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Archive for category Private Investigators

The Unnatural Inquirer, by Simon R. Green (Ace, 2007)

Jul 21

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Private Investigators, Urban Fantasy | No Comments

In the Nightside, the nasty, black heart of London where it’s always 3 a.m., there’s always a mystery that needs solving, an object that needs retrieving, or trouble that needs shooting. Perhaps that’s why John Taylor, the Nightside’s most infamous (and sometimes scariest) private detective has been getting a lot of work lately. Fresh off his latest batch of cases (including a brief visit to the H.P. Lovecraft Memorial Library, and a rather traumatic episode at the Nightside’s most dangerous amusement park), John gets called in by the Unnatural Inquirer, a tabloid/gossip rag with a penchant for sensationalism that goes above and beyond the norm. It seems someone has made a DVD, containing a television broadcast with actual evidence of the Afterlife, but before he could sell the contents to the Inquirer, he went missing. John Taylor’s new job? Find Pen Donovan and his Afterlife Recording, and bring them to the Inquirer, in exchange for a cool million pounds. For that much money, even John Taylor’s on the case.

Of course, everyone else wants the Recording as well, and some of them don’t play nice, or fair. And some consider shooting first to be playing nice. Oh, and Complication #1: John’s been saddled with a partner. A demon (literally) girl reporter, named Bettie Divine, who’s starting to feel real nice, cuddled up against his side when danger hits. And Complication #2: A new power struggle is brewing in the streets of the Nightside, and all four factions want John on their side, and aren’t willing to hear “no” or “sod off” as an answer. From one end of the Nightside to the other, John Taylor and Bettie Divine will help tear the city apart in order to find Pen Donovan and the Afterlife Recording, and Heaven/Hell/-Someone- help whoever gets in the way.

The Unnatural Inquirer is the eighth book in the Nightside series, but that’s okay. Like most of them, it’s fairly stand-alone, though it does pick up on a few elements and relationships from prior books. As always, Green writes with his usual hyper-octane manner, injecting your standard urban fantasy setup with a brilliant cocktail of widescreen adventure and psychedelic insanity, resulting in an over-the-top blend of adventure, dark humor, and strange magic. The characterization is stylized; no one’s ever going to accuse most of the Nightside’s inhabitants of being overly complex, and things often border on preposterous, but watching them skirt the edges of believability is, after all, half the fun of a series like this. John Taylor, the Collector, Shotgun Suzie, Walker, Bettie Divine, Alex Morrisey, they all have their memorable moments.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, as I do all the ones in the series. It’s fast-paced, entertaining, and appealing, a guilty pleasure in the same way some action movies can be. My only complaint is that this one’s in hardback, first of the series to make its debut as such, and at a mere 246 pages, it may be asking a little much of the readers to drop that kind of money on such a quick read. Also, I’m not entirely sure the plot is quite strong enough to warrant a hardback debut; I’d almost have expected something grander in scale to celebrate the new format. Fans of Green and of the Nightside won’t be disappointed, though, for this book has everything you’ve come to expect from the series: a bizarre mystery, eccentric and dangerous characters, and yet more outrageously inventive locations to help flesh out the Nightside . . . as well as appearances from all the usual suspects and miscreants. With my quibbling about the hardback status aside, I highly recommend The Unnatural Inquirer.

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Dog Days, by John Levitt (Ace, 2007)

Jul 21

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Private Investigators, Urban Fantasy, Wizards, Mages and Spellcasters | No Comments

Meet Mason. He’s a musical prodigy with a talent for improvisation, and a definite skill when it comes to performing magic on the fly. But ever since he quit being an active part of the magic game, he’s been content to fly under the radar, playing his guitar as a jazz musician. It’s just him, his music, and Louie, his dog. Sort of. See, Louie’s actually what the magical community refers to as an Ifrit, mysterious spirits who masquerade as animals and serve as familiars to certain lucky practitioners. At any rate, things are quiet . . . for the moment. And then the attacks begin. Strange magical attacks that seem aimed at either getting Mason out of the way, or at least testing the limits of his skills and abilities. Before he knows it, Mason’s been dragged right back into the thick of the magical community, working with old friends once again. It seems he’s not the only person to have been attacked lately. Worse yet, there’s already been at least one death.

Now Mason, along with his colleagues, must unravel a deadly mystery affecting the entire magical community. Someone out there is gathering power in a highly unethical, unorthodox, and even unprecedented manner, and they’ve marked certain people, including Mason, for death. Can Mason figure out who’s behind the recent events before someone he cares for pays the price? One thing’s for certain: he’ll have to do what he does best. Improvise.

