An improvement from the first in the series, but the weak point is still Harry Dresden's relationship with women. Frankly I think he should be single forever, do everyone a favour. There's some progress in that his patronising attempts to protect the women around him by refusing to tell them things that they need to know backfires, badly, and as a result he might actually have grasped how much of a problem his attitude is. Hopefully there'll be no more of that low-key self-congratulation about how he's such an old-fashioned guy, because any more of that and Murphy can just shoot him, I wouldn't mind. Part of me wishes that she'd been the protagonist of the series, because she's so much more likeable than he is, but alas, we work with what we have. And what we have here is your basic urban fantasy werewolf story. There's a full moon, and uncontrollable beasts are running amok. I happen to like werewolf stories, so I found this particular volume entertaining, and there is some amusement to be had from seeing Harry so thoroughly and consistently beaten up. I get my simple pleasures where I can.