Book Review: Storm Front by Jim Butcher (Dresden Files #1)
I've had several people recommend the Dresden file series, as well as a series of blog posts by the author about writing characters and plot (which is useful as a writer). I found the advice helpful and, honestly, it got me more interested in reading the series. I went into the series completely blind, knowing only it was about a modern day wizard solving crimes. I ended up reading Storm Front in audiobook format, and enjoyed the personalized narration style of the voice actor.
As for the story itself. I had been forewarned that there was a degree of sexual content in every book. I was prepared for that. I was not prepared for it to be the root of the crime he was investigating.
Summary
Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden is an openly practicing wizard based in Chicago. He faces a lot of suspicion in his occupation. One of his steady jobs is consulting for the police department and works mostly with Detective Karrin Murphy.
On the same day Harry is contacted by a woman in search of her missing husband, he is called to a gruesome double homicide at a local hotel where the victims had their hearts ripped out. Things go from bad to worse when one of the victims is identified as Tommy Tom, a heavyweight for the local mob leader, Johnny Marconi. After determining the double homicide was definitely caused by magic, Harry is intercepted by Marconi offering to pay him to stay out of the case. Despite desperately needing the money, Harry turns him down.
As these two investigations unravel, we learn that Harry is marked for death by the White Council if he does any sort of illegal magic. Naturally, the double homicide involved illegal magic and just the simple fact of looking into it could get him killed. Much to Harry's a surprise, but not mine, the missing husband case is connected not only to the double homicide but a new potent drug on the street called Third Eye.
Thoughts
I’ll be honest, I’m having a hard time compiling my thoughts for this review. I greatly enjoyed the narrative voice of Harry Dresden. I greatly disliked the sexual nature of the underlying crime he’s investigating. The problem I find with audiobooks is they’re vivid and envelop my senses as I listen but gone the moment I finish. It leaves me with a feeling of the story instead of a memory of what the story was about. The only feeling I can articulate from this book is “Loved listening; will likely never read it again.”