Dog Days presents a compelling magical mystery, filled with twists and some uncomfortable turns, as it follows a likeable new character through a mostly-familiar San Francisco. Levitt gives us a whole host of intriguing, complex characters to deal with, from the commitment-avoiding Mason to the to-good-to-be-true Sherwood, to prissy-yet-dangerous Victor, to the practical-yet-sexy healer, Campbell. The system of magic presented in this book is also intriguing; it’s relatively nebulous, yet accessible by simple virtue of being so individualized. Everyone’s a little different, and Mason’s talent is almost unique in its flexibility. Where else can you see someone cast a spell that uses the ambient cold, the smell of garbage, and the shape of a dog’s head, while making a fist? It’s hard to explain, but it’s nice to see a magic system that embraces the abstract while fully engaging the senses. Oh, and there’s one scene, midway through the book, where our heroes are engaged in a life-or-death battle against an unstoppable creature, and let me just say, I cheered at their solution, if just because it was common-sense, unexpected, and brilliant under the circumstances. It’s nice when characters surprise you.

I thoroughly enjoyed Dog Days. It’s proof that there’s still a heck of a lot of potential for variation in the urban fantasy genre, and it’s a highly satisfying read. I’m looking forward to the next in the series, especially if we’ll continue to see more details about the world the characters live in, their history, and just what’s up with the Ifrits. We get just enough to work with this time around, with plenty of questions left for another time. Dog Days is an excellent start to a promising new series.

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The Dresden Files (SciFi Channel, 2007; Fox DVD, 2008)

Jul 21

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Film & TV, Private Investigators, Urban Fantasy, Wizards, Mages and Spellcasters | No Comments

As I write this, I’ve watched the debut episode “Birds of a Feather” of The Dresden Files (starring Paul Blackthorne as the titular character) four times. I’ve finally managed to organize my thoughts on the matter. As a longtime fan of the novels this show is based upon, I was both excited and nervous to learn that the books had been optioned by the SciFi channel, which, to be honest, isn’t exactly known for its quality adaptations of literary properties, nor for the outstanding nature of its original TV-movies. As much as I wanted to see Harry Dresden done on screen, I knew the chances of a faithful, quality translation from book to television were low. I mean, come on, they screwed up Riverworld, for Pete’s sake! So I settled in to watch the first episode and tried to keep my mind open.

The basic concept remains the same as in the books: Harry Dresden is a wizard for hire, who advertises himself as such in the Chicago phonebook. He’s regularly tapped to assist or consult on bizarre cases by the Chicago police, most often by Lieutenant Murphy. He goes up against every manner of supernatural menace imaginable, often in an effort to protect the innocent and make the world a little safer. In these efforts he’s advised by a skull-dwelling spirit named Bob, who acts as a combination lab assistant and reference library. Harry’s basic family information hasn’t changed; his father was a stage magician, his mother died under mysterious circumstances. Heck, they even kept in Harry’s past with his former mentor, Justin DuMorne.

All of that is true to the books, but they did take liberties. When Bob appears, he’s an actual ghost (quite skillfully portrayed by Terrence Mann). Lieutenant Murphy’s first name is now Connie, and she’s played by Valerie Cruz, a Cuban-American actress — as opposed to the books, where Murphy is a petite blonde of Irish descent. Harry’s car, the much-beloved Blue Beetle, has changed from a VW Beetle to an old Jeep. Instead of living in a basement, Harry seems to have an actual apartment and his office is accessible right off the street. And the more I think about it, all of these are cosmetic changes that do nothing to affect the greater story. The heart and spirit of the series is present, and that’s what counts.

This first episode serves as an adequate introduction to the series, even though this was not the intended pilot episode. Harry’s in fine form as he attempts to unravel a bizarre magical murder, outwit a powerful evil and protect a child from the forces that would use or destroy him. I do wonder at how quick Harry is to initially dismiss his erstwhile client’s worries; after all, he better than anyone should know that even a kid’s ‘monsters under the bed’ can be real. But once he gets involved, he’s classic Harry: stubborn, determined, clever, and prone to being smacked around by nasties. Paul Blackthorne doesn’t make the strongest Harry around — James Marsters (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) was once considered to be a strong contender for the role, in part due to his narration of the audiobook adapations by Buzzy Multimedia — but Blackthorne is the sort of actor who grows on you after a while. What’s important is that he radiates a would-be heroic sincerity mixed with world-weariness, and in doing so the Harry Dresden spirit shines through more often than not.

Valerie Cruz comes off somewhat weak by comparison as Murphy, but I have every confidence she’ll grow into the role. She and Blackthorne still seem to be finding the right level of chemistry that the characters demand (after all, in the series Murphy is a potential love interest on occasion.) On the other hand, Terrence Mann is Bob the Skull, with an arrogant British superiority in his tone, radiating a fine mixture of reluctant subservience and irreverence. Were he just a voice, he’d be perfect. As a ghost, he brings plenty more to the role, including a full range of expressions. In my opinion, they really did the right thing in expanding his nature.

