My own perspective
1) Nic recruits only the best agents (aka - quality).  Recruiting Marcone would be a coup for Nic, although obviously it would be very difficult as the coin must be picked up willingly.  Then again, Nic tortured Harry and waved the coin as a way to escape the torture when he tried to recruit Harry.   It is possible that Nic was playing the same game with Marcone.

2) Nic clearly wanted Harry involved.   He thought Harry was resisting Lasciel and needed another push.  Nic clearly wanted Harry to commit to the Fallen side. 

3) IF Harry was involved, it is logical that the Archive would also be involved.  Harry sticks close to the people he knows and Nic has spent centuries learning how to study his enemies and use their habits against them.   


The big question in my mind is the archive.   On one hand, corrupting the archive would be a huge coup.  Because every archive from that point on would have the memories of a corrupted archive tempting them to also take up a coin.  Especially when the archive first passes on, that might be a lot of temptation.   It would also give a great deal of power to the fallen.  The Archive has information that could accelerate Armageddon tremendously and Nic is clearly playing the Armageddon game.   

However, the true purpose of the Archive is as a defense against ancient and dark gods.  Compromising that defense would potentially introduce a bunch of competitors to the Armageddon game.  I doubt Nic benefits much from somebody else winning the Armageddon game. 

My guess is that Nic is playing the odds.   Either the attempt will fail and his ex-wife gets a big enemy or it fails when the archive goes insane or it fails and the the dark gods come back.   Or it succeeds.   I can totally see him seeing that the odds of success are decent and the odds of a really bad outcome failure low.   That sounds like a gamble he is willing to make.   

Infection seems to have a different effect on each person.   The only constant effect is that the person is more likely to take actions that benefit the outsiders.

As best as I can tell, the infection magnifies some personality traits of the victim, to the point where they victim acts increasingly irrationally and OCD toward that objective
*  Victor Sells became focused on gaining power
*  Aurora became obsessed about stopping the suffering caused by winter
*  Maeve's normal rebellion against Mab/her role became magnified and she was able to break Winter Law by lying
*  The FBI agents became so focused about stopping criminals that they became monsters to do so
*  I would argue that Lara is infected as she is becoming obsessed with gaining control over her environment beyond what makes any reasonable sense.

I would also argue that the victims are not completely controlled by the outsiders.  They are influenced, but not controlled.  After all, Lea was discovered when she begged the Queen to save Harry -- not a tactic that the outsiders would have wanted AT ALL. 

There has been a pretty clear absence of official updates on the status of Peace Talks.    No news is generally bad news in this biz.   Anybody have any recent updates?

Several Ideas
*  Tessa can transform into a swarm of bugs.   Maybe she can "detach" a few bugs as spies
*  Tessa could have compromised some of Nic's minions.   They cannot speak, but they can write, email, text, sign language or any number of other options.   Do Minions Twitter?       Tessa has been rivals with Nic for centuries.   She would certainly have put some effort into spying on him.
*  She could have hired people to spy on Nic using non-magical means
*  She could have some method to follow/observe her daughter - who was -- after all - at all the sights of attack. Blood ties allow scrying.
*  Who says that Fallen would not have divided loyalties or otherwise have differing agenda.   Lasciel was clearly involved and she was notorious for not being a "loyal minion" of anybody.  After all, all the interventions were focused pretty hard on stopping/hurting Harry - a prime objective for Lasciel.

These are some events that I expect to see in future Dresden books
*  Kincaide wielding one of the swords
*  Dresden in a tux, about to get married.     (not predicting if he actually gets married --- that just screams out for bride killed at the alter....)
*  Michael finding out that Molly is the Winter Lady -- in the middle of a battle where it comes out of her own mouth when she as she talks smack to some bad guy (forgetting her father was nearby....)
*  Ebenezer dying and Harry picking up the Blackstaff - and the job of Blackstaff - from his bloody corpse
*  Harry introducing Maggie and Thomas to Ebenezer on Christmas day -- probably in the same book where Ebenezer dies
*  Harry calling the head of the federal agency who monitors magic to invite them to some major magical conflict - and he got the number from the events in mirror mirror.  Incidentally I expect Stalling to be a member of this agency....   His name has been mentioned way too often to NOT have a future role to play. 
*  Harry appears as godparent when Thomas presents his child to the White Court.    [in many ways functioning as Maleficent in the sleeping beauty...someone very scary that shows up to the party].  Probably a short story, but you have to admit it would be FUN. 

Here is a thought about all those magical questions:  Starborn, Soulfire, Specific Outsiders, Black Council, Nature of Mantels/Queens,

His new spirit of Intellect - Bonnie I think - has a very large set of information copied from a fallen angel.   Information that clearly pre-dates creation itself.  And she is likely to be perfectly willing to answer. 

Unless of course some of those rules that limit immortals or angels also apply to this new spirit of intellect -- or if those rules simply kept that information from the spirit in the first place.   After all, Lash's spirit was in Harry's brain.  On some level that might mean accessible to a mortal.   I suspect there are rules limiting that. 

If the question is What Character do I expect to power up, the answer is Toot Toot.  He is clearly climbing the power ladder.   Thomas is also supposed to be a lot stronger now, primarily because he has been fighting his hunger so much.   That strength has not really shown, but expect it to do so in Peace Talks when Papa Raithe escapes control and goes on a rampage (which could be wishful thinking...)

Like to power up is a tougher question. Most people really do not "power up" without becoming supernatural in some respect, unless you gain power through organizations or politics or money.     
1) I would like Andy to be  knight.   That would be cool with Butters and Andi both being knights.   She is also an underutilized character, although realistically a wolf shifter would make a poor fit for a knight simply because you cannot hold a sword while in wolf form.  Using one power kinda negates the other.

2) Bill and Georgia are also good characters for a power update, but I suspect the power update would be organizational as they gain power in the paranet org.  I would put Murphy in this camp as well.  They have all basically laid the groundwork for this while Harry was dead or on the island.   Murphy's convalescence might even accelerate her growth in administration

3) It would be nice if Charity learned to use her magic. I do not believe she will be powerful any more, but even modest powers would be a good thing for her (psychologically). 

I have to admit mixed feelings on all this.  I love the insight we get from these interviews.  I get that fans love all these book signings.   But I do think this is an example where fan enthusiasm gets in the way.   By demanding teasers and personal appearances (which we do demand), we delay getting actual new books.   

Now maybe JB gets a kick out of all this.  In that case, the man should do what he likes.   But if JB is rather so/so about all these appearances, I would personally prefer that fans place less distractions in front of "The Man" and let the guy write.