Review: Brief Cases, by Jim Butcher

Rating:

💼💼💼💼💼

First Response:

This one was better than Side Jobs overall, but no one story stood out the way The Warrior did.

One Sentence Summary:

This is a collection of short stories set in the universe of the Dresden Files, focusing on side characters.

Tell Me More:

This collection is a series of parts that together are greater than their sum would imply. (Wow, that's a really convoluted way of saying what I wanted to say, but I guess it works...)

The stories in this collection are drawn from around the Dresden-verse, and occur at various times in the series. These stories felt much more spread out than the stories in Side Jobs, but they mostly fell into two main categories: the first few stories focused on Harry, and were a return to Dresden's hardboiled pulp roots. Investigation, gumshoeing, and action hero door-busting were the name of the game. The other stories were all rather intense character studies focusing on the lives of various side characters post-changes (and it's subsequent fallout books). We get to see Molly flex her muscles as the new Winter Lady. Butters gets his first mission as a Knight of the Cross. We even get to spend a day with John Marcone. The collection ends with a story ("Zoo Day") that gives us the same events three times: once from Harry's perspective, once from Maggie's (Harry's daughter's) perspective, and once from Mouse's perspective (yes, the dog Mouse). It was an interesting read from a technical standpoint, but I actually found it kind of tedious to read; but I'm glad I did, because it's the kind of experiment I've wanted to try for a while. After reading "Zoo Story," though, I think I should let that impulse slide.

I don't feel like there's much more I should say about these stories, other than that they were good reads. If I had to recommend a book to a Dresden skeptic, I might recommend this one. I think it gives you a good taste of the series' pulp roots, plus the epic space it enters later on. This collection is like a small scale version of the entire series, from its action hero pulse to its soft, fuzzy heart.