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Death Masks (The Dresden Files, Book 5) by [Jim Butcher]

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Jim Butcher

Death Masks (The Dresden Files, Book 5) Kindle Edition

by Jim Butcher (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4,418 ratings

Book 5 of 17: Dresden Files

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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 can 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.

Print length

464 pages
Language

English
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On Kindle Scribe
Publisher

Roc
Publication date

August 5, 2003
Reading age

18 years and up
File size

1635 KB
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Popular Highlights in this book

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“I wouldn’t burden any decent system of faith by participating in it.”
Highlighted by 933 Kindle readers
“I wouldn’t burden any decent system of faith by participating in it.”
Highlighted by 360 Kindle readers
“Life would be unbearably dull if we had answers to all our questions.”
Highlighted by 346 Kindle readers
“No trouble,” he said. “Sleep is god. Go worship.”
Highlighted by 302 Kindle readers

Editorial Reviews

Review

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

About the Author

A martial arts enthusiast whose résumé includes a long list of skills rendered obsolete at least two hundred years ago, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher turned to writing as a career because anything else probably would have driven him insane. He lives mostly inside his own head so that he can write down the conversation of his imaginary friends, but his head can generally be found in Independence, Missouri. Jim is the author of the Dresden Files, the Codex Alera novels, and the Cinder Spires series, which began with The Aeronaut’s Windlass.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B003X0AW6Q
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Roc (August 5, 2003)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 5, 2003
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1635 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 464 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #22,599 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #205 in Private Investigator Mysteries (Books)
- #208 in Witch & Wizard Mysteries
- #241 in Private Investigator Mysteries (Kindle Store)

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Jim Butcher is a bestselling author and martial arts enthusiast. His resume includes a long list of skills rendered obsolete at least 200 years ago, and he turned to writing because anything else probably would have driven him insane. He lives with his family in Independence, Missouri.

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Mboggie143

can’t stop reading this series

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 19, 2022

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My house is a disaster and everyone is hungry but I just finished Book 5 of The Dresden Files so I’m good.

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Sneaky Burrito

a fun read, but there's a bit much going on at the same time

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 3, 2014

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I am moving right along through the Dresden Files books and have almost finished all the ones I got in an Amazon daily deal. The good news is that it was money well spent, as I am enjoying this series a lot. The bad news is that I am going to have to pay full price for all the ones I don't have yet (and sooner, rather than later).

Overall, I enjoyed this book, although I didn't love every single aspect of it. I thought the main mystery aspect was great this time around, and appreciated the return to a more traditional detective story (at least in part). I appreciated the little clues dropped here and there -- I really should have figured it out, although I didn't. But when the big reveal came, I definitely felt like it was supported by bits and pieces from earlier in the book.

Another strength was the final battle. This was just fun to read. It had about 1000 cliches (won't spoil them for you), but the scene was well-written and I could just see the action inside my head. I am reading these books for escapism purposes, and this was definitely achieved here. In general, Jim Butcher is pretty good at taking cliches and tropes and running with them (there was a lot of that in Codex Alera, too). There's enough humor and commentary involved that you can tell it's being done deliberately rather than inadvertently. And that makes a big difference for me.

Michael is back, as are his two companion knights. I was a little unhappy with the abrupt introduction of Michael in book 3 (I think?) but I felt that the introduction of Shiro and Sanya (the other knights) worked well. It was easier because we already knew they existed, and it would make sense that they were hanging around with Michael. They are interesting characters in their own ways, and I'm glad they weren't just clones of Michael. Sometimes, characters in similar roles can blur into one another (I had a terrible time with Merry and Pippin in the Lord of the Rings books, less so in the movies), but each of these guys has a distinct personality in this book.

Susan is back, and I think she's a more useful character here. (I was unenthusiastic about her in previous books.) I think the resolution she and Harry come to by the end of the book is appropriate, as well. Karrin Murphy doesn't have a very big part to play, but she is around for a bit. There's not as much use for the cops in this book, for various reasons, and I guess that's why Murphy fades into the background (she had a big part in book 4, though). And John Marcone is back. I like what happens at the end with him, too, and how Butcher ties it into something that happened in Marcone's and Dresden's first meeting. Definitely lots of reasons to read the whole series -- in order.

