**edited 12/15/13 
 Dead Beat is one of my favorite books in the series. Besides having a title that is not just a pun, but a double pun (groan), it is a return to the series' action-packed, adrenaline-filled noir roots. With Butcher's improved skills in characterization, I think Dead Beat is a great book to read if you just want to try a single book from the series; it is is exuberant, fast-paced, satisfying, and with just enough cynicism to keep it in the genre. 
 It's nearly Halloween, and as always, that means Chicago is about to get spooky. Harry is still recovering from the changes engendered in the last few books: he's now got his oft-unemployed, half-vampire brother as a roommate, a huge dog who seems unwilling to stop growing, a (literal) handicap, and a brand new set of worries and concerns. In the last book, Harry practically melted his hand off during an attack on a scourge of vampires. Although crippled and depressed about it, that isn't Harry's biggest concern. Inside the burned flesh of his palm, there is a tiny unburned patch in the shape of the sigil of the fallen angel that Harry encountered in a previous book. Combined with his inadvertent use of hellfire, Harry finally(!) realizes that the fallen angel might be exerting influence over him. (The reader, of course, realized this rather sooner, since Harry's bouts of fury took on a disturbing amount of malicious enjoyment right after his encounter with the fallen.) But most troubling of all, Harry has discovered he has feelings for Lt. Karrin Murphy--just in time to say goodbye to her as she heads out on a vacation to Hawaii with another man. Oops. 
 ...And that's all I'm going to post here. 
 The rest of my (rather verbose) review is posted over here at Booklikes. 
 Why? Because I disapprove of GoodReads' new policy of censorship, and will no longer allow my full reviews to be posted here.