The plot itself is pure Dresden, right down to the involvement of such supernatural nasties as shapeshifting ravens and a skinwalker. While it would have been nice to see Harry use more of his magic, the show strikes the right balance between his mundane resources and his supernatural ones, and his final resolution to the problem at hand does smack of Dresden’s ‘blow things up when necessary’ nature. Thanks to the flashbacks to Harry’s youth, we’ve definitely gotten a good look at the events which made him the man he is today, with some hints at things to come.

There’s a lot I haven’t touched upon: Harry’s contact within the High Council (White Council in the books) who acts as a living search function for their records, the typical Dresden luck (he’s the sort of guy whose car gets booted for parking in the wrong place), the creepy nature of the skinwalker, and so forth.

But what really matters is one question: “Is this show any good?”

And thus it’s time to render a verdict. Yes, The Dresden Files is a good show. It’s not perfect, it’s not spectacular, and it’s not exactly what we might have been expecting. But it’s as faithful as it can be within the scope of accessibility, practicality, and logistics. For all intents and purposes, this is The Dresden Files translated to television. “Birds of a Feather” is a good start, and I’ll continue to watch the series as long as it can maintain this level (or greater) of dedication and entertainment.

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Sharper Than A Serpent’s Tooth, by Simon R. Green (Ace, 2006)

Jul 21

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Private Investigators, Urban Fantasy | No Comments

In the Nightside, that deep, dark, rotten heart of London where it’s always 3 a.m. and Darwin plays a sadistic game of survival of the fittest, there are few beings as infamous as John Taylor. Private detective by choice, potential savior or destroyed by destiny, son of a mortal man and the mythical Lilith, he’s a force of un-nature to be reckoned with. Admittedly, he’d rather just mind his own business. He tried that once. It didn’t work. The Nightside drug him back in, kicking and screaming, and he’s stayed there ever since, handling some of the most bizarre cases imaginable. But the fecal matter has just hit the revolving blades, big-time. See, for the longest time, he didn’t know who his mother was. Then he found out who she was, why his father went mad, and why shadowy enemies from the future keep trying to kill him. Then John Taylor, along with his sometimes-partner Shotgun Suzie, took a trip back in time to visit pivotal points in the Nightside’s past, ultimately arriving at the very start, where they discovered why the Nightside was created, and why it’s destined to be destroyed one day.

That brings us to today, when John Taylor has sworn to do everything in his power to protect the Nightside from the power of its creator, his dear old mother, Lilith. You thought things were messy before? Let’s talk epic.

Angels. Demons. Heroes. Villians. Merlin Satanspawn. Dead Boy. Shotgun Suzie. The Oblivion brothers, Tommy and Larry. An army of faded ex-gods looking for a little somethin’ somethin’ under Lilith’s leadership. The Speaking Gun. Julien Advent, the Victorian Adventurer. Walker, voice of the Nightside Authorities. Razor Eddie, Punk God of the Straight Razor. The fate of the Nightside itself. And so much more.

This is the end of the six-book (plus one short story) Nightside saga begun back in Something From The Nightside, and all of those lingering questions and loose threads are addressed in one bizarrely over-the-top adventure that brings back all sorts of familiar (and deadly) faces. Who lives? Who dies? Who dies but refuses to stay dead? The answers are within.

This is not a book for new readers. Sure, you can pick it up and get the gist of things, but why would you want to? This is book six of a six book storyline, and frankly, the way Green writes, he could have cut out a lot of the repetition and compressed this series into a trilogy, a duology, or maybe just one of his trademark fat books of doom. Read the series in order, and you’ll appreciate it ever so much better. That sense of buildup and anticipation, the slow unfolding of mystery and the dawning of realization, and the appreciation of that one moment where it all starts to go downhill for our heroes. (That moment covers the first five pages of the first book . . . and is then repeated regularly. Poor John Taylor.)

But I should say more. No one writes like Simon Green. No one. His style is infectious, energetic, over-the-top without the slightest hint of restraint. He writes large on a scale that refuses boundaries, turning even the slightest act into something grand and epic. No one is mediocre in the Nightside, unless they’re a fallen god. Everyone is the whatever-est they can be of whatever qualities they possess or personify. Strongest, fastest, meanest, scariest, best with a sword, you name it. But there’s still always someone better. But in the world Green crafts, this comes off as perfectly normal, just like the character names he lays down on every page with a straight face. Razor Eddy, Annie Abbatoir, Count Video, the Collector, Shotgun Suzie aka Suzie Shooter. Comic book names, and yet they work under the circumstances. (And hands up, everyone who thinks a Nightside comic book would be perfect.) I’ll repeat that. No one writes like Simon Green, so it’s a good thing he writes quickly and fairly prolifically. So read this series. It’s urban fantasy with teeth and claws. If you like Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, Glen Cook’s Garrett P.I. series, or John Constantine: Hellblazer, this series is for you.