Once again, Harry has to accept a lot of help, and from all kinds of people. I like that he takes the help -- even asks for it -- even when dire consequences are involved. He doesn't have as much of a hero complex in this book, and it makes him a more likable character. However, there is a scene where Harry is thinking about the bra color of Michael's 14-year-old daughter Molly, and that is a little bit creepy.

I'm on the fence about this next thing. Even though "Death Masks" has a self-contained mystery, the war between the wizards and vampires is still going on, and Harry has been challenged to a duel by a Red Court vampire. He has to balance his main task (related to the mystery) with preparing for this duel, which often involves finishing a task and getting to another place without a lot of time to spare. He always makes it; the first event never makes him late for the second. (As opposed to, say, book 1, when he accidentally schedules two meetings for the same time.) I'm glad the larger conflict hasn't been dropped from this book, but I wish the two objectives had interfered with each other a little more.

Not much to say about character development or setting that I haven't said before. We're still in Chicago, and we've gotten to know most of the major players already. We do learn some personal things about Shiro, Sanya, and Marcone, and that's nice. The writing style is pretty similar to before. (I'm sure the Coca-Cola company is very happy with all the references to one of their products, by the way.)

As was the case with previous books, we meet a new "species" of paranormal entity, the Denarians. I'm not sure I understand everything about them, but the way the book ends, it seems clear to me that we'll encounter more of them in future volumes, so I'm hoping more is explained then. The Denarians are supernatural beings (fallen angels, demons) attached to mortal hosts. They're pretty tough in battle and pretty nasty in general. I am new to urban fantasy within the past year or so, but I haven't read about any beings quite like the Denarians before, and I do appreciate Butcher's branching out into non-standard classes (having experienced vampires, werewoles, and fairies in past volumes).

In the end, this is probably not my favorite book in the series, but I liked it fairly well and am definitely excited about continuing.

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Kindle Customer

Great 👍

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 4, 2022

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I like writing reviews that may as well have been written by bot. Really drives the algorithm crazy. Four more words required.

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PraetorXyn

Another faction, and more excitement with your friendly neighborhood wizard

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 5, 2023

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Death Masks introduces another nefarious faction, and more church lore. Michael is always a welcome addition on Harry's adventures, and this book introduces one of my favorite aspects of the Dresden Files going forward. Highly recommended.

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Reunion of the Damned

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 16, 2010

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Death Masks finds Harry Dresden once again up to his eyeballs in trouble. First, the high-ranking Red Court vampire Ortega reappears in Harry's life. Ortega was present when Harry started the war between the White Council of wizards and the vampires. He's returned to Chicago to force Harry into a duel, which if Harry dies will end the war, supposedly. Should Harry refuse, then all his friends and cohorts will be killed by hired guns on the vampires' behalf. As always, Harry's in a no-win situation.

Add onto this the new case he took on from a high-ranking rep from the Vatican to recover the stolen Shroud of Turin and things just keep getting better. That his long-lost love Susan returns to say goodbye and help out cannot possibly make things worse, right? Enter Michael, the Knight of the Cross from earlier in the series, along with his two fellow Knights, putting their own lives on the line to save Harry, the Shroud, and stop the Really Bad Demons (TM) who want the Shroud for their own evil designs.

Mix in Butcher's hardy doses of plot twists, betrayals, action, sex, gunplay, bloodletting, swordfighting, and magic-tossing, and you get one hell of a fun ride. At more than 350 pages, this one goes by faster than a kid's book. I sure was left wanting more and have already started in on the next in the series.

Along with more character development for all the recurring characters, we see resolution of the storylines in this one as well. We get returning villains as well as allies for our hero, with their own stories advancing as the series progresses. Harry never wins without some sacrifice, and a lot is lost in this book. While he comes out in the end (hardly a spoiler, I think, since he's the narrator, come on!), it's certainly not with a "happily ever after".

