Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard, has always managed to save the day—but, in this powerful entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling Dresden Files, can he save himself? One year. 365 days. Twelve months. Harry Dresden has been through a lot, and so has his city. After Harry and his allies narrowly managed to save Chicago from being razed to the ground, everything is different—and it’s not just the current lack of electricity. In the battle, Harry lost people he cared about. And that's the kind of loss that takes a toll. Harry being Harry, he’s doing his level best to help the city and his friends recover and rebuild. But it’s a heavy load, and he needs time. But time is one thing Harry doesn’t have. Ghouls are prowling Chicago and taking out innocent civilians. Harry’s brother is dying, and Harry doesn’t know how to help him. And last but certainly not least, the Winter Queen of the Fae has allied with the White Court of vampires—and Harry’s been betrothed to the seductive, deadly vampire Lara Raith to seal the deal. It's been a tough year. More than ever, the city needs Harry Dresden the wizard—but after loss and grief, is there enough left of Harry Dresden the man to rise to the challenge? "The high-stakes plotlines keep the pages turning as rapidly as ever, but this installment’s greatest strength lies in its exploration of Dresden’s mental state as his resilience is tested as never before."— Publishers Weekly “Series fans will be intrigued by the new characters and changes in Harry’s life as Butcher deftly explores the impacts of loss and grief.”— Booklist (starred review) Praise for Jim Butcher and the Dresden Files “Harry Dresden is a wholly original character in a wholly original world. Every book in the series is a great adventure.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris “There are no words for how much I love the Dresden Files. I take them out and reread them when I am sad, or bored, or happy—or I happen to walk by one even though I have a lot of other things I should be doing. When a new one comes out, I plan on taking the day off. Superb.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Briggs “I’ve been reading the Dresden Files for more than a decade, and somehow every book gets better. It’s my favorite kind of story: delightful, deep, complicated, rare, and wonderful.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Patrick Rothfuss “Jim Butcher has long proven he can juggle multiple threads of political intrigue, personal drama, and threat with a masterful use of action and tension....Harry’s hard-earned grit keeps his head above the magical waters and me on the edge of my seat.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison “Think Buffy the Vampire Slayer starring Philip Marlowe.”— Entertainment Weekly Jim Butcher is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Dresden Files, the Codex Alera, and the Cinder Spires novels. He lives in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. One Pain is a fire. That's true for all of the people, some of the time. If you've never had to stand in that fire, be patient: Your turn is coming. Whether the pain is physical or purely mental doesn't really matter-it turns out that your brain reacts to it the same way, lighting up many of the same centers of perception. Some brainy types in lab coats proved that one fairly recently. The suffering from a broken heart is similar to that from a gunshot wound, in terms of how our minds react over the long term. It all hurts. When you have to live with that hurt, with that pain, when there's no way to turn it off or get away from it, you start to make adjustments. Your choices in how you deal with your pain determine the course of your recovery. That's why people who go through a difficult ordeal sometimes come out stronger, and sometimes they come out broken-but they always come out . . . Changed. Pain is a fire. I opened my eyes so I could stop seeing Murphy's cold, dead face. Her lips, turning blue. "Murph?" I mumbled, looking around. But I was alone. I checked my windup Mickey Mouse alarm clock. Three thirty a.m. That meant I had slept fifteen minutes longer than I had the night before. Almost one hour and thirty minutes of rest. Progress. It had been somewhere around three weeks since Karrin Murphy died and a big bite of the city got stomped flat. Three weeks since Chicago had lost tens of thousands of innocent lives, seen a million people displaced from their homes, and had its infrastructure wrecked by an EMP-an energetic magical pulse. Three weeks since I had seen young wizards I had helped train, friends, die before their enemies. Three weeks since I had been cast out from the White Council of Wizardry entirely. Three weeks since the battle with Ethniu had announced to an entire metroplex of poor innocent normies that the things under the bed and hiding in the closet weren't just in their imaginations anymore. The alarm was set for five a.m. W