Review: Storm Front by Jim Butcher

(Book One of The Dresden Files)
This season on Space came a new series, The Dresden Files. The previews looked interesting, and I made a point to watch the first episode. I was quite impressed. I watched the next one, and the next. Yes, I'm hooked. It's permanently set to record on the PVR now.

Then I found out that the series is based on a book series by Jim Butcher. I called up my library's online site and managed to locate a copy of Book One, Storm Front, through interlibrary loans. It came into my branch on Monday and I picked it up in the afternoon, intending to put it in line after the book I'm currently reading. Then I made the mistake of just taking a peek at the first few pages Monday night.

Three solid hours later I convinced myself to lay it aside because otherwise I'd never be able to get up when the alarm went in the morning. I finished it Tuesday afternoon once I'd done my library volunteer stint in the morning. Whew, what a page-turner! This author knows how to turn up the heat and keep it on!

The protagonist is Harry Blackthorn Copperfield Dresden, a modern-day wizard living and working in Chicago. Work isn't exactly plentiful for a wizard-for-hire, so he also works as a consultant for the Chicago police department if an unusual case turns up--that is, something that smacks of otherworldly intervention, for those who are willing to accept the possibility. In Storm Front, that intervention takes the form of a couple murdered in a particularly unpleasant and, by mundane standards, seemingly impossible way.

Harry is a likable guy, but he has more on his hands than just solving a weird double murder. He also has to face demons from his past (of the figurative sort), demons in the present (of the literal sort), rogue black wizards, anal-retentive white wizards, sometimes hostile cops, decidedly hostile mafiosos, beautiful vampires, and clients trying to keep too many secrets. It's little wonder he doesn't have much time to breathe during the course of the book.

The magic aspect is appealing--Harry's not over-powerful, and he has Rules he has to follow. Most folks think he's a kook or a con man, but he tries his best to shrug it off and just get on with his life. The ending is quite a rip-roarer, and ultimately satisfying.

There's a modicum of sex and a fair bit of violence--I wouldn't let my 12-year-old read it right now, but in five or six years' time it would be okay.

If you're in the mood for a fast-paced read that stirs up mystery, horror, fantasy, action, and a very likable good guy, pick this one up. I'm off to the library website to order up book number two.