Werewolves jumping through windows at gangster's lackeys in unfinished restaurants. A mangled corpse in the middle of a blood-drenched floor. Berserk FBI field agents drawing guns and shooting to kill. A little kung fu, a little John Wayne, and a few casual threats. Harry Dresden's having a rough night - and that's just in chapter two of Jim Butcher's latest novel, Fool Moon, book two of The Dresden Files.

Series Background

Harry Dresden is a private investigator in present-day Chicago. He just so happens to be the only one who is also a full-time, practicing Wizard. No trickery or gimmicks here, folks; Dresden's the real thing. Being as how most people don't believe in the supernatural world, though, it's tough for our hero to make a living. Most of his work is done in conjunction with the Special Investigations branch of the Chicago PD, headed up by Dresden's friend Karrin Murphy. He has his own cheering section, too: Susan Rodriguez, tabloid reporter for the Arcane and Harry's sometime girlfriend. And let us not forget Gentleman Johnny Marcone, leader of Chicago's biggest crime syndicate - he just can't give up on the idea of hiring Harry for his team.

Book One: Storm Front
Book Two: Fool Moon
Book Three: Grave Peril

The Story

It's been about six months since the events of Storm Front. Harry's friendship with Lt. Karrin Murphy is still in a cooling down period, so he's a bit surprised to see her waltzing into McAnally's bar and restaurant, Harry's favorite hang out, and demanding a favor. Apparently there have been some deaths - some violent, bloody, rip-and-tear, fang-and-claw type deaths - that the police can't seem to catch a break on. The most recent kill is still warm, and Karrin wants Harry's opinion. She's not ready to trust him again, but their friendship isn't in quite as dire straits as Harry thought. Turns out that Karrin is under investigation by Internal Affairs thanks to some rumors about what happened last spring, and being buddy-buddy with an oddball wizard isn't helping her image. Nothing personal.

The deceased is one of Johnny Marcone's bodyguards. But his is only the most recent in a string of murders occurring on and around the full moon. The FBI is in town to take over the case, but they're limited to the normal avenues of investigation. It's up to Harry to track down the werewolves and stop the deaths before he ends up as a side of beef on the wolf buffet. Simple. No problem. Only werewolves come in a whole bunch of varieties, and they all see an interfering wizard as the enemy.

Complicating matters even further is Harry's former student, Kim Delaney. She's digging in places she doesn't belong, and in magical circles that's a quick way to get yourself killed. Harry isn't ready to teach her more advanced skills; she's not steady enough to handle the energies, and Harry, better than anyone, knows the possible dangers in the mentor/apprentice relationship. But when keeping his student in the dark leads to problems down the line, Harry starts questioning his attitudes and dealing with the traumas in his past that created them.

Commentary

Butcher's sophomore effort is a success. He retains the tight prose that held Storm Front together, along with Harry's wit-laden tone, and improves upon the pacing and secondary characters. Granted, these are still series books, so readers shouldn't be too surprised to see similar events: Marcone's bodyguard being the victim that jump-starts the case, for instance, or Harry using potions that backfire on him in strange or unpleasant ways. That's just part of the package. And in that way, it's not absolutely necessary to have read Storm Front before reading Fool Moon. The salient points are briefly recapped with enough information to help new readers but not so much as to annoy fans.

However, readers may want to read Storm Front first anyway, if only to see how Butcher's secondary characters come to life in Fool Moon. Working with first-person narration is inherently limiting, since readers have no objective sense of the world the narrator inhabits and all impressions of other characters are filtered through the narrator. In Storm Front that meant that Butcher could introduce readers to Johnny Marcone, Susan Rodriguez, and Karrin Murphy, but he couldn't really get inside their heads. There was nothing that made them tick, nothing that made them thick enough to stand up as real people. With Fool Moon, though, Butcher develops his writing skills enough to give the secondary characters some depth. Some of that is due to the story itself, which partially focuses on Harry's friendship with Karrin Murphy and gives Butcher an excuse to highlight their interactions, which in turn allows Harry's thoughts to drift toward examining his feelings toward Karrin - including his overprotective and unnecessary chauvinistic behavior - and Karrin's reactions to him. By the end of Fool Moon, Karrin is more than just the requisite tough-as-nails independent chick; she has become a character nearly as fully realized as Harry himself.

Gentleman Johnny Marcone also gets more attention from the author; while he still fulfills the gangster function in the story, he evolves a bit from the typecasting of Storm Front. His language and mannerisms remind me of Kobayashi, the lawyer in The Usual Suspects. Not altogether new, but not boring either. Poise, class, and intelligence combined with lethal force.

Susan Rodriguez, previously defined by her role as Harry's love interest, gets to strut her stuff as well. She shows a strong backbone, but unfortunately her primary function in Fool Moon is to act as Harry's caretaker. Aside from Karrin Murphy, most of the women fall into two categories: those displaying the caring, mothering, nurturing instincts (including defense of their 'young') and those using their sexual assets to do Bad Things. Harry's been caught in that trap before, and has a semi-paranoid/suspicious attitude toward women because of it, though he doesn't hesitate to ogle the goodies, so to speak. However, Harry does go through quite a bit in Fool Moon that may make him think differently about a lot of things, including the women in his life, his responsibility as a teacher and a wizard, and the nature of humanity.

Fool Moon is a look at the hero's journey. Remember Peter Parker's Uncle Ben in the Spider-Man comics? With great power comes great responsibility. That's one of the themes here, and I can't help but think that Butcher intended to make the reference, as he states it fairly explicitly at least twice. Harry gets beaten down and broken, both physically and mentally. He questions himself, his methods, his goals. The rebuilding process is just beginning.

I wouldn't recommend this for younger readers or for the faint-hearted. Fool Moon has quite a bit of nudity, some rough language, two sexual encounters, and an abundance of violence. Werewolves have long claws and big teeth, and they use them. Often.

For readers who want something action-packed that hits the ground running, though, Fool Moon is an excellent choice. The mystery is sufficiently complex to keep your mind working, but not so much that you can't just zip through the book and enjoy Butcher's ability to keep the story moving. I'm already itching for book three, Grave Peril, scheduled for a September release.

Paperback, 342 pages
ISBN: 0-451-45812-5
List Price: $6.99

Recommended: Yes