Grave Peril is the third book in Jim Butcher’s long-running series about the spellcasting private detective named Harry Dresden. It was published in 2001. Rather than reading the print version, I took in this book in audiobook form, and it was narrated by actor James Marsters of Buffy and Angel fame.
At the beginning of this audiobook, the author himself makes a brief appearance where he thanks the listener and addresses how the Harry Dresden character has become much more settled into the storyline. I have to agree with that idea, now that I’ve read this book. I found this story to be a tad more serious than the previous two novels, though it is just as entertaining. I think Butcher has fully committed to writing this character and he goes all out with this story.
This book opens with a scene reminiscent of the famous ghost librarian scene from the movie Ghostbusters. In this book, Harry finds himself in a hospital where the ghost of a long-dead woman is singing to a room full of newborns. If she’s allowed to finish her song, which is really a spell, every baby in the room will fall into a sleep that they’ll never wake from. The book goes into a lot of detail about how mortals can converse with ghosts and spirits, and after Harry gets rid of her he has to wonder how she came about in the first place.
As the story goes on, Harry uncovers something so terrible he actually calls it a Nightmare. He thinks there is a demon ghost out there, which shouldn’t even exist. Demons are bad enough, and ghosts are manifestations of their former lives, but the thought of a demon ghost is just too terrible to imagine. This leads Harry to uncover a plot to open up the doorway between the real world and the ‘nevernever’, which is already pretty loose, and soon Harry is knee-deep in vampires.
The Bianca character plays a major role in this book. She had a brief appearance in the first novel, and she seemed like the type of sinister character who was due to make more trouble eventually. Bianca is a very high level vampire who has a major beef with Harry, and she also has an army of followers. Harry’s sometime girlfriend, Susan, also plays a pivotal role in this book, as there are some major developments between them.
One thing I noticed about this book was that it followed the sequel formula of being bigger and better than the last one. This has more magic, a higher body count, and more explosions and fire than the previous novels. In a way, it wasn’t quite as humorous as the two earlier books. Harry wisecracks a lot less while he kicks a lot more butt in this one. I kind of liked it that way, though. His character is routinely put through hell, sometimes almost literally, and he’s getting a little fed up with the consequences. On top of that, the White Council is getting fed up with him. It’s like poor Harry Dresden can’t win.
Each book in this series has so far bested the one before it, so I’m really looking forward to reading the next one. You should definitely check out the Dresden Files, and Grave Peril shows that even after three books, this series is going very strong. The next book is called Summer Knight.
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