A Book Review: Fool Moon by Jim Butcher

"It takes a wizard to catch a-well, whatever," states the back cover of Butcher's debut novel. The "whatever" this time is werewolves in the second novel of the Dresden Files: "Fool Moon."

The book continues to follow the career of Harry Dresden, Chicago's very own investigating wizard, who seems to be having some trouble finding work to do. But when a brutally murdered corpse appears, it's Dresden the officials want. Save for one problem, most of the police officials don't want Harry's help, and the only one who does hates him. Not only does Harry have to investigate a string of grotesque murders before the cops get there, but stay ahead of the mob boss's contracts and a vicious gang of werewolves that intend to kill him. Once again, Harry finds his life on the line.

Harry, as the protagonist, grows as a main character. Readers are able to see another side of Dresden that didn't get shown much in the first novel. He becomes more three dimensional. The readers are able to get clues to his past and why he is so stand-off-ish about dark magic and the White Council. Not only is part of his past revealed, but an intimate part of him as well. He starts to have feelings for a certain someone. Who, you might ask? (Read the book!)And as to be expected, Harry is allowed to keep his sarcasm and jokes to keep the reader reading.

Aside from the interesting character, the plot is absorbing. The reader is presented with suspects due to the several werewolf characters in the story. Suspense is kept by a power struggle between five different forces. I found myself unable to put the book down (and upset when I had to). The climax is especially gripping as the five power forces are eliminated to three, and as the characters change sides. I found myself holding my breath while I was reading.

I loved this book. It was amazingly thought out and kept me guessing until the very end. The author's narrating ability has improved much since the first novel. The characters are much more interesting and the plot much more complex. The only downsides I have are few in number. One, at times the plot was confusing because of the large number of characters. It was easy to get some characters confused with others. And the second is more of a warning. The crime and battle scenes are very graphic. I would not recommend this to a weak-stomached person. Other than that, this was an awesome read. This has me anticipating the next in the series and raises the bar.

All in all, this book was twice as good as the first. If you enjoyed the first, you are going to love the second. If you are a fan of wizardry and detective books, I would recommend this book (along with the first).

"...Try it. You'll like it," says Glen Cook, author of "Faded Steel Heat."