I received this book for free from my own shelves in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: my own shelves
Fool Moon
by
Jim Butcher
dark fantasy, urban fantasy in Hardcover edition that was published by ROC on January 9, 2001 and has 401 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Mean Streets, Changes, Side Jobs, Ghost Story, Dark and Stormy Knights, Aftertaste, Hex Appeal, Welcome to the Jungle, Dangerous Women, Storm Front, Grave Peril, Summer Knight, Cold Days, Skin Game, Blood Rites, Death Masks, Proven Guilty, White Night, Small Favor, Shadowed Souls, Peace Talks, Heroic Hearts, "Christmas Eve", “The Good People”, Battle Ground, "The Law", “Everything the Light Touches”, "Job Placement"
Second in The Dresden Files urban fantasy series and revolving around Harry Dresden, wizard. Based in Chicago. If you’re interested, there is a chronological listing of The Dresden Files books on my website.
My Take
Ooh, the snark! I love it when Murphy has the nerve to ask for Harry’s help and his angry response! Then there’s Bob harassing Harry about doing those weight-loss potions, lol.
Harry’s right, his problems do come from that conflict between needing to keep secrets and other people’s need to know — to keep them alive. He’s really gotta tell Murph’, especially after that last scene! And hindsight is 20/20. I like that moment when Harry gets it. When he finally starts to see it from Murphy’s point of view. Now if only Murphy would do Harry the same courtesy! Still Harry takes too much guilt that he doesn’t deserve onto himself. Kim, for one, should have explained why she needed to know.
We meet the good-guy wolf pack in this story, and how they came to be. We learn more back history about what Harry knows about his parents, that his magician dad died of an aneurism when Harry was young, and his mother died at his birth. So when Chauncy teases Harry with tidbits about his mother, how she almost fell, ooh, it’s very tempting to give up yet another part of himself to know.
I don’t know where Murphy gets off bitching at Harry for following up his clue when she’s doing the same thing.
Wait a minute. At one point Harry reckons Tera wouldn’t wait for him and then a few paragraphs later she’s checking behind to make sure he’s keeping up with her. C’mon…which is it?
Ah, geez, that escape at the jail…if only Murphy would’ve trusted Harry.
I can’t believe how careless Harry is. I’d’a thought he’d been around a lot longer, had more experience than to make the mistakes he makes in this.
Tera’s right, animals only kill to eat or to protect or defend. It’s humans who are the real monsters. And ain’t that a scary thought.
It’s an exciting blend of magic and police procedural, urban fantasy and human politics, and it all boils down to human interaction, whatever flavor of being you may be.
The Story
After events in Storm Front, 1, Murphy hasn’t called Harry to consult, and he doesn’t think it’s because the monsters disappeared. So, when suddenly Murphy is calling, and they’re both too busy dancing around that silly need-to-know.
Harry’s morals do keep him hopping, and dang, Harry’s in trouble. Between antagonizing a pack of lycanthropes, turning down Marcone’s offers, and unable to tell important people in his life the truth about it all…
The Characters
With a strong sense of responsibility and of right and wrong, Harry Dresden finds work here and there as a private investigator and wizard. The Blue Beetle isn’t really blue anymore, but Volkswagens survive better being around a wizard — technology doesn’t do well around wizards. Mike is his mechanic. Mister is his huge cat. Bob is a skull who lives in his sub-basement and has more knowledge of magic than anyone. He’s got a thing for romance novels. Justin was Harry’s teacher until he died.
The five-foot-tall Lieutenant Karrin Murphy is the director of Special Investigations at the Chicago PD due to some influential enemies. Her department investigates the unusual. She’s also the source of most of Harry’s income. And she hasn’t been calling. Partly due to intense interest from Internal Affairs. Carmichael is Murphy’s right hand man, and he thinks Harry is a charlatan.
Susan Rodriguez works for the Arcane and is always hunting stories with a supernatural slant, determined to make people think. And she’s curious as to why someone is so anxious to get rid of the most successful preternatural investigator the police department has ever had.
The Alphas wolf pack
Billy, Georgia, Tommy, and Cindy form the pack.
Harley MacFinn has inherited the family curse and is obsessed with the Northwest Passage Project, an endeavor that’s making a lot of businessmen, including James Harding III, unhappy. Tera West is Harley’s fiancée.
Gentleman John Marcone is Chicago’s resident crime lord with influence reaching all over the country and into Washington D.C. Rumor is, Harry’s working for him. Spike was one of his bodyguards; Hendricks still is.
Agent Philip Denton is FBI and quickly on the scene, every time. The rest of his team includes Deborah Benn who has control issues, Roger Harris is a redheaded kid, the forensic specialist, and George Wilson is an overweight jerk.
The Streetwolves, a biker gang of lycanthropes
Headquarters is the Full Moon Garage. Parker is their aging leader; Flatnose would like to challenge him. Lana is another member of the pack.
Chaunzaggoroth, a.k.a., Chauncy, is a demon Harry calls up on occasion.
Mac owns and runs McAnally‘s pub and grill with great food and his own brew. It’s also neutral territory for supernaturals and magic users. Kim Delaney has been a student of Harry’s, unwilling to heed his warnings.
The White Council makes the Laws of Magic for the magical world, and they don’t like Harry. Elaine was Harry’s first love.
There are different kinds of werewolves: hexenwolves make a deal with the devil or a powerful sorcerer and use a wolf-hide belt with some magic words; werewolves are theriomorphs, a being that shifts from human to animal; lycanthropes are a natural channel for a spirit of rage which gets inside a person’s head — Norse berserkers are an example; and, loup-garou which are the major monsters, cursed, who transform at the full moon and go on a killing spree until moonset. A soulgaze is when you look deep inside a person and see them for who they really are.
The Cover and Title
The cover is Harry with staff in hand in his black leather coat and hat atop a tall building above Chicago. A huge fool’s moon behind him.
The title is a reference to Harry and how slowly he puts the pieces together in this time of the Fool Moon.
