Storm Front

WHAT
A detective story with supernatural elements. Harry Dresden is a charismatic wizard that works as a private investigator. The characters are easy to sympathize with, the plot is intriguing, complex and yet smooth to follow.

PLOT
When the lieutenant Karrin Murphy of the Chicago P.D. is confronted with a crime scene she cannot explain, she hires the services the only supernatural consultant in the yellow pages to help her find the murderer. During his investigations, Harry faces off a powerful and seductress vampire, a ruthless mob boss and an unstoppable toad-like demon. All of this while trying to avoid the scrutiny of an attractive reporter, the vigil of an over-zealous magical enforcer and the suspicions of the police. He also must protect his friend Murphy who is oblivious to the dangers she is facing, help a damsel in distress who might not be telling him the whole truth, take care to not kill himlself and others while performing his magic, keep his car from breaking down, get his love life going and pay the rent! But hey, at least he can count on the help of Bob, an immortal horny wizard trapped within a skull.

SUMMARY
The following is a list of characters and their motivations. Spoiler free, but avoid reading if you want to be surprised when they appear.

- Murphy: police lieutenant, obsessed with catching the responsible regardless of the risks involved- Carmichael: Murphy's partner, thinks Dresden is a fraud and an ass.- Susan: tabloid reporter, tries to seduce him into telling the details of the crimes he is investigating- Marcone: mob boss, wants him to drop the investigation. One of the victims was his bodyguard- Bianca: vampire, wants him to die for seeing her true form. One of the victims was a call girl that worked for her- Morgan: warden for the White Council, patiently awaits for the time when Harry misuses his magical powers in order to justifiably kill him- Bob: talking skull, the source of great arcane knowledge. Hangs on a shelf, reads erotica novels. Wants to leave his confinement to get into an orgy- Monica Sells: damsel in distress, her husband is missing and she is worried he might be involved with dark magic- Toad demon: demon, kills people, destroy stuff- Blue beetle: car, threatens to break down at every turn

ANALYSIS

The characters are so interesting that I found it enough to summarize the book through them. The plot was very engrossing as well, it meshed seamlessly with the characters, the flow of events was well planned and the sense of mystery and thriller typical of detective stories was well established and kept along the way.

The plot progresses at a frantic level. As Harry digs deeper into the murder, things gets more complicated and dangerous very fast. He tries to protect those around him but it gets to a point where he just have to give in and accept any kind of help he can get. In the end though, he must face the culprit all by himself, while resisting the temptation of using dark magic even if used for a good cause.

The ending wasn't that clever. Harry had no plan and was almost out of power when he faced the villains. He just thew himself at them and winged it. He was also under a self moral restrain of not killing anyone, even if that would risk his life. Still I don't expect much from a standard detective novel.

Harry is a fun, flawed and real character. He knows how dark and dangerous the world really is, and he does his best to keep the evil at bay, keeping up a sarcastic and humorous attitude, cracking jokes along the way.

He is a paladin at heart, but he is treated with suspicion by those who don't know him too well and also by those who know of the things he has done in his past. He doesn't think much of himself either, but that goes to show how caring and conscious he really is. He reminds me a little of Constantine.

He is the powerful underdog, he won't use magic for personal gains, sometimes even to defend himself. He is confronted with one problem after the other, with no time to rest in between, to recharge his magical powers. By the end of the story he is pretty much confronting the villain with a fraction of his energy and just some of his wits.

He is the not so perfect hero. He is chivalrous, honest and ethical, but though when he needs to be. He breaks the law when he has to, but is always trying to do the right thing even if it means making powerful enemies along the way, and having no money to sustain himself.