Turn Coat Review

Turn Coat by Jim Butcher (Book 11 in The Dresden Files)

Review by Raymond

If you’re new to Dresden then this probably isn’t a good book to start on. You don’t need to read them and you can follow the plot quite well. Butcher brings you up to speed on what happened before quickly but coming up through the books makes it much easier to invest yourself in the story. I’d rather not give a detailed explanation of the plot. It’s already too easy to find and I don’t want to repeat it.

" You can’t abandon life just because it’s scary, and just because sometimes you get hurt. "

Harry is a wise wise man. The above quote appeared early in the book and I believe it governs his life. In The Dresden Files book 11, Turn Coat, we see one of Harry's oldest enemies come to his door looking for help to prove his innocence. In the story Harry has to navigate the politics of not only the wizard council but also the Vampire court one in his search for the truth.

When the warden Morgan shows up at his door Harry is the last one who would be willing to help him. For years Morgan threatened to take his head off for the crime of defending himself as a child.  Because of that history he was the perfect person to throw off suspicion. Harry enlists the help of his werewolf friends only to get one killed at the hands of a skin-walker. From there the dangers get bigger and bigger dragging in his brother, his student, his enemies and more. 

In true Dresden Files fashion what starts small grows to drag in so many more elements than a simple murder. It grows from trying to clear an innocent man to encompass the traitor in the Wizard Council itself. Butcher has finally resolved some of the story plots he's been using from early in the series (and we’re getting annoying) but opens up a few new ones as well. One of them being who the real traitor actually is.

I believe that the best way to read one of Butchers books is to read it slowly to get all the details and connections he throws in. I usually start off that way but by the end of the book I can’t wait to go to the next chapter to find out what’s going to happen. Next time I will try to go a little slower but I can’t make any promises. The ending was surprising but looking back it was foreshadowed quite early in the book and slowly teased out. I enjoyed being surprised that way and I hope the next book is just as entertaining.