Fool Moon

Author: Jim Butcher
Published: January 1, 2001 (Roc)
Category: Fantasy
Series: Dresden Files #2
Rating: 7/10

To those who watch The Dresden Files on the SciFi channel, this book will appear as a bigger and better version of the show's "Hair of the Dog" episode. In the TV episode, the FBI agents investigating the case are the werewolves and they're committing all the murders because they're trying to break the curse, which involves killing a certain number of werewolves created by the one that wishes to break free. There was none of that in the book, and I thought that was better because I'd never heard of a way to break the curse and it seemed contrived just so the show could wrap up easily.

In Fool Moon a serial murder is running wild, killing people and using tools to make it look like it was done by a giant wolf. That's what the police believe, but Harry Dresden, called in by Lt. Murphy, knows better. The nice thing about the books is that Murphy acknowledges the existence of magic and the creatures associated with it. Bob (doesn't have a human form in books, just a voice from the skull) gives us a thorough education on the various forms of werewolves, including a type of werewolf-by-option, where a person obtains an enchanted belt of wolf pelt that enables them to change to a werewolf when they wish, rather than by the command of the moon.

The biggest thing that annoyed me was the repeat of the distrust Murphy has for Dresden. She had him arrested at one point and her dependence on really circumstantial evidence was tiring. It wasn't even the evidence that made her angry; it was the fact that Dresden didn't mention something that happened before the case even started, one of those miscommunication things that I hate in books. How was he to know it was relevant until a victim he knew turned up dead?

Overall, a nicely written fantasy/mystery. It was surprisingly complex, but maybe I feel that way because I watched the TV episode based off this novel. But the show is good. You should watch it!