Reading Between the Pages: Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher

by: RFR Casket Crew Denise

Greetings Deadites,

It’s time for the next installment of Reading Between the Pages. In this segment, I’ll be looking at Jim Butcher’s Proven Guilty.

The White Council of Wizards has drafted Harry Copperfield Blackstone Dresden as a warden in Chicago. A warden is like the non-magical version of a police officer, and Harry takes his job very seriously.

This story opens with an execution or should I say a beheading of a warlock who has broken one of the laws of magic; the use of black magic and enforcing his will on others. The White Council gathers in an abandon warehouse in Chicago to carry out its sentence upon the seventeen-year-old Korean. And for Harry, he’s life is about to be thrown into chaos when he is asked to investigate the use of black magic in the Windy City.

If things weren’t complicated enough, Harry receives a midnight call from Molly Carpenter, the oldest daughter of Harry’s close friend Michael Carpenter. She calls Harry and asks if he will bail her out of jail which turns out to be a ruse. Upon his arrival at the police station, Harry discovers it’s Molly’s boyfriend, Nelson, that has been arrested. But it’s all in a day’s work for the wizard, his faithful dog and a talking skull named Bob.

I enjoy Proven Guilty by Mr. Butcher. It is part of his Dresden file series which I like to think of as Die Hard meets Harry Potter but with fewer explosions and car chases. What I especially like about the books is that even though Harry is a wizard, he struggles with his finances, his magic and his relationships. All these things give him human characteristics that the reader can relate to.

Next time, I’ll be looking at David Wellington’s Frostbite. Even though there’s been a lot of hoopla about werewolves lately, this is a tale with a very different twist. I’ve also got something special planned for the near future but for now, sit back, relax and rot away.