Oh, and if you don’t read it? Shotgun Suzie will break down your door and set your Robert Jordans on fire. Just thought I’d warn you.

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Hell To Pay, by Simon R. Green (Ace, 2006)

Jul 21

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Private Investigators, Urban Fantasy | No Comments

Lilith may be gone for good, but the Nightside, that sordid dark heart of London remains, a magical place where anything’s possible, everything’s for sale, and everyone has a hidden agenda. And as long as the Nightside endures, there’s work to be had for John Taylor, the most dangerous P. I. in town. Because let’s face it, saving the world from ancient evils doesn’t pay the rent, and in the Nightside, there’s always someone who needs something.

This time, it’s Jeremiah Griffin, the obscenely wealthy immortal who’s made no secret of his intentions to fill the power vacuum left by Lilith’s machinations. But before he can take over the Nightside, he needs John Taylor to locate his missing granddaughter, his newly-designated heir, who’s vanished without a trace. And that’s where it starts to get ugly. Because now John’s going to have to turn over some very nasty stones and deal with all the dark, wriggling secrets and cold truths that come squirming into the light. He’ll track down and question Griffin’s wife, children and spouses, and grandson, and his search will take him into some of the most exclusive — and most disturbing — establishments in the Nightside. Immortality, after all, can inspire all manner of interesting vices to stave off the boredom. And then Taylor will learn just how Jeremiah Griffin became immortal, and what all that entails. Will John Taylor escape with his soul intact? Hey, no one ever said life in the Nightside was dull, safe, predictable, or sane. Especially once the Salvation Army Sisterhood, the original nuns with guns, get involved.

After the epic events of the past few books, it’s almost relaxing to get back to something as down-to-Earth as a missing person case, albeit one with a Nightside twist. As always, Green shines in his over-the-top, non-holds-barred action and descriptions of the Nightside’s nastiest, strangest corners. The beauty of this setting is that just about anything can, and does, make an appearance, including some characters from other books, such as Bruin Bear and Jimmy Thunder. Not only do Nightside regulars Larry Oblivion, Suzie Shooter, and Dead Boy show up, but a whole host of new characters get their time in the spotlight.

I’ll be honest: after you’ve read enough of Simon Green’s books, you begin to see certain recurring themes, and Hell To Pay reminds me strongly of some of the Hawk and Fisher novels. The wealthy are all decadent and twisted, though not without vaguely redeeming features. The authorities are corrupt, or at least fairly nasty in their own way. Weird Stuff ™ wanders in and out of the story for no better reason than Green felt like it. There’s always someone who’s the most whatever (strongest/fastest/nastiest) or the best whatever (swordsman/businessman/fighter), or just plain scariest. Mind you, this isn’t a bad thing. These books occupy a very distinct niche in their own right, and no one can write quite like Simon Green when it comes to stylized or extreme dark/urban fantasy storytelling. He doesn’t take it seriously, and neither should you, because it’s all in good fun. I absolutely love this series, and Hell To Pay is the perfect place to jump in if you can’t be bothered to read the first six in the series (but really, why wouldn’t you?) Hell To Pay is urban fantasy with a neon edge, and its shameless abandon is a welcome change from the books that wallow in angst and indecision. (And in a subgenre rapidly overflowing with paranormal romances, it’s refreshingly light on matters of the heart.)

So I’ll happily recommend Hell To Pay as a worthy addition to the Nightside series. It may not break much new ground, but it’s thoroughly enjoyable in its own right, and that’s enough for me.

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Hex and the City, by Simon R. Green (Ace, 2005)

Jul 20

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Private Investigators, Urban Fantasy | No Comments

In the Nightside, London’s rotted, blackened heart, it’s always 3 a.m., and the nightmares are out to play. In the Nightside, everything has a price . . . and a cost. In the Nightside, ancient Beings play out forbidden games and blasphemous plots, while lesser creatures scheme and move in mysterious ways. In the Nightside, killers and saints share the same table in forgotten pubs, while superheroes, aliens, monsters, time-travelers, adventurers, explorers, and much, much more pursue their goals. The Nightside is home to people such as Julien Advent, the Victorian Adventurer; The Lamentation, better known as the Saint of Suicides; Eddie, Punk God of the Straight Razor; Sandra Chance, the consulting necromancer; and Deliverance Wilde, style guru to the Unseelie Court of the Fae. But no one has as varied and ominous a reputation as John Taylor.

