Dark Debt is the almost year-mark of when Merit became a vampire, and as fans of the series know, it's been quite a ride. At the end of Blood Games we learned that Ethan's not-so-dead maker Balthazar was scheduled to make and appearance. And boy does he ever make an appearance. But not only do the vampires of Chicago have to deal with Balthazar but one of their own houses, specifically Navarre, is targeted by a group known as The Circle which is apparently left over issues from Celina's reign. This time around Merit and Co. truly have their hands full. 
 I probably say this every time a new Chicagoland Vampire book comes out, but this time I really mean it: Dark Debt feels so much like going back to the beginning of the series. It's great. 
 As stated there have been a lot of bumpy roads for Merit and her friends to work through. Most specifically of these is the loss of Ethan in Hard Bitten and then Mallory's fall to darkness we see beginning in Drink Deep. These two occurrences (along with other things, but I think these were the two big ones of the series) took time for Merit and other characters to get over. Books and books of time spent healing. 
 Dark Debt finally gets our characters past that. You can't deny the bad things that have happened and yes, those times have shaped our characters, but in Dark Debt I felt the friendship between Merit and Mallory in a way we haven't seen since Some Girls Bite when they lived together. In the most recent previous books in the series there was has been a tension between them, but here their snark, and jokes, and love towards one another are on point. 
 Ethan and Merit are at a wonderful place where they are comfortable with the roles they fulfill in each other's lives. They stand by one another and work as a unit. We see Merit's powers continue to grow and I loved where she's headed. 
 I think Dark Debt reminded me so much of the beginning of the series because it dealt exclusively with the vampire houses and the threats against them instead of having multiple supernatural factions involved. It was nice to just focus on the vampires because, let's be honest, they still have so much to work out together. Most specifically the houses have a lot to work out together and I love that this issue (the disconnect between Navarre and that of Grey and Cadogan) is addressed. 
 I've found in the past that sometimes Neill will set things up that don't pan out to the greatness I thought it would (I'm sorry I'm looking at you Tate and McKettrick), but the Balthazar plot was handled really well. He presents such a huge part of Ethan's past that he's tried for centuries to get, well, past. To have him show up out of the blue, still as menacing as Ethan remembers is quite the shock to our green-eyed master. 
 Along with that Neill has seemed to set up for what I'm assuming will be the final story arc of the series - since this is book 11 and as of now it will only go to 13. I'm very happy at the direction things seem to be going. 
 *Copy was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.