© James Pyles

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If you read my review of Jim Butcher’s novel Storm Front, you know I love not only his writing, but the beginning of his “Dresden Files” series.

Last night, I finished off book two in the series Fool Moon. As you might imagine, the primary “baddies” are werewolves, but it’s not that simple. Nothing is ever simple in the life of the world’s only openly active and investigative wizard Harry Dresden.

We pick up about six months after the first novel when once again, head of the Chicago P.D. Special Investigations unit Karrin Murphy calls Dresden in on a series of particularly gruesome murders, ones that look to have been committed by wolf-like creatures.

The victims again throw Harry in the path of the city’s most dangerous gangland boss “Gentleman” Johnny Marcone.

Murphy is in plenty of hot water with internal affairs after the events of the previous novel and to make matters worse, the FBI have an interest in the “Lobo murders.” Special Agent Phil Denton leads a team of federal investigators which includes Deborah Benn, who upon first meeting Murphy almost shoots her.

We see the return of supermarket tabloid reporter and Harry’s sometimes lover Susan Rodriguez as well as Bob, the horny spirit who dwells in a skull in Harry’s lab and is an expert at making magic potions. He also tells Harry how many different types of werewolves there are, and there are plenty.

Harry bounces back and forth between a number of them. They include Harley MacFinn, a businessman and environmentalist who is cursed with the “loup-garous” which during the full moon turns him into an uncontrollable, savage beast. Then there’s his mysterious fiancée Tera West who even Harry’s soulgaze can’t divine. She is mentoring a group of teenage nerd werewolves who call themselves “the Alphas.” Besides that, there’s the motorcycle gang “Streetwolves” who Harry pisses off so much their leader wants him dead (what else is new?).

Harry functions more or less like a classic “hard-boiled detective” but he’s really soft and gooey inside. He blames himself for everything, usually the result of him withholding information from people he is trying to protect. His occasional apprentice Kim Delaney dies because Harry wouldn’t teach her how to perform a particular type of binding circle.

Murphy’s partner Detective Carmichael dies trying to save Murphy after they arrest and jail MacFinn who, under the full moon, escapes and murders a dozen cops before breaking free.

In the middle of all this, Harry sustains several injuries including being shot, chewed on by MacFinn, and beaten to a bloody pulp by the Streetwolves. When he’s under some form of magic, he manages to ignore his increasing collection of injuries, but even when he’s not, Harry sometimes manages to perform physical acts that should be difficult or downright impossible. Frankly, if I were as injured as Harry, I’d be in intensive care.

Oh, he manages to run out of magic (it’s a finite resource), so has to rely on guile, intelligence, and guns.

Along the way, he finds things out about himself from a captured demon and his own subconscious which suggest that his parents weren’t the people he thought they were, especially his mother. We also discover that there is a powerful wizard behind the baddies of the first two novels which, of course, is meant to lead us into more Dresden stories. I can’t wait.

Butcher once again delivers with style, suspense, mystery, and humor. He has the “magic” touch in his writing, crafting tales that entertain and delight without even a hint of delving into the now very tiresome “panderverse” much of the entertainment industry feels necessary to shove down our throats in print, television, film, comic books, and what have you.

If you’ve been craving urban magical adventure, stories of daring do, and a hero who is both powerful and relatable, I highly recommend both this book and the series. You can’t go wrong.