Review: Storm Front

Picture a couple making love. Wait love?...I meant sex...wait I meant completing a business transaction, and where I said a couple...I meant a whore and her client. Next, picture her straddling him. Freeze that picture, then imagine the two with a gaping hole in their chests, ribs sticking outwards with two missing organs where moments before their hearts were beating furiously. Two questions beckon, first, how is it possible for ribs to stick outwards without damaging any other part of the body except at the location of the heart. Secondly how can this "couple" still be in that position? The police certainly don't know and call upon the only wizard in town. Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. 

I had heard of The Dresden Files before from TV but have never seen the series, so I had no presumptions when reading this book. Storm Front did not start slowly and we are into the thick of it very soon. Harry is called in by the police to see if he can detect 'magic' on a very weird scene. Why would I quotation mark 'magic'? Well it is a world where people don't believe in magic and if your full time job is a well...a wizard, it also makes it hard to pay the bills on time. This is a very minor problem that Jim Butcher (author) throws at Harry, along they way he encounters a demon, a vampiress that runs a brothel, the local mafia and a couple of girls who want to know Harry better!

It is only until recently that I have discovered that I really enjoy reading Mystery/Fantasy novels. They are exciting and mysterious but have all the elements of fantasy that I like.

While the Dresden Files doesn't have as many fantasy elements as I would like, it makes it up with humour, the mystery and good writing skills from Butcher. Do I want to watch the TV series? I'm not sure, but I definitely want to read the next book in the series: Fool Moon.