Just finished reading Summer Knight by Jim Butcher.  The fourth instalment in The Dresden Files series.  I don’t know how he manages to do it but these books just keep getting better and better.  This story was really entertaining.  Hells Bells – it was brilliant.  Beware of spoilers in the text below – they might be unintentional but that makes them no less annoying!

Harry hasn’t been the same since Grave Peril when Susan became infected with a taste for blood.  He’s blaming himself and to a certain extent he’s having a bit of a pity party.  He’s also on a fast track to being evicted from his home and business and having very few friends left to speak of due to his ill humour and almost reclusive habits.  On top of that it appears that everyone seems to be interested in seeing him dead.  Assassins seem to be popping out all over the place and going out even for a stroll in the park with your werewolf buddy has become a dangerous business.

However, it’s funny how just as you’re thinking that things can’t get any worse they sink ten feet lower and then they continue to all new record breaking levels of badness.  Not only is Harry about to be visited by the White Council and potentially be offered up as a sacrificial lamb, but he’s also going to make a deal with the Winter Queen of Faerie.  Making deals with the fey is never recommended, they twist and turn like a twisty turny thing, they talk in riddles, they’re mischevious at best and downright evil at worst and they take pleasure in the perverse.  They cannot tell a lie but this doesn’t mean they always speak the truth.

So things are about to get very hairy for Harry – pretty quickly.  As usual, he’s a complete sucker for a female in distress therefore not only is he working as the Winter Queen’s emissary and trying to appease the White Council but he’s also taken on a separate job for a bunch of changelings.

There’s so much going on in this novel that it’s difficult to put it down – basically because there’s never a good point to break off.  It’s hair tearing and almost maddeningly entertaining.  Harry seems to stagger, roll, fall or plain get pushed from one almost death situation to the next gathering clues like moss along the way.

In terms of characters we have the usual appearances from Bob and Murphy, Toot Toot and his mini army also come out to play and we get to meet someone in this story that we’ve only heard about previously.

I really like Harry.  He’s not perfect but he does the right thing.  He’s not a wuss.  He gets stuck in and he keeps his sense of humour in the face of terrible odds.

On top of this I love the way that Butcher is building up this whole world of other beings around Harry.  With each new instalment his world expands and we have different tie ins from previous stories.

Without a question of doubt for me each of these books has got better, I don’t see how that can continue – it seems against the odds doesn’t it?  But, I’m willing to suspend my disbelief here.

Surprisingly I don’t think I have any criticisms at all for this one.  It was downright good fun.  Thoroughly entertaining and a definite must read.

I’m really falling for this series and the good thing about this is that there’s plenty more to look forward to.