John Taylor, private detective. Hunted since birth by the relentless nightmares known as the Harrowing. Born of a mortal man and an unknown woman, and haunted by an unspeakable destiny. Capable of finding — anything — imaginable with the power of his mind, and alternately worshipped and reviled for something that will come to pass in the future. Marked for death, yet used by everyone. Five years ago, he fled the Nightside for fear of his life, and attempted to leave a normal life in the mundane world. But the Nightside has ways of bringing a man home. Since his reluctant return, John Taylor has dealt with horrors unimaginable, and survived some major players in the game, including an assault by angels and demons alike. But now he’s about to learn that it was all the prelude to the most significant case of all.

Hired by the Transient Being known as Lady Luck to investigate the very origins of the Nightside itself, John’s payment is the one thing above all he’s always wanted to learn: the identity of his mother. Against all warnings, despite all common sense, he accepts the case. Gathering together allies in the form of a lunatic capable of altering reality, a man cast out by Heaven and Hell alike, and a succubus, John sets forth to delve into the greatest secrets of the Nightside. Secrets that people would kill to preserve or possess.

Their quest will take them to the deepest, darkest, oldest depths of the Nightside, where they’ll consult with fallen gods, ancient beings, and creatures with unthinkable power. They’ll alternately ally themselves with, and fight against, some of the Nightside’s worst killers and most dangerous guardians. The Authorities of the Nightside, as represented by their agent, Walker, want John Taylor off the case, and this time, they’re willing to kill if need be. But it takes a lot to kill John Taylor and his companions, and ultimately, the Nightside’s origins will see the light of day, and Taylor’s mother will be revealed once and for all. This may very well be the beginning of the end for the Nightside . . . .

Simon Green writes like the hooker who mugs you during sex. One minute he’s whispering sweet nothings, the next he’s kicked you in the groin and made off with your innocence and valuables. He writes with a certain over-the-top flamboyance, a hearty gusto, thoroughly embracing every visceral image and exaggeration he can think of, creating an atmosphere where imagination runs wild and nothing is too extreme. His style is unique, stylized, and addictive, every action and every scene writ larger than life. Part of the appeal for this series lies in how unashamed Green is to play with characters that anyone else would find absurd, and make them fit into the setting. Sinner. Madman. Pretty Poison. The Lord of Thorns. Count Video. Bad Penny. Larry Oblivion. In the wrong hands, these sorts of names and characters would be laughable; with Green, they’re all part of a setting that wholly embraces the extreme and the sublime. Everyone is the best / scariest / nastiest / fastest / most powerful at what they do, and there’s always someone better / scarier / nastier / faster / more powerful still waiting in the wings. In Green’s universe, the dial starts at eleven, and escalates from there.

While Simon Green is very much an acquired taste — either you love his stuff, or you hate it — there’s no denying that he brings something unique to the urban fantasy field. His Nightside series may not be the best stuff he’s done, but it possesses a powerful, entertaining charm all its own, and it’s obvious by now that Green has a master plan and is plunging towards the culmination of everything with an inexorable steadiness, much like a car with its brake lines cut.

If you happen to like urban fantasy with a splatterpunk attitude, a noir sensibility, a pulp sense of style, and a horror undercoating, this is the perfect series for you. Fans of Jim Butcher, Charlaine Harris, Neil Gaiman, John Constantine, Laurell K. Hamilton, Rachel Caine, Glen Cook, Kim Harrison, or Fritz Leiber will all find something to enjoy in the Nightside series. While you can read Hex and the City on its own, I really suggest you read its predecessors (Something from the Nightside, Agents of Light and Darkness, and The Nightingale’s Lament ) first, just to properly appreciate the buildup of pressure and hints across the series. (Also, be sure to check out Simon Green’s Nightside story, “The Nightside, Needless to Say” in the Powers of Detection collection (Ace, 2004)).

Go on, before something eats you. Really.

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Agents of Light and Darkness, by Simon R. Green (Ace, 2003)

Jul 20

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Divine/Infernal Beings, Private Investigators, Urban Fantasy | No Comments

John Taylor, the Nightside’s scariest private investigator and finder of lost things that really, really want to stay lost, is on the case once more. This time, he’s been hired by a man named Jude, a representative of the Vatican, to recover something that’s gone missing. The Unholy Grail. The cup Judas drank from at the Last Supper. A blasphemous, evil artifact of pure nastiness. Even the merest whisper of its existence is enough to make the mystical beings that inhabit the Nightside, London’s seedier, uglier, crueler, magical side, close up shop and head for the hills. All it takes is a single misplaced hint, and the forces of Heaven and Hell are in town, and not a one of them cares who gets hurt or what gets in their way.

Everyone wants the Unholy Grail, and they all want John Taylor to find it for them. Or they want him dead so he can’t find it for the other side. Really, they’re not picky. For a job this big, John’s going to need help. Help like Shotgun Suzie, the nastiest bounty hunter around, too hard-core for Kali cultist and too violent for impolite company.