As with the prior four books in this series, we get characters that seem real, from all their misjudgments, mistakes, bad jokes, and other interactions with one another, to badly-laid plans, to well-laid plans that never get the chance to go off, we see the same frustration that we experience in life, when the unexpected crops up and shatters any preconceptions of controlling one's own fate. That Harry takes on not just his own safety and future, but also that of so many innocents at the risk of his own life, shows us a hero of the old cloth, giving everything of himself to serve good. Please pick up these books, you'll be very happy you did.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 12, 2022

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Unlike the previous installments, it seemed like this novel had too much happening too quickly. It was still good, as they've all been so far, but it seemed like the whole Ortega affair was just shoved in to pad the length. It took away from the Shroud plot that could have had some more detail.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 7, 2022

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Excellent mixture of the arcane and humor. This is the fifth book in the series and it would be best if you read from the beginning. Some adult content.

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Flora

An Urban Fantasy Adventure With Non-stop Action!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 22, 2020

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I've read the previous books in this series and really enjoyed them. The Dresden Files has become one of my favourite reads.

I love the way that the characters in these books are written. They're multifaceted creations that feel believable; they have depth and layers to their personalities. Good or bad, light or dark is an illusion, the reality is actually one of the myriad shades of grey.

Death Masks was more than a good story, it had everything that I look for. There's a great balance between the various aspects of this story: Mystery, crime, thriller, horror, detective, mythology and the paranormal. Jim Butcher blends these harder aspects with well written humour, love, friendship and hope. This mix helps to keep the story from being too dark and heavy for me. Death Masks also managed to surprise me a few times too. I enjoyed trying to second guess where the story would take us next and how Harry would get out of the various pickles he found himself in.

I bought the audiobook format as well as the ebook and alternated between reading and listening to the tale. James Marsters performance was fantastic. The pace at which he read the narrative was appropriate for each scene, while the voices he gave to each character added another level of believability to the dialogue. I feel that James has also personified our protagonist, bringing him to life in his narration of Death Masks as he has done in the previous books.

Death Masks is a fantastic book. However, it's part of an ongoing series so don't expect all the loose ends to be neatly tied up. There's no life-or-death cliffhanger at the end but although Harry may have won this battle we're left in no doubt that the war still rages on. I for one, can't wait to find out what adventures Harry is forced to go on in the next book.

One person found this helpful

Jim J-R

Possibly the best in the series so far

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 26, 2015

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Death Masks is the fifth book in the Dresden Files series, which tells the story of Chicago’s only Wizard Private Investigator. This time he’s hired by a priest visiting the city from the Vatican to help recover a stolen artefact, which leads to an intriguing and rather complicated plot which I’m not sure I completely followed.

There is the usual mix of apical action and witty banter, and a stronger emotional undercurrent than perhaps we’ve seen before in the series, as events from previous books are followed up and some plot threads are seemingly tied up. At the same time, this book introduces a number of new threads, which look like they are going to spread through the series to come.

While I enjoyed reading this, possibly the most of the books so far, I did feel that it was leaning towards the more implausible end of the urban fantasy spectrum, particularly in some of the detail around the scenario in this book. Additionally, the introduction of a range of new enemies made for a lot of new information to absorb, and I don’t think I managed to digest everything that it had to offer.

Unlike the first few books, which could be described along the lines of ‘Dresden does Vampires’, ‘Dresden does Wereworlves’, etc., this story defies such classification, and I think that’s a good thing - it shows a little maturity of the series that it can start to do its own thing, and begin to build up some of the ongoing plot threads that I hope build into something fantastic int he books I have yet to read.

One person found this helpful

catlady66

Again another fantastic read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 25, 2020

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Loved it yet again great book hard to put down edge of seat stuff as always never disappoints these books dont worth every penny you Defo get your moneys worth from them love them so if want a great read plenty action but sex not too graphic either but just right and great characters that you just can't help root for then pick this and the other books in this fantastic series of books sit back and enjoy a world of fantasy and action and so much more in these great books I am now off to read the next one in the series book 6 Blood Rites hope you will too

Steve D

Death Masks

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 26, 2012

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This is another really enjoyable outing, the fifth book in Butcher's 'Dresden Files'. The previous book (Summer Knight) kind of felt like a pause for breath before cracking on with the looming war between the White Council and the vampires' Red Court, so this book wastes no time getting back to it. Without going into spoilers, Harry's the one responsible for starting the war a couple of books back, and now the Red Court have sent a vampire called Ortega to deal with him in a duel. If Dresden dies, the war is effectively put on hold, but if he lives ...

