Fool Moon - Jim Butcher

There appears to be a werewolf, or a pack of them, running loose in Chicago, murdering people. The FBI is butting in, and Harry Dresden’s friend on the Chicago PD, is under investigation because she hires a wizard with apparent ties to the top mob boss in the city as a consultant. Harry doesn’t really have ties to Johnny Marcone, other than he killed a murderous dark wizard in the previous book who just happened to be muscling in on Marcone, but the appearance is trouble enough.

As it turns out, there are several different types of werewolves, and there’s at least one of each type involved in all this, which means a lot of problems – and suspects – for a wizard. Overall, it was a somewhat stronger mystery than the first book. There are still some rather obvious false leads, and some of the villains late in the book are telegraphed early on, but in general, things aren’t nearly as straightforward as the first go-round. The more interesting parts are the ones where Butcher’s clearly building up to something down the line. He goes into a little more detail about Harry’s past, as well as dropping some hints that Harry’s memories and impressions of his parents aren’t necessarily correct. There’s a strong sense that things are approaching a crisis point, though it isn’t clear what form that will take.

There’s one sequence midway through the book where Harry has a conversation with something calling itself his subconscious while he’s unconscious. That part of him insists he ought to trust its instincts more often, but it also questioned why he was trusting one of the other characters, and as it turned out, said character played things very straight with Harry. Which means his instincts on that one were wrong, which happens to everyone, but it’s a curious outcome after having his subconscious specifically tell Harry he ought to trust it more often. It makes me wonder if that was actually a part of his mind, or someone else messing with his head. It also makes me wonder if his decision to tell his cop friend Murphy more about the supernatural is a wise idea. He’s been holding back, because the council of wizards doesn’t approve of “norms” knowing much about them, but he’s reconsidered, because he figures Murphy will put herself in harm’s way whether she knows what she’s dealing with or not, and he might not always be there. But he’s also pretty sure the wizards won’t balk at killing her if they think it’s necessary, and they had a guy on him in the first book, sort of a parole officer, that Harry didn’t take lightly. That being the case, I’m not sure the possibility she runs into something she can’t handle is worth the seemingly near certainty of a threat she definitely can’t handle coming after her because of what he tells her.

‘The solid old matron of a sergeant sat at the front desk, thumbing through a glossy magazine, a portrait done in colorless hues. She glanced up at me for a second, and tinges of color returned to her uniform, her cheeks, and her eyes. She looked me over causally, sniffed, and lowered her face to her magazine again. As her attention faded, so did the color from her clothing and skin. My perceptions of her changed as she paid attention to me or did not.

I felt my face stretch in a victorious smile. The potion had worked. I was inside. I had to suppress an urge to break into a soft-shoe routine. Sometimes being able to use magic was so cool. I almost stopped hurting for a few seconds, from sheer enjoyment of the special effects. I would have to remember to tell Bob how much I liked the way this potion worked.’