Review - Proven Guilty - Dresden Files 8 - Jim Butcher

Title: Proven Guilty

Author: Jim Butcher

Harry Dresden is a professional wizard.  By the eighth book in the series, we’ve gotten to know him.  So we know, when the teenage daughter of Harry’s best friend calls on him for help, Harry is going to answer the call.  Her problem?  Her boyfriend is accused of a violent murder at a Horror Convention. 

A Horror Convention!  What a great setting for the beginning of a mystery which will involve many of the key players in the Dresden Files novels to this point.  We get the White Council (the ruling body of Wizards) and we get the Carpenter family, headed by one of the Knights of the Cross.  We get the backdrop of the Red Court Vampire war with the Wizards, and another view of the constant struggle between the Summer and Winter faeries.  We get Detective Karrin Murphy, and we get Bob the Skull, and we get Thomas, the White Court Vampire.  And it all combines to be one of the most dramatic episodes in this series.

Additionally, we get to know the structure of Magic and magical society in more detail.  Butcher does a great job of building on the depth of his milieu each novel.  We get to see new kinds of magic, new spells, and old spells used in new ways.  It’s very clever.

As I was reading Proven Guilty, I kept imagining this story being brought to film.  I don’t know if author Jim Butcher thinks consciously about the adaptability of his stories to film, but in this book, more than any other, I kept saying “Oh, I could see this on the big screen.  I want to see this on the big screen!”  Butcher has a great vision for his mixture of the real world with the magical world, and I would love to see that done with the kinds of SFX possible today.  But he also has built some wonderful characters, who have very realistic depth, and I would love to see those characters brought to life by good actors.  (And, yes, I think Leah would be perfect for the role of Molly.  You know, as long as all the piercings could be make-up.)

This story had me tense with worry.  It had me cheering with excitement.  And it had me tearing up with emotion. 

Seriously, folks, if you’re an adult who truly enjoyed the Harry Potter books, you really ought to try the Dresden Files.  Sure, Dresden is a little darker, and is mixed more with the “real world.”  And, yes, it’s a bit more adult – though the swearing is minimal, I can only think of one scene in the eight books I’ve read so far which can truly be called a “sex scene.”  The rest of the “adult” content is suggestive, rather than explicit, and it often shows Harry resisting distracting temptations in order to do the Right Thing.

Harry Dresden is a hero we can understand, a hero who can sometimes frustrate us, but ultimately a hero we admire.  Never more than in Proven Guilty.