Sometimes I think there's a danger with stories that are narrated in the first-person, with a laconic, almost film noir-ish feel to them, that they can become annoyingly smug, but Butcher always seems to walk the line very deftly. Harry Dresden is a hugely likeable character, and it sucks you into his life and makes you care about him. It's easy to warm to his friends and enemies, too, because they come across in a very believable (within the context) fashion, even out-and-out bad guys like the gangster Marcone or the demon Nicodemus.

As usual, there are several seemingly disparate storylines that seamlessly weave into the whole, and culminate in a breathlessly choreographed, edge-of-seat finale. It's funny, sexy, fast-paced and action-packed and, to Butcher's credit, he never loses sight of the rules he has created for his world, and often uses them to great effect.

I'm finding that these stories are very addictive, and they do seem to be getting better and better as they go along.

The Kindle edition is very well formatted, with only a couple of minor errors that do nothing to spoil the experience.

Aleksander Cristea

A good instalments with some little issues

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 27, 2012

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READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE: [...]
[...]
Death Masks is the fifth instalment in the Dresden series, and I was hoping (expecting?) to find the same kind of flawless plotting and execution that had made me love Summer Knight so damned much. I wanted to be thrilled, surprised, amused by this book just as much as I had been by its predecessor. And as much as Death Masks was a good book, it just never made it to awesome.

[...]

The first thing that struck me was that every damn female in this book was attractive. And I mean every single one of them, even the razor-sharp-fifteen-foot-long-haired-demon. Harry appears to see women as curves, breasts, pretty throats and nice eyes. It happens when he first sees Francesca, anytime he's around Anna, and at times I think he does more ogling of Deirdre (the demon-girl) than actual fighting.

[...]

My second point of contention with this book was also one of the things I found coolest about it: the Denarians. Their concept is awesome, and they make for some kickass bad guys with a great backstory and powers enough to make them stay around and become a real problem. Their execution was what didn't sit well with me, however. I'm not particularly against shapeshifting, but when dealing with shapeshifting, writers need to think long and hard about what their characters are turning into and what that implies.

[...]

Nicodemus, head of the Denarians, seemed to escape the shape-shifting issue of losing any seriousness by, well, not shape-shifting. Instead, Nicodemus is the talkative type, whilst saying he isn't, and he likes to gloat. He would have been a better bad guy, in my opinion, had he been a little less one dimensional. But hey, I guess that if you willingly became a Denarian, you might just happen to be a bastard through and through.

Those things aside, the rest of the book was awesome. Susan returns for a brief period and she seems to have shaken off the I'm-a-stupid-woman-who-doesn't-realise-the-danger-she-is-in-although-she-once-did character, and is a much less annoying addition to the cast. Actually, Susan kicks some serious ass--literally, too, mind--and is much more than the plot device Grave Peril had turned her into.

Death Masks also sees the introduction of a couple of new characters. Butters is an ME with a strange sense of humour and although we don't see a whole lot of him in this book, it is clear that he is going to turn out into a rather cool recurring character.

We are also introduced to the other two Knights of the Cross who join Michael in this instalment to battle the Denarians. Shiro, a small Japanese man who fights with all the skill and might of a samurai, and Sanya, a agnostic black Russian with some of the best one-liners of the entire book.

[...]

Overall, Death Masks was a real thrill ride: Harry has been hired to retrieve a stolen artefact but when the Denarians and Marcone both turn out to be after it, the stakes are seriously raised. Add to that the death threats from the Red Court vampires, and the Knights trying to keep him out of the loop and Death Masks quickly becomes one of the most action filled instalments of the series yet. It's just a pity that the final battle seemed rushed and almost clumsy. But the ending itself is one of the most powerful ones in the series, and definitely not one I'm about to forget.

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