The twelfth book of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' is a non-stop tidal wave of thrills, shocks, moral dilemmas and world-shaking crises. Oh, and a non-stop tidal wave of Shout Outs:

* There's a bit from ''Film/ThePrincessBride'':
--> '''Harry:''' Plan B. We need a Plan B. If we only had a wheelbarrow, that would be something.\\
'''Susan''' ''laughing'': We have a great big truck!\\
'''Harry''' ''(In a bad British accent)'': Then why didn't you list it among our assets?
* Harry reminds Susan that the Vampire War hasn't exactly been [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Disneyland]] for the White Council or the world outside Latin America, either.
* Thomas gives a battle-cry that's a pretty good Creator/BruceLee impression while fighting the Ick.
* Harry realizes that Esmerelda could have hypnotized Stevie D into thinking [[Series/SesameStreet Mister Snuffleupagus]] hired him if she wanted.
* Toot-Toot's voice sounds like a Creator/{{Shakespeare}}an actor on helium, and he now wears an outfit swiped from a vintage Franchise/GIJoe doll.
* Harry speculates that Lara sang "[[Creator/MarilynMonroe Happy Birthday, Mr. President]]" to arrange for Molly's pickup by navy chopper.
* There's a whole conversation about [[GenreSavvy which member of]] [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings the Fellowship]] everyone is. While we didn't hear the final decision for everyone, we do know that Thomas is Legolas by virtue of [[{{Bishonen}} prettiness]], Sanya the sword-wielding descendant of kings is ''clearly'' Aragorn, [[HeroicDog Mouse]] is [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Gimli]] (shortest, stoutest, and hairiest), and, much to Harry's annoyance, [[spoiler:the Leanansidhe]] got to be Gandalf ([[spoiler:Best spellcaster in the group, and appropriately [[TheFairFolk ancient and inhuman]]]]). Harry, they decided, is Sam: things rarely go his way, but [[{{Determinator}} he never gives up]], and he's the ''real'' hero of the story. [[spoiler:Oh, and Thomas labels Martin-- the well-intentioned traitor who dies for their cause-- as Boromir.]] And lo, there was FridgeBrilliance.
** This leaves Frodo, Merry, and Pippin unassigned to Molly, Murphy and Susan for fans to argue about, which they've been doing non-stop since this novel hit the shelves.
*** Though surely Susan is Frodo, because she's Sam's [[HoYay love interest]].
** There's also the obligatory description of the Black Council as "mysterious figures in black robes with delusions of [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Ringwraith-hood]]".
** Harry asks Susan if she liked "those movies" too, when they're confronted by a huge roomful of goblins.
* On a similar note, Harry compares some of his associates to the quartet from ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''. He pegs himself as the Scarecrow due to chronic bone-headedness, Thomas as the Tin Man due to how his skin looks when he's vamping out, Rudolph as the Cowardly Lion for freaking out during the Reds' attack, and Murphy as Dorothy by default.
* Esteban's black silk clothing looks like something from a ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' dress rehearsal.
** Harry having a flash of insight and asking Bob what the flowers in Lea's garden are only to be informed he took the primrose path. ''Hamlet'' is one of the earliest appearances of that phrase and Harry's talking to a skull.
* When Harry decides to throw some wrath at some deserving vampires, he subverts [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings the usual Gandalf quote]] about angry wizards:
-->''"Fuck subtle."''
* [[VideoGame/{{Zork}} "Maybe it was a grue."]]
* Refraining from making a manicure crack about Vadderung's secretaries: "[[WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget Go go, Gadget Wisdom.]]"
** Later, he says ''Go go, Gadget [[Myth/{{Faust}} Faustian Bargain]]."
* Left outside while Susan and Martin raid Datasafe's computers, Harry grouses that he's Literature/CliffordTheBigRedDog: too big and dumb to accompany Emily Elizabeth indoors.
* There's a passing mention of [[Myth/NorseMythology Loki]] in the Erlking scenes.
** More specifically, to the tale of Útgarða-Loki, where one of Thor's companions races against "Thought" and, predictably, loses.
* Harry's remark that he'd rather have a home that means something because of the ancient burial ground under the swimming pool ''could'' be a ''Film/{{Poltergeist|1982}}'' reference, although the cemetery under the Freelings' pool wasn't an ancient one.
* "Godmother, what... [[Literature/LittleRedRidingHood a big car you have]]."
* Unmasked, Red Court vampires look like a vampire bat crossed with Creator/HRGiger's hallucination.
* Harry's remark, "This is ridiculous. I [[ShouldersOfDoom look like]] the [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}} Games Workshop version]] of a [[Franchise/StarWars Jedi Knight]]," explains the armour Lea conjures up for him better than the preceding couple of paragraphs...
** Susan isn't entirely thrilled to look like a [[UsefulNotes/LasVegas Vegas]] showgirl, either.
* When Thomas comes to the rescue, Harry responds "[[WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers Go Team Dresden!]]"
* After hound-transformed Harry hears Mouse verbally challenge Lea, he [[Film/{{Gremlins}} asks his Temple Dog why he's never heard him speak before, and Lea points out that Harry didn't know how to listen]].
* ''[[Literature/TheLittleEngineThatCould I think I can, I think I can.]]''
** Or directly ''WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}}''
* Mac's pub looks like Series/{{Cheers}} after a mild apocalypse.
* Toot asks Harry if his tongue got stuck to Mab, like in [[Film/AChristmasStory that Christmas movie]].
* Tilly checks his ID to see if the name has changed to "[[Series/TheXFiles Mulder]]" when Dresden and Murphy start to level with him about what's going on. Harry himself conflates Tilly's appearance with Mulder's when he creates illusions of his companions.