Now John and Suzie just have to bust heads and take names as they carve a swath of destruction of their own through the Nightside, before Heaven, Hell, or the Nightside’s own Powers That Be decide to pull the plug on the whole operation. They’ll cross exiled demons, the world’s most dangerous boy band, Nasty Jack Starlight, Razor Eddie, Nazis, La Belle Dame Sans Merci, the infamous Collector, and their own worst fears before the job is over and done with, and the Nightside may never fully recover.

Pure and simple, Agents of Light and Darkness is another Simon Green adventure of over-the-top action, mad concepts, and good old-fashioned mayhem. Written like a campy horror-action movie, fast-paced and high-octane, it’s the perfect way to spend a couple of hours. The characters are outrageous, the ideas are brilliant in their throwaway oddness, and the plot has just the right balance of gruesome seriousness and dark humor. Look closely, and you’ll even see lines connecting this series to some of his other works, including Shadow Falls, Drinking Midnight Wine, and the Hawk and Fisher series. I can’t recommend Green’s work enough.

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Death Masks, by Jim Butcher (Roc, 2003)

Jul 20

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Elves & Fairies, Private Investigators, Urban Fantasy, Vampires, Wizards, Mages and Spellcasters | No Comments

“They don’t make morgues with windows. In fact, if the geography allows for it, they hardly ever make morgues above the ground. I guess it’s partly because it must be easier to refrigerate a bunch of coffin-sized chambers in a room insulated by the earth. But that can’t be all there is to it. Under the earth means a lot more than relative altitude. It’s where dead things fit. Graves are under the earth. So are Hell, Gehenna, Hades, and a dozen other reported afterlives.

“Maybe it says something about people. Maybe for us, under the earth is a subtle and profound statement. Maybe ground level provides us with a kind of symbolic boundary marker, an artificial construct that helps us remember that we are alive. Maybe it helps us push death’s shadow back from our lives.

“I live in a basement apartment and like it. What does that say about me?

“Probably that I overanalyze things.”
— Death Masks by Jim Butcher

Once again, Harry Dresden’s in trouble. You’d think that Chicago’s only openly practicing wizard and private investigator would catch a lucky break now and again, but where Harry’s concerned, a lucky break means paying last month’s bills next month, and surviving to see morning. His girlfriend’s still a partial vampire, not fully transformed. The Red Court of vampires is still willing to wage war against the entire White Council of wizards if it means getting Harry’s head on a platter. Half his friends are avoiding him like the plague, and the other half are the ones he can’t trust anyway. Luckily, a job comes along.

Find the missing Shroud of Turin, an item charged with enough mystical and religious significance to set off an (un)holy war over it. But Harry has barely even taken the case when the hitmen start coming after him. And that’s just the beginning.

For starters, the Red Court’s representative, the dreaded Paolo Ortega, is in town to issue a formal challenge to duel Harry. At stake: the future of the vampires and wizards, a war that may leave no winners. Susan, his ex-girlfriend, turns up on his doorstep, packing heat, a partner, and some strange new secrets and powers. The demonic Order of the Blackened Denarius is also after Harry, a group of creatures possessing unthinkable power and older than mankind itself. Then there’s the ritually killed, unidentifiable corpse found by the Chicago PD, who naturally want Harry’s advice.

Take one unexplained death, one missing Shroud, and way too many enemies, and Harry’s in deep … trouble. But for once, he’s got right and might on his side in the form of the three Knights of the Cross, one of whom, Michael Carpenter, is one of those few friends Harry can always count on (even if Michael’s wife, Charity, hates him with a passion). You think you have it bad? Try being Harry Dresden for a few days. The stakes have never been higher, as Harry’s success could mean the difference between life and death for thousands, even millions … and all he has to do is ignore the prophecy that states quite clearly that if he seeks the Shroud, he will die. A prophecy coming from one of those sources it doesn’t pay to ignore….

What can I say about Death Masks that I haven’t said about the first four books in the Dresden Files series? Jim Butcher is clearly an old-school sadist, putting his hero through the crunch once again, systematically parting Harry of all his best resources and even threatening the sanctity of the Dresden Duster itself. Harry’s increasing desperation and exhaustion is palpable. He’s a sympathetic character, capable of victories and failures with equal frequency, and married to a white knight complex that will get him killed at this rate. One thing I love about this series is that it’s a sure thing. I know that each book in the Dresden Files is bound to be exciting, imaginative, complex, and surprising. The plot twists never seem obvious until they’re smacking you in the face, partially because Harry’s own sensibilities play at such odds with his opponents, and his solutions are sometimes as creative as MacGyver’s, if not as implausible.

