Harry should have fed Rudolf to the Ick. I'm tired of the character.
Agreed. I know Jim likes to add problems to Harry's life, and this is an excellent way to do it but Rudolph is seriously one-dimensional. Has zero redeeming qualities. He is almost cartoonish. I would far prefer if he had developed more. If he at least had no redeeming features he could at least have some more understandable ones.
Secondly, I think it is clear this police scrutiny is a misdirect. Harry and Murphy (unless I am much mistaken) have never discussed Rudy being on Marcone's payroll. Jim has conveniently shoved that in so that Harry will head for Marcone. But Marcone is the least likely person to do it. Harry already paid the weregild for the murdered employee, and he wanted Harry to break into the vault so he isn't going to go after him for that. He knows Harry is chaos made manifest and the last thing he would want when holding (perhaps career defining) summit is for it to go tits up. So he isn't likely to be the one antagonizing Dresden. But someone wants them to be upset with each other.
Someone is well aware of Harry's animosity with Marcone, and Harry's incredibly predictable overreaction to having a woman (particularly a lover but in general a close female) threatened. Beyond that, Marcone has made a lot of enemies (not merely mortal ones either) who are especially keen for the king to fall. Likely, this is part of the same plot that Ebenezer just a chapter before hand just warned Harry about. The sucker punch is coming and all this is to keep Harry distracted.
I would say this is all Black Council/the Circle influenced. Maybe it's the Fomor acting on their behalf, perhaps it's someone else. But behind it all it smells like the Black Council.
Nicodemus does have a lot to gain...but to be honest he wouldn't rely on the mortal authorities. He would just send a hitter. Much more his style. This feels a lot more like Mavra or Lara or even the White Council pulling strings. But you can bet it is related to the impending vote to remove him as a wizard AND to the imminent peace talks.
If I were gunning for Harry, I would attack him in all his weak spots all at once (assuming I had the resources). Go after Thomas, Maggie, Eb, The Carpenters, Murphy, all his usual allies. And attack in multiple ways. Use the legal system, send hit men, attack the Council etc. Divide and conquer tactics. Put so much on Harry's plate that he is bound to lose a few loved ones and allies. Hit Demonreach and the Gates, do whatever it takes. All the while, you set up an ace in the hole. An unstoppable assault that Harry won't see until it's too late. Like an invading army being prepared. You want to keep him off balance and tired so that he misses things. So that he can't catch his breath. You want his allies so under pressure they can't aid him. You want him worried. And during all this, you set things up so that his allies start distrusting each other, perhaps even him and vice versa.
Which is precisely what the MO of the Black Court is, or roundabouts. Harry is getting better at predicting the sucker punch now (perhaps he has cottoned onto his cruel god Butcher's methods). But I think he won't this time. I think this is all about to go sideways.
On an unrelated note, while I did enjoy this chapter I did have some issues with it but also some positives:
1. I like that Harry can cook now. He mostly seemed to eat takeout and frozen food before hand. Small victories!
2. Harry's constant need to be chivalrous isn't endearing anymore. It's sort of weird. I like that he was respectful and careful of his lover. Kudos to Jim for chucking that in. But, treating Murphy like she is some ceramic doll is just bad. She is old enough to know what she likes and what she can take. Checking in is very healthy, but listening is important too. It's fine for him to not be comfortable with hurting her, as a gut reaction. But I just found the whole scene odd.
3. On that topic, we have been waiting bloody years for this and the most we get is PG-13. Step it up Butcher! Especially if she is about to die...
4. Loved the humor. We haven't had enough of that in recent books. It wasn't necessarily a laugh out loud chapter but I enjoyed the interactions.
5. Harry's answer when Murphy asked if she could be healed was...crap. Utter trash. He might not know how but there are Wizards who know a LOT more. Like his friend Listens-to-Wind. Worse than that, as a person who just magically fixed his back injury, it was more than rude that he didn't offer to try and look for a solution. He just casually dismissed it. Nope, no cure. Only sell your soul. What rubbish. When Susan became a half-vampire he spent YEARS looking for a cure. Does Murphy have to get cancer or bitten by a vampire for Dresden to pull his finger out? It's fine to be realistic (although I would argue he was being pessimistic) but why doesn't he try harder? This isn't the old Dresden. Not to mention, WHY is it that magic is so bad a healing? Harry has bent gravity, manipulates elemental forces, breaks into minds and souls etc. He can even cross space-time and travel across the world like walking through a door (followed by some confusing and sometimes semi-dangerous terrain). But knitting skin and bone together is hard? Repairing ligaments is hard? I get that JB needs Murphy to be injured for the story. But the reasons stated for healing being tricky have NEVER been very convincing. I am not sure why either. It isn't hard to work into a relatively hard magic premise. The things modern science can do now is already incredible. I would expect wizards to at least be that good, if not better. But Harry won't look anyway.
6. I love the realness of the character interactions. Something Butcher does very, VERY well. That's what draws you in, makes it real. The stuff about how family interactions are difficult for Dresden is particularly good, as he isn't used to it yet. The big dynamic is much harder when you have skin in the game.
7. Why did Murphy's doctor violate patient confidentiality? She could get sued and even lose her licence. Seems very weird to me.
8. On coming out of the vault Harry says they are blurry and translucent. They shouldn't be recognizable on camera. And what happened to camera's not working near Dresden? Or has magic decided it can work around him now?
9. They don't have to use the normal system to make this investigation go away. They could pull strings of their own. But even if they want to go the mundane route, those cops don't have EVIDENCE. Which you need. To convict.
10. They probably need to accept they are no longer regular humans. They don't work within regular boundaries. And they can ill afford to go to prison. Harry has all the tools he needs to convince them of the supernatural or make their case fall apart, or convince the cops to back off. But despite all that, I love the additional set up. More pressure for Harry!
