A Book Review: Grave Peril by Jim Butcher

"Harry Dresden's faced some pretty terrifying foes during his career. Giant scorpions. Oversexed vampires. Psychotic werewolves. It comes with the territory when you're the only professional wizard in the Chicago area phone book." The third installment of the Dresden Files series, "Grave Peril," is no exception.

The book continues to follow the gumshoe hero through yet another terrorizing case. This time Butcher pitches Harry Dresden against the ghosts of the spirit world. Harry finds himself with ghosts that are tormented, violent, and out for blood. The first ghost that he and a new friend, Michael, go after is a ghost haunting a nursery. They chase her into the Nevernever, and meet up with an old foe of Harry's: His fairy godmother, Lea. After barely escaping the not-so-kind fairy, Dresden finds himself invited to a party hosted by Bianca, the vampiress. Through a series of unfortunate events, Harry finds himself caught between a rock and a hard place. Between the Nightmare, the vampires, his fairy godmother, and the violent spirits (all who seem to want his life in one way or another) it's a wonder how this story will have a happy-ending - if an ending at all.

Jim Butcher has raised the bar yet again with the third installment to his gripping series. Just when you think that Harry can't get into anymore trouble, he goes and does it. As the main character, the reader is shown yet another deeper aspect to Harry Dresden. Some noble - others not so much. The humor and wit is just as rich as in the previous books. The reader will find himself or herself laughing and sometimes groaning out loud.

The secondary characters are just as believable as Harry himself. Michael, the Avenging Angel of God, and Susan, Harry's reporter girl-friend, get the spotlight just as much as the main star. Fans of the series will see a return of old characters such as Bob, the talking skull, and Murphy, the no-nonsense cop. Whether the character has every scene with Dresden or one or two lines, Butcher makes them come off the page and into reality.

The plot has many different threads that seem to have nothing to do with each other. Since the book starts after the initial crime that started all the chaos, the reader is kept in the dark to essential information. Butcher trades confusion for suspense. And my, my, does it work. Butcher does a fine job of pulling the tension strings to the breaking point.

Although it was an exceptional novel, there are a few minor setbacks. I enjoyed reading the wisecracks that Harry made to the bad guys in the book. It is one of the reasons why I love the series, but in this book, Dresden takes stupidity to the next level. At some points it was almost annoying. And speaking of stupidity, the main character makes a few choice decisions throughout the story that no person in their right mind would even think of. At one point I found myself saying, "Are you kidding me?" However, the story reaches its climax and ending in a satisfying "hm" to redeem itself that leads nicely into the next in the series.

All in all, "Grave Peril" is a fun, fast-paced book that fans of the series will not be disappointed with. Butcher returns with another dose of suspense, blood, wit, and misadventure. Even though the book leaves with a "to be continued" I'm sure that fans will continue to follow the infamous Harry Dresden to the end.