Skin Game

Skin Game is the fifteenth novel in the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher.

Release notes
Skin Game is set to be released simultaneously in the US and the UK on May 27th, 2014. Five chapters have been uploaded on Butcher's site.

Plot
Nicodemus Archleone puts together a heist to rob the Vaults of Hades, Greek God of the Underworld, lord of the mineral wealth of the earth, and collector of rarities, to gain the Holy Grail. Anduriel, it seems, calls in a favor Mab owes it, and Mab loans Nicodemus Harry's services as the Winter Knight. His other team members include his daughter Deidre, a shapeshifter named Goodman Grey, Binder, Anna Valmont, a gifted fire-mage warlock named Hannah Ascher, and a Genoskwa (evidently related to the Bigfoot but incredibly violent and hostile) and, at Harry's insistence and Mab backing him, Karrin Murphy.

The heist's plan to gain access to a vault owned by John Marcone, a metaphorical lord of the underworld, and have Harry open a Way to the Nevernever, shortcutting most of the Underworld by getting direct access to Marcone's vault. With a few bumps, and attacks by Tessa, who is enraged at Nicodemus for something, they accomplish the ground work required.

Along the way, Waldo Butters eavesdrops on the planning and Nicodemus and the Genoskwa give pursuit, while Harry and Bob (who Waldo is using) try to delay the chase to give Butters a chance to make it to Michael Carpenter's house, one of the few places Nicodemus cannot go.

Nicodemus and the Genoskwa, however, do block Butters' entry, right outside Michael's fence, despite Murphy arriving, with Fidelacchius, to even it up. Surprisingly, Karrin bests Nicodemus in a sword fight, and ends up with her holding Fidelacchius to Nicodemus' neck, while the Genoskwa is holding Harry's head to a car with orders to crush it if Karrin cuts him. Nicodemus takes off the Noose and discards his coin and mockingly 'begs' for redemption--but doesn't drop his sword. Karrin tries to cut his throat, and Fidelacchius' blade shatters, to Nicodemus' immense satisfaction. Nicodemus promptly beats her down.

Michael Carpenter forestalls Nicodemus from killing her outright by offering himself to Nicodemus--to walk outside his yard, beyond the protection of the dozen angels who watch his house. Uriel the Archangel appears and begs Michael not to do it, but when Michael is resolute, Uriel says he'll help Michael out of the yard. Then the archangel bestows his Grace--the qualities which make him an angel--on Michael, which Harry likens to loaning Michael a 747 because he needed a reading light. Uriel's grace restores Michael's body to his fighting prime and, technically, gives him all of Uriel's powers--but with the caveat that Uriel will Fall if Michael misuses them. Michael agrees not to, and he's given Amoracchius, to use the Sword one last time He then steps out of the yard to confront a stunned Nicodemus. Nicodemus is then infuriated when Harry lawyers his way into bring Michael along--since Harry was along a backup member, and Nicodemus incapacitated Murphy, Harry nominates Michael as her replacement on the heist.

During the heist of Marcone's vault, Nicodemus manages the team, and almost foils his own efforts by being too willing to kill Anna Valmont when she's initially confounded by the vault door. Harry reasons through it, and the crew gains entry to Marcone's vault, in which various supernaturals have entrusted Marcone's legendary evenhanded business practices with a portion of their wealth--including Hades. Harry opens the Way, and they begin dealing with the defenses of Hades' Vault.

At the first Gate, the Gate of Fire, Hannah Ascher successfully protects herself from the fires filling the room and throws the switch to disable it. In the next gate, the Gate of Ice, Harry works out the way through a roomful of blocks of ice crashing together, runs the gauntlet, and throws the switch, allowing the others to pass. The third gate is the Gate of Blood, and requires a death to open it. Nicodemus says he's going to use Harry, but Harry closes the Way he opened, making himself essential to escaping again. Nicodemus walks off to confer with his daughter, Deidre and leaves the others to plot.

This turns out to be a ruse. Nicodemus tells his daughter he's proud of her and that he loves her, then he cuts her open and kills her, with her willing He retrieves Deidre's coin and does a few other things, and Deidre's death opens the Gate to the Vault of Hades.

At the center of the fantastically bejeweled Vault, is a table with five items: A cup, a crown of thorns, a large folded cloth (the real deal), a knife, and a wooden placard. Nicodemus was really aiming for them all, but Harry grabbed four of them and left the Grail (taking them with the blessing of Hades, who'd had a word with him). As he gave Nicodemus the Grail, Harry guilt-tripped him over Nicodemus killing his own daughter--who had been fighting beside him for fifteen centuries, and they had reached a bond that 'father' and 'daughter' didn't encompass. Michael joins in, gently asking Nicodemus to repent and turn from his path, and Nicodemus almost seems to do it, the two men's words bringing his grief out enough to force out a tear and bring Nicodemus to his knees. Then he reasserts himself, declares that he's not turning aside from his path after two thousand years, and orders some of the other team members to kill Harry and Michael.

It's revealed that Ascher is the new host of Lasciel, and the Genoskwa is the host of Ursriel. Goodman Gray, the shapeshifter, however, is revealed to have been hired by Harry just before Nicodemus could get to him, and the shapeshifter's professional ethics means he stays bought. In the ensuing chaos, Harry kills the Lasciel-possessed Ascher, and then leads the Genoskwa into a lethal trap in the Gate of Ice. Nicodemus, however, has realized that Harry, too, is a father, and that the new girl at the Carpenter house is Harry's daughter. He swears revenge.

At the Carpenter house, Nicodemus is attacking it with his tongueless goons and otherwise mundane means. He gets Charity Carpenter outside, and intends to make her watch the house burn down with the children inside before he kills her. Butters, who had been taking refuge, tries to save Charity but gets put on the ground in a hurry. Harry, hurt and nearly immobile, remembers Uriel talking about the Swords being more than just Swords, and that their presence is extremely uncomfortable for the Denarians. He manages to get Fidelacchius' hilt and throws it, intending it for Charity. The throw it slightly off, and it bounces off Charity's shoulder and goes behind her--to land in the hand of Waldo Butters.

The hilt immediately lights up, the light forming a straight shaft of silver-white light which cuts Nicodemus' faithful katana in half, and leaves the cut glowing-white hot, as Nicodemus swung for the kill. Butters gets up and rushes Nicodemus in his capacity as the newest Knight of the Cross, and Nicodemus, with no way to fight back against a lightsaber, fled--in front of all his goons, who were astonished to see their lord and master routed by a small man with a swordhilt.

Later, Harry confronts Mab and Marcone and reveals he worked out the game--Marcone's vault was set up just to provide an entry into Hades' Vault, the Grail was placed there to put a prize that Nicodemus could not ignore, and Hades was in on it, too. It was all done to create circumstances which would cause the death of the one person Nicodemus loved and trusted, and by his own hand. Marcone participated for revenge from Nicodemus' abuse of him in the events of Small Favor, and Mab desired retribution against Nicodemus for breaking the Unseelie Accords back in Small Favor, which is her right.

Nicodemus lost a lot of power in Skin Game--he lost his daughter, two of the coins of his allies were left in the Vault of Hades, his wife will never forgive him for killing their daughter, his goons have lost their faith in him and apparently they're deserting, he has lost much of his political influence by breaking the Accords, and he even lost his favorite sword. Fidelacchius wasn't broken, it was strengthened into an unknown quantity, and it's wielded by a man who takes a story of good vs. evil to heart.

The one upside is that Nicodemus has gained the Holy Grail. He will be back in the 20th book of the Dresden files.