Butcher

I was recently sucked deep into the audio book Storm Front, first in The Dresden Files series, by author Jim Butcher. The audio version is wonderfully narrated by James Marsters (best known as Spike in Buffy). I know there's a cable tv series of The Dresden Files already in existence; but right now I can't picture any one else but Marsters as wizard/detective hero Harry Dresden. The simplest description of the book would be Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and maybe Harry Potter) crossed with Raymond Chandler. The book's description--a book about a wizard detective in modern day Chicago--didn't sound very promising to me. I also tend to be suspicious of books that are part of a long series--especially ones about a "hard-boiled" detective.

I didn't believe my friend--even though I know she has great taste in fiction--that The Dresden Files was worth reading. Still it was easy enough to test out her recommendation with the audio version from the library--listen to it while doing chores around the house--and then be able to say I gave it a try, even though I knew I wouldn't get sucked into a series of light cookie cutter books.

Very soon I was looking for more and more chores to do and going for long walks so that I could listen to it on my iPod. Now I can't wait to get my hands on the next book in the series.

The hard boiled genre is so familiar that I'm always taken by surprised when the formula works yet again. Somehow it is a great engine for creating an addictive reading experience. The jaded, loner hero is going to be reluctantly caught up in a case where he's also a suspect, he's going to get beat up a couple of times, he's going to meet a variety of decadent high society types and other seamy characters during the course of his investigation, including a large number of fallen women and an even greater level of corruption is going to be revealed at the climax. At the end the hero is even more jaded and bitter, although he's also proved that he's somehow more pure and innocent than the ugly world he is forced to inhabit. How can this same plot work over and over? It has spread out from the mystery genre into all the other genres. It seems so obvious and predictable--surely it's a sign of authors creating the lightest and least challenging pieces of fluff entertainment.

I can't be sucked into this obvious formula after all these years as a reader! Yet Butcher (see him laughing in the picture) translates the formula perfectly into the urban fantasy setting and uses it to slowly peel the onion of his fantasy creation, seducing us, leaving us wanting more details (both about the world and about many of his intriquing characters). In the end I suppose the hard-boiled formula is a perfect bridge between our real world and a fun, if dark, fantasy vision.