Fool Moon (Dresden Files, #2)

by Jim Butcher

[EBookObsessed]

Book 2 was much better than Book 1 but again I split between the pluses and the minuses for this series.

In Fool Moon, when Kim Delaney, another magic user, consults with Harry about a complicated binding circle, Harry refuses to help and warns her away becausing she is not strong enough to hold anything requiring that difficult a binding.

Harry is brought in on a consultation again by Lt. Karrin Murphy of Special Investigations to investigate a murder of one of the goons of a local mobster in what looks like an animal attack. The local police aren’t the only ones investigating. The FBI have been called in as well, and the FBI are very…territorial. Murphy, as always, wants the information now, as tomorrow is too far away.

Harry is pretty certain it was a werewolf attack but he consults with Bob only to learn that there are several types of werewolves (Hexenwolves, werewolves, lycanthropes and loup-garou). The most dangerous part of being a werewolf is how much of your humanity you lose, the longer and more often you change to the wolf. Harry determines that at least one of the creatures running around is the most dangerous, the loup-garou, a cursed human who can only be killed by silver that has been gifted. Gifted? You can’t just go buy silver. It has to be handed down to you from someone. What if your people just aren’t generous that way?

When Kim becomes the next mauled victim, Harry knows that a loup-garou is involved. Harry is overwhelmed with guilt and anger that Kim attempted the binding it after he told her it was too dangerous and if she had only told him what she was doing, he could have stepped in. Harry suffers from a serious case of what Atticus in the Iron Druid Chronicles would call “guilt ferrets.” Harry breaks everything down to how it is his fault. He tries to protect everyone from themselves and from all the things that go bump in the night and when he can’t, it is somehow his fault until he is overwhelmed with guilt ferrets eating at his brain.

What bugs me most was that once Murphy sees the failed binding circle at the crime scene, one she recognizes from a scrap of paper that Harry had the other night from his meeting with Kim. Murphy’s all ready to arrest Harry once again jumping to the conclusion that Harry had to have had something to do with the woman’s death. Why, oh why, does Harry continue to work with Murphy? She is so clueless for being in charge of the Special Investigation department and she just keeps trying to pin crimes on Harry.

While I like the creativeness of this story in making the different types of werewolves and several of the different types are part of this story, we go from no werewolves to all the werewolves in one story, but it was very creative to bring in more than one type of werewolf that Harry needed to deal with.

Most reviews that I have found (including a note from the author) indicated that Book 3 is a pivitol point in the series. I will be back with my thoughts on that book. But, just a warning before you jump into this series, I got 20 percent into Book 4 before I tossed in the towel on the whole Harry Dresden series. I am certain I would have continued just because the narrator was so perfect but I was very unimpressed with Harry and his stories.