Synopsis
The past comes back in a big way for Chicago’s only professional wizard in this action-packed novella from the #1 New York Times–bestselling Dresden Files.
In a city that’s just beginning to recover from the devastation caused by the Battle of Chicago, Harry Dresden is finally pulling himself together as well. He’s ensconced in his own personal castle, healing his various wounds and training an eager new apprentice. The last thing he wants is any trouble. But, as history has consistently—and quite annoyingly—shown, what Harry wants is rarely what Harry gets.
It starts with a visit from Harry’s most powerful frenemy, Gentleman John Marcone, Baron of Chicago. He needs Harry to assist in the redemption of an underling who’s looking to go straight. And since Harry does kinda sorta owe Marcone for saving his life once (stupid honorable debt!), it’s not a request he can refuse. He’ll just wish he had.
Review
I am a huge Dresden Files fan since the time I first picked up DEAD BEAT on a whim and then proceeded to buy all of the previous novels. That was twenty-one years ago and I’ve been a consistent fan of the series ever since. Unfortunately, what was once an annual release became heavily delayed by real-life troubles in Jim Butcher’s life. Two of the recent novels in PEACE TALKS BATTLE GROUND were one novel split in two to mixed results, perhaps because Jim was aware of the huge gap between volumes. TWELVE MONTHS felt like a return to form but it’s still a long famine we’re making up for (through no fault of Jim).
THE LAW and now OUT LAW are novellas where Jim has attempted to fill in some of the gaps that existed not in the in-universe narrative but where he wasn’t able to put word to paper. They’re more like STORM FRONT and FOOL MOON in that they’re about Harry dealing with where the supernatural intersects with noir. The later books are more popular with fans, though, when they focused on less noir and more overt fantasy. This means the novellas might not be to everyone’s taste.
The premise for Out Law is that it is a sequel to The Law but you don’t need to have read the first book for the plot to make sense. Basically, Tripp Gregory is a lowlife criminal who barely manages to survive an assassination attempt but this encourages him to turn over a new life. Unfortunately, Tripp is not the kind of genius super-criminal you might find in Wilson Fisk or Johnny Marcone but more like Daredevil’s Turk or Tony Soprano’s nephew. He’s an idiot and breaks numerous laws to raise enough money for a children’s charity.
Harry is less than happy to be helping Tripp but believes strongly in redemption, even when it isn’t someone that he really thinks will be able to pull reform off. Unfortunately, Harry owes the aforementioned Johnny Marcone a favor from the events of Battle Ground. This takes Harry up against Tripp’s enemies in a former Red Court controlled cartel. Being this is the world of the Dresden Files, magic becomes involved in organized crime and Harry is up against a kind of The Thing-esque demon that might be an Outsider.
As mentioned, I am really glad that Jim Butcher is providing us some extra content aside from the main series and was one of the fans who suggested that he should assemble all of the Bigfoot stories into one single novel. I certainly hope he does the same when he does the third LAW book. I actually prefer the Dresden Files when it deals with lower level cases than big grandiose Secret Wars-style crossovers, which hurt my enjoyment of Battle Ground. Harry Dresden is more like Spider-Man than the Avengers.
Supporting cast wise, this focuses primarily on Fitz, Harry’s new apprentice, and a Harry’s lawyer from the previous novella. Plus Tripp himself. Fitz is a bit of a disappointment as he doesn’t have the big personality of so many other characters. Murphy’s absence is also keenly felt as she would have had a lot of opinions on Harry working with Tripp that I’m sorry we don’t get to see. Bob does make a brief appearance and he has been sorely missed.
In conclusion, this is a pretty good novella and I enjoyed it. I hope that Jim Butcher continues to churn out these smaller works and give us all the wonderful Harry being a detective that we’ve been deprived since before CHANGES. Harry is always best when he’s dealing with Chicago crimes tied to the magical and illustrating while he’s the wizard in the phone book.
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