* Harry derisively refers to the Red Court as [[Film/TheLostBoys "One big bloodsucking]] [[Series/TheBradyBunch Brady Bunch]]."
* "[[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack Musty? Little? My home, this is.]]"
--> "Your weapons, grasshopper. You will not need them."
--> "You know, I believe it ''is'' possible to reference something other than ''Star Wars'', boss."
--> {narrows eyes in Muppetly wisdom} "That is why you fail."
** [[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi "Not ready for the burden of constant wiseassery are you."]]
** Musing about the internal dissent in the White Council, Harry reminds himself of his own status as the next best thing to Darth Vader in many Councilors' opinion.
** Knowing the FBI have his phone line bugged and are watching his place, he snarkily asks them to make sure nobody steals his vintage ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'' poster.
** The light rays from the Nevernever pyramids are so bright, they make the [[Franchise/StarWars Death Star]] lasers look wimpy.
** Harry's reference to "Tylenol 2: The Pain Strikes Back" may or may not be another ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' reference.
** "What would Yoda do?"
* Due to her half-vampire status and her work with the Fellowship, Susan has become something between [[Series/TheAvengers1960s Emma Peel]] and ComicBook/SheHulk.
* Harry says his skull must have gotten an [[ComicBook/XMen adamantium]] upgrade, considering that it's still intact despite all the beatings he's taken.
* When Molly points out that Harry can't dock her pay because he doesn't pay her anything, he replies "[[DastardlyWhiplash Curses, foiled again]]".
* The sacrificial dagger Harry uses on Slate is called [[Myth/GreekMythology Medea's bodkin]] by Mab.
* Harry wonders aloud why he always has the urge to follow up the phrase "my laboratory" with a stock EvilLaugh. Molly blames this on his watching too many Film/HammerHorror films as a kid; Bob agrees it's either that or too much of ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow''.
* The words Harry uses to cast illusions of his companions are Latin for "[[{{Film}} Lights, Camera, Action!]]".
* Lea asks Harry if he's ever wondered why no enemy has ever sent spirits into his apartment by opening a gateway from the Nevernever, and lists [[Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}} his refrigerator]] among the possible destinations to which such a portal might've been opened.
* The depleted uranium in Harry's lab is there for when he's the answer to "[[Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}} Who you gonna call?]]"
* Murphy points out that Duchess Arianna's strategy seems a bit like something out of a movie:
--> "[[Film/{{Goldfinger}} No, Mr. Dresden, I expect you to die.]]"
* Heading up to parley with the Red King, Harry reassures his companions that he doesn't think it's going to turn into a Creator/JohnWoo flick immediately.
* Molly calls the Ick "tar baby", a reference to the [[BriarPatching Uncle Remus]] tale.
* Harry signals Susan with the "Shave and a Haircut" knock during the attack on the FBI building.
* The giant centipede in the Nevernever garden is straight out of the 1980 console game ''VideoGame/{{Centipede}}''. Harry even anticipates its AsteroidsMonster quality by [[TemptingFate telling it to go back to Atari]].
* Making slapdash repairs to his pentacle necklace, Harry tells himself "[[Film/{{Babe}} That'll do, pig]]" when he's done the best job time allows.
* Rudolph mentions having seen a magician make the Statue of Liberty disappear once: a trick famously performed on live TV by David Copperfield, one of the illusionists Harry is named after.
* Bob quotes Creator/WaltWhitman ("Oh, Captain, my captain.") when Harry orders him to lower the apartment's wards. Or, possibly, he quotes Film/DeadPoetsSociety quoting Walt Whitman....
* [[Franchise/EvilDead Shop smart. Shop S-mart.]]
* Mab can be as Gargantuan or [[Literature/GulliversTravels Lilliputian]] as she chooses near the Stone Table.
* Outraged that the FBI had searched his place, Harry ruefully muses that it's not like he lives in an ivory tower or [[Literature/TheHobbit Bag End]] or whatever.
* The ambient magical energies at the Red Court warehouse remind Harry of [[Literature/TheHobbit Smaug lying covetously on his hoard]].
* The Little Folk descend on four large pizzas like a scene out of ''Film/TheBirds''.
* Seeing the light-in-mist computer displays at Monoc Securities, Harry quotes ClarkesThirdLaw.
* Butters makes ''Film/{{Frankenstein 1931}}'' movie references after re-starting Harry's heart.
* Harry warns Murphy that they can't simply go all ''[[Film/TheWildBunch Wild Bunch]]'' on the Red Court.
* Arianna wears more gold bling than a Creator/MrT lookalike convention.
* The distinction Harry makes between "phantasms" and tangible illusions is the same as it is in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''.
** The kenku that Ebenezar brings in as backup resemble the ones from D&D more than those from the original Japanese myths.
* Real goblins are like ninjas. From [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Krypton]].
* Meeting Alamaya, an outraged Murphy quotes a feminist slogan that's usually attributed to Gloria Steinem.
* Seeing the wreckage of his duster, Harry muses that probably nobody made a pie out of Literature/{{Cinderella}}'s coach after it turned back into a pumpkin, either.
* Harry tries to pronounce the name of the Ik'k'uox at one point, and ends up with Ik'[[Music/TheBeatles koo-koo-kachoo]] before setting on The Ick.
* After getting a sloppy kiss from Mouse, Harry exclaims "Ick! My lips touched dog lips! Get some mouthwash! Get some iodine!", referencing a scene from ''WesternAnimation/ItsTheGreatPumpkinCharlieBrown''.
* While discussing Arianna with Luccio, Harry states that [[Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}} "I could take that prehistoric bitch."]]
* When she finds Susan and Martin trespassing, Lea suggests [[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland sentence first, verdict afterwards]].