Furthermore, there’s a growing sense of the larger plan. Five books in, and for every few answers we get, there are hints of something far bigger, as the world expands beyond the Chicago metropolitan area, and Harry is forced to think on a larger scale. We begin to see that vampires plot in terms of decades or centuries, that wizards are as powerful as they are self-absorbed, that the Fey are truly alien creatures in thought processes, and that some things really are on a divine/profane level. The continuing mystery of Harry’s parentage is another ongoing plot, with tidbits dropped in here and there, just enough to whet the appetite and make one suspect that Jim Butcher has it all planned far in advance.

Butcher, too, is improving in leaps and bounds as he continues to gain that writing confidence. I suspect that after five books, and a rabid fanbase, he really does feel comfortable in planning stories for the future. That, and he’s not afraid to make us sweat. There’s one scene between Harry and Susan that’s more electrically charged, more intense, than an entire book of Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series.

Intense and wild, Death Masks is another roller-coaster ride from Jim Butcher, a skillful blend of urban fantasy and noir, sure to satisfy any fan and leave them begging for more. Even in that subgenre of “fantasy P.I.s”, (such as Glen Cook’s Garrett series, or Simon R. Green’s Something from the Nightside), it stands out as an exemplar.

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Summer Knight, by Jim Butcher (Roc, 2002)

Jul 20

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Elves & Fairies, Private Investigators, Urban Fantasy, Vampires, Wizards, Mages and Spellcasters | No Comments

Some days, it sucks to be Harry Dresden. In fact, some months it’s a bad day to be the only practicing wizard in the Chicago phonebook. And this just isn’t one of Harry’s better months. Thanks to the events of the previous book, Grave Peril, his girlfriend has left him, the Red Court of the vampires has started a war with the White Council of the wizards, and just about everyone wants his head on a platter. He’s overworked, overstressed, and rapidly going broke, faced with imminent eviction from home and office. The vampires want him (dead), the wizards don’t want him (in general), and the only case to cross his desk involves a rain of frogs and the capricious, deadly Winter Queen of Faerie. It seems that Harry’s faerie (literally!) godmother has sold Harry’s debt to Mab, Queen of Air and Darkness … and Mab’s ready to start calling the debt in.

So here’s Harry. Broke, exhausted, unshowered, running on empty emotionally and spiritually, and Mab wants him to investigate the murder of the Summer Knight. Congrats, Harry, you’ve just become the Winter Emissary, and a pawn in a very nasty, very dangerous game of power and balance between the Summer and Winter Courts. And the only pay is the (dubious) gratitude of the Queen who owns you — and the eventual hope of a possible release.

As if that wasn’t enough, the White Council is meeting to discuss certain … issues involving the vampires — and the man they blame for it all, Harry himself. If he screws things up again, they’ll boot him to the curb and tell the bloodsuckers where to find him. He only has a few real allies on the Council, and none of them can help him in this matter. But hey, he’s used to this sort of thing. Harry works best when his life is on the line and the stakes are as high as they can possibly get. So all he has to do is interview the various nobles of the Summer and Winter Courts, survive multiple assassination attempts, convince the White Council that he’s worthy of their ranks, deal with the long-lost love who betrayed him years ago, and still find a way to pay his rent. No problem.

One of the most endearing, and compelling, things about the Dresden Files series is that the protagonist is a genuinely likeable, admittedly flawed, human being. He’s a wizard, with a lab and a talking skull, true. He deals with werewolves, ghosts, and faeries, yes. But where it matters, in his heart and in his mind, he’s Joe Ordinary, who’d really, really like to grab a beer and relax now and again. Harry’s no Gandalf, living in an ivory tower and appearing from on high to spout mystic sayings and dire portents. His Latin (the official working language of the White Council) is atrocious, his spells sloppy (as he says, he tends to slop power and go for overkill), his manners questionable (they said he had to wear a robe to the meeting… so what if his bathrobe was all he had?), and his standing in constant doubt (there’s still a little debate about the legitimacy of his “entrance exams”). He has to worry about clean clothes, rent, food, and car repairs, just like the rest of us. His romantic life is a shambles, and his friends like to hang out and game on Fridays … when they’re not growing fur and howling at the moon. Where it counts, Harry is the sort of character one can actually empathize with, and care about. When he’s happy, we feel it. When he’s angry, we know it. And, oh yes, when he’s exhausted, the feelings ooze from the pages, so that you’ll actually cheer when Harry finally gets a chance to shower and change clothes. It’s the little things…

The Faerie in this series are capricious, unknowable, powerful and downright scary, highly reminiscent of the ones in War For The Oaks or Tam Lin. The games they play really aren’t for mortals; to be caught up in their machinations is not something one hopes for. They mix sensuality and power, desire and terror, and manage to stay on the other side of familiar, so we’re never truly comfortable with them in the room. Where Laurell K. Hamilton thrusts us up close and personal with the Fey in her Merry Gentry series, and Mercedes Lackey removes a layer of the mystique in her Bedlam Bards series, Butcher keeps his creatures of Faerie on the outside.

