Book Review: Grave Peril by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files #3)

Grave Peril is the 3^rd book in Jim Butcher's supernatural, detective/urban fantasy series, The Dresden Files. This series' story revolves around Harry Dresden, a professional wizard who uses magical powers to solve paranormal crimes. In Gravel Peril, Jim Butcher ramped up the suspense and actions in the story, offering his readers with a (slight) break from the formulaic storytelling found in previous books. The result? I think Grave Peril is the best book in the series yet. Today, I would like to provide a book review, and share some of my thoughts about this book.

Synopsis:

Do you believe in ghosts? Do you believe, that when a person dies, some immaterial part(s) of the person would depart from the withering flesh and live on?

In Harry Dresden's world, the existence of ghosts and spirits, is as certain as the law of gravity. Especially in recent days, when Chicago is besieged by deadly, tormented ghosts, rampaging throughout the city and wrecking havoc. The flourishing, paranormal activities provided Harry with ample employment opportunities. Together with his trustworthy friend, Michael Carpenter, a Knight of the Cross, this duo set out on a mission of “ghostbusting”. But first, they need to solve a series of puzzles, to determine who or what, is the mastermind lurking behind the curtain.

Along the way, the mystery deepens as Harry discovered, that many victims of these paranormal crimes have ties to him....

What I think about this book:

In my opinion, Grave Peril is the best book in The Dresden Files series yet. In terms of storytelling, Grave Peril doesn't feel as repetitive as the previous 2 books. Allow me to explain. In previous books, the stories often kicked off with a formulaic setting, where Chicago PD approached Harry with unsolvable murder cases. Jim Butcher started the story in Grave Peril differently. In this book, a reverse narrative was used at the beginning of the story, when Harry and his friend, Michael Carpenter, tried to track down a malicious ghost in a hospital. This means, the book throws its readers into the middle of actions at the start, building suspense around the core event in the story, while generating readers' interests around Michael, a newly introduced character who plays a central role in this book.

The characterizations in Gravel Peril, is as interesting and gripping as in the previous 2 books. Harry Dresden continues to be a likable character. Harry is portrayed as a courageous individual, who genuinely tried to do the right thing even if it costs him. He is also displayed a cynical attitude towards people with agendas. Harry's cynicism provided humorous reliefs on several occasions in this book, but it also offers readers a chance to glimpse into Harry's personality.

This book also introduced a new and likable character, Michael Carpenter. Michael, is a Knight of the Cross. In this book, Michael is depicted as a religious man, a faithful servant of the Almighty, and wields a sword (granted by the Almighty) against evils and demons. Michael and Harry have an interesting relationship in this book. i.e. Michael disapproves Harry's use of magic, because he believes that any supernatural power that doesn't come from the Almighty shouldn't be practiced. However, Michael is also a loyal, trustworthy friend to Harry. The 2 friends worked together as an unstoppable team.

However, Grave Peril is not flawless. I found the greatest weakness in this book, is a recurring story structure in all of Harry's encounters with his nemesis. During these encounters, Harry is always getting beaten by the baddies, then at the last minute, he would tap into his “inner reserve”, and find some "hidden" power to defeat his enemies to live another day. This happened at least 3 times in this book, and it is a repeating story structure in previous books as well. It makes a book feel repetitive and tiring. I can only hope Jim Butcher will stop doing this in the future books.

Overall, I think Grave Peril is better than the previous 2 volumes in this series. In this book, Jim Butcher successfully employed a reverse narrative in his storytelling, to build up the suspense in the story. The characterization is memorable and vivid. Despite the flaws of a repetitive story structure, Grave Peril is a gripping and exciting book, a solid entry to The Dresden Files series.