Book review: Fool Moon by Jim Butcher

The seventeenth book I read in 2015 was the second book of The Dresden Files.  I'd heard of the series before, of course, but had never picked it up.  On the recommendation of an acquaintance, I bought the first book, Storm Front, and read it last Thanksgivingish.  It was ... eh ... all right.  I found the book's presentation of women slightly creepy, and the final battle with the Big Bad depended on Harry handcuffing himself to a fixed object when the cuff was explicitly locked shut in an earlier scene and no keys available by which to open it.  But pilots are always a little rocky, so I thought I'd give Jim Butcher another chance to impress me.  Fifteen books and a short-lived TV series have to add up to something, right?

So I bought Fool Moon at Half-Price Books.  It's about werewolves.  Normally, I really don't like werewolves, so the fact that Butcher made his lycanthropes intriguing to me is a point in his favor.  Here's the problem: I really don't like Harry Dresden.  He is the least interesting character in his own books.  His internal monologue is constantly yammering on about his innate nobility and how much richer he'd be and how many more women he'd have if only he weren't such a great guy, and I just hate him.

The most interesting recurring character in the two books I've read, by far, is Johnny Marcone.  I'm supposed to think he's a bad guy.  Harry certainly does.  Johnny, a gentleman 'legitimate businessman,' repeatedly offers Harry mutually beneficial arrangements, but Harry, too pure to sully himself by being polite to someone who hasn't offered to harm him, just denounces him with the moral indignation of a motivational speaker.  I would far rather read a series about Johnny Marcone navigating multiple shades of gray than about Harry Dresden riding his high horse along the straight and narrow.

Women, again, exist to be beautiful and either offer themselves up to Harry (who is, of course, far too pure of heart to agree) or die so that Harry can beat himself up about being unable to save the poor, helpless things.  And Harry suffers multiple gunshots, maulings, and beatings to the brink of death yet is still able to run, climb, and fight mere minutes later in a manner that would impress Jack Bauer. Fool Moon even made TV Tropes for the distinction!