Despite having four books out now, Jim Butcher is still a fairly new, up-and-coming author, who’s clearly still hitting his stride. That is to say, he’s moving from damned good to excellent, and from excellent to fantastic. Each book is self-contained, but building upon the ones before it, so that the long-time readers are rewarded time and again with new revelations about Harry’s past, new tidbits about the world he’s created, and new threats. There’s the feeling that something big is looming on the horizon, and considering what Harry’s already been through, it must be epic.

The Dresden Files is one of the best urban fantasy series out there, and if you haven’t tried it yet, I highly urge you to give it a shot. It combines the best aspects of fantasy, magic realism, and noir sensibility … as if Emma Bull and Ross McDonald had produced an illegitimate love child, and appointed Charles de Lint as his godfather.

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Grave Peril, by Jim Butcher (Roc, September 2001)

Jul 17

Posted by Michael M. Jones in Private Investigators, Urban Fantasy, Wizards, Mages and Spellcasters | No Comments

What do you get if you cross Sam Spade or Mike Hammer with a healthy dose of magic? Harry Dresden, the only practicing wizard in the Chicago Yellow Pages. He’s a private detective and wizard for hire who takes the cases no one else can, or will. Vampire stalking your girlfriend? Werewolves digging in the trash? Fairies stealing your dreams? Ghosts refusing to stay dead? He’s your man, and then some. And in a world where all of the above can and will happen, he’s one of the few things standing between the unspeakable terrors of the Nevernever and the unknowing public at large of the mortal world.

In his last few cases, he’s dealt with some pretty rough stuff. Demons, rogue wizards, werewolves of all kinds, and vampires. He’s been knocked around, beat up, smacked down, hit over the head, shot at, cursed, arrested, propositioned by seductively dangerous vampires, chomped on by any manner of nasty critters, and only just survived. You’d think a sane man would hang the ‘Gone Fishing’ sign on the door, and leave town. For good. But Harry’s not like that. He’s a hero, and heroes never give up. Not even when things get unspeakably bad.

Grave Peril pushes Harry to the very edge of his limits, as it continues to fill in his backstory, and flesh out his life. In addition to his skull-dwelling familiar and magical resource, Bob, he’s joined by Michael, a carpenter turned Knight of the Sword, a crusader for God’s will who wields one of the three great holy swords. It’s good, because Harry’ll need all the help he can get. Chicago’s been turned upside-down lately by a plague of restless, unpleasant ghosts, spirits, and spooks. The two are run ragged trying to keep things under control and send the spirits on to their deserved rest. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Someone, or something, is intentionally stirring up these ghosts. It’s not the local vampires, some of whom have a real grudge to settle with Harry… is it? It’s not the wizard Harry helped bring to justice the other month… is it? It’s certainly not Lea, Harry’s treacherous Faerie (of the Sidhe variety) godmother, right? Whoever it is, they have reasons for raising havok with the dead and creating a Nightmare whose sole desire is to suck Harry’s power dry, and drive all his friends insane with spiritual torment. It’s gotta be personal.

Harry and Michael will both be tested to destruction, as the saying goes. With enemies on all sides, innocents falling victim left and right, and their enemies constantly one step ahead, it’s a sure bet someone’s dying along the way. They’ll brave the perilous etiquette of the Vampire Courts, make alliances with the people they least trust, risk losing body and soul and faith, and sacrifice the things they care for most, in order to see the world safe from the things which threaten it. Because that’s what good men do.

Once again, Jim Butcher turns in a fast-paced, breath-holding, stomach-churning mixture of pulp noir and urban fantasy. Harry’s the quintessential hard-headed hero, determined to do the right thing, no matter what the cost. He’ll risk anything for his friends, and keep going until he’s exhausted every potential, and can’t move. And even then, don’t count him out of the running. He’s Humphrey Bogart with magical spells, all tough guy with a heart of fool’s gold. Heaven help the nasty that harms someone he feels responsible for.

The plot is deftly twisted, leading us and Harry around all sorts of deadends and blind alleys, dangling clues all the way until, at the end, it all comes together in an unexpected manner. The dark and dangerous world Harry inhabits, not far removed from our own, is further explored, with the end result of leaving just enough unexplained and unresolved to make a fourth book in the series a distinct and hoped-for possibility. (In fact, I’m told that the fourth book, tentatively entitled *Summer Knight*, will further involve poor Harry in the intricate hostilities between the Summer and Winter Courts of the Fae, among other things. Holy Shades of War For The Oaks, Batman!)

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