Small Favor: 12/26/18

Small Favor by Jim Butcher is the tenth book in the Dresden Files. I listened to it performed by James Marsters. Despite his lovely voice and ability to bring the characters to life, I found myself skipping ahead at many points.

Queen Mab is calling in a favor. It involves the disappearance of Marcone the mob boss with paranormal connections. Meanwhile, the Denarians (fallen angels) and the brothers Gruff (as in were-goats) are after Harry and company.

The thing is, the who behind Marcone's disappearance is obvious. If he has a safe house — a secret, off the books hideaway — it should be difficult to predict when he's there or even where there is. Yet, the instant he walks in the attack begins. That means, it has to be an inside job.

Knowing who the insider is, does require reading previous books in the series and having a good working memory of their plots.

Given the obviousness of the plot, this book should have been a short, tightly written, character driven volume. Instead it's bloated with the same oft-repeated information about Harry's life: the blue beetle being old and beat up, his terrible childhood, his effeminate vampire half brother, his big ass dog named Mouse, etc.

Book eleven is Turn Coat (2009).

Three stars

Comments (0)