone tale, as well as part of a series.

Kewlest New Word...

Tenebrous (adj.) : dark, shadowy, or obscure.

Others : Chivied (v.)

Excerpts...

    I’d lost my .357 during a battle between the Faerie Courts hosted on clouds over Lake Michigan the previous midsummer, so I’d moved my .44 from the office to home.  It hung on a gun belt on a peg beside the door, just over a wire basket I’d attached to the wall.  Holy water, a couple cloves of garlic, vials of salt, and iron filings filled the basket, intended to be door prizes for anything that showed up in an attempt to suck my blood, carry me off to faerieland, or sell me stale cookies.  (pg. 123)

   “You’ll have to forgive them,” said Nicodemus.  He came through the door and into the torchlight, freshly dressed, shaved, and showered.  He wore pajama pants, slippers, and a smoking jacket of Hugh Hefner vintage.  The grey noose still circled his throat.  “I like to encourage discretion in my employees.  Sometimes it makes them seem standoffish.”

    “You don’t let your goons talk?” I asked.

    He removed a pipe from his pocket, along with a small tin of Prince Albert tobacco.  “I remove their tongues.”

    “I guess your human resources department isn’t exactly under siege, is it,” I said.

    He tamped tobacco into his pipe and smiled.  “You’d be surprised.  I offer an excellent dental plan.”  (pg. 266)

“You’ve no idea how difficult it is to waylay an angelic messenger.”  (pg. 269)

    It’s difficult to think of anything negative to say about Death Masks, hence the stellar rating.  I never did suss out the reason for the title.  There were some masks mentioned late in the story, but they weren’t of major importance.  Maybe I missed something.

    I suppose I would’ve liked to see Bob-the-Skull get more ink, mostly due to the witty dialogues he and Harry engage in, but that’s a personal taste only.  Also, we don’t get to visit the Faerie dimension called Nevernever at all, a place I like but which Harry would be content to never, never see again.

    One last note: I recommend that you read the series in order.  I read the next book in the series, Blood Rites, way back in 2013, and while I enjoyed it, there was a bit of a disconnect because I’d “jumped ahead” 5 books.  That’s my fault, not Jim Butcher’s.

    9 Stars.  After now having read the first six books, this series still sparkles for me.  Lots of action, lots of wit, lots of otherworldly thrills and spills, and no feel of Jim Butcher “just cranking another book out”.  It's highly recommended and highly entertaining.