Death Masks

The Dresden Files, Book 5

By: Jim Butcher

Narrated by: James Marsters

The Dresden Files have taken the genre of paranormal mystery to a new level of action, excitement, and hard-hitting magical muscle. Now, in Death Masks, Jim Butcher’s smart-guy private eye may have taken on more than he ever wanted to handle.

Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only practicing professional wizard, should be happy that business is pretty good for a change. But he also knows that whenever things are going good, the only way left for them to go is bad. Way bad. Such as:

A duel with the lethal champion of the Red Court, who must kill Harry to end the war between vampires and wizards.

Professional hit men using Harry for target practice.

The missing Shroud of Turin—and the possible involvement of Chicago's most feared mob boss.

A handless and headless corpse the Chicago police need identified.

Not to mention the return of Harry’s ex-girlfriend Susan, who’s still struggling with her semi-vampiric nature. And who seems to have a new man in her life. Some days, it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed. No matter how much you’re charging.©2003 Jim Butcher; (P)2009 Penguin Audiobooks

Critic reviews

Praise for the Dresden Files

“Think Buffy the Vampire Slayer starring Philip Marlowe.”—Entertainment Weekly

“Fans of Laurell K. Hamilton and Tanya Huff will love this series.”—Midwest Book Review

“Superlative.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“One of the most enjoyable marriages of the fantasy and mystery genres on the shelves.”—Cinescape

“Butcher...spins an excellent noirish detective yarn in a well-crafted, supernaturally-charged setting. The supporting cast is again fantastic, and Harry’s wit continues to fly in the face of a peril-fraught plot.”—Booklist (starred review)

“What’s not to like about this series?...It takes the best elements of urban fantasy, mixes it with some good old-fashioned noir mystery, tosses in a dash of romance and a lot of high-octane action, shakes, stirs, and serves.”—SF Site

“A tricky plot complete with against-the-clock pacing, firefights, explosions, and plenty of magic. Longtime series fans as well as newcomers drawn by the SciFi Channel’s TV series based on the novels should find this supernatural mystery a real winner.”—Library Journal

“What would you get if you crossed Spenser with Merlin? Probably you would come up with someone very like Harry Dresden, wizard, tough guy and star of [the Dresden Files].”—The Washington Times

New Deadly Enemies & New Friends

You would think Dresden would get a break after Summer Knight, but nooooo Jim Butcher had other deadly plans for our friend. You would think that at most there would be one deadly enemy, but again noo there are many. I felt really bad for Dresden. But at least there was new friends as well here, at least he wasn't by himself.

it is unbelievable how things progress in this series, and how Dresden developed over time. Such a great series.

I wonder what will happen next!?

Harry Dresden never fails to entertain

Now that I've heard the complete audiobook, including the final chapter, I enjoyed this Harry Dresden adventure just as much as the first four books. I'm looking forward to Book 6 (Blood Rites) and Book 7 (Dead Beat) now, which we might have to wait for until July 2010. Hope I'm wrong about that.

Not even close to bored with this series

By the 5th book of most series, I'm getting tired, but this series keeps getting better. I think it helps to read them in order but not necessarily as each one gives background and has casts of new friends and enemies. There is always humor and action. The narrator gets better with each performance.

Enjoyable story, fantastic characters

Any additional comments?

Well, this audiobook was another solid, excellent narration by Marsters. I adore his voices, but then again I've adored him since he was Spike on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The story itself is also solid, and delivers all the twists and action that one expects from Dresden Files books.

**Spoilers alert:**

We see Harry Dresden's love interest Susan returns. You will find that you will root for it to work out. Harry's patient waiting for over a year for Susan to return kindles a sort of desire for their relationship working out inside me, it made me sit on the edge of my seat until the end of the book, wanting to know what will happen and if I get my way with the story. I won't spoil anything further than that, you just need to listen and learn.

Another Very Enjoyable Installment

The Dresden Files series is fun. The characters are interesting and believable, the action is well orchestrated and described, and the tension built throughout the plot keeps me--book after book--in a state of suspense. Death Masks continues this trend in Butcher's series, and Marsters continues to deliver stellar performances that keep getting better as the series goes along. His tone and pacing does a good job of evoking the noir-detective elements of the series, and his ability to do a multitude of distinct voices is improving from book to book. The series as a whole is very entertaining genre fiction, and the audiobooks are equally enjoyable.