Mark Yon has been a reviewer and web administrator at SFFWorld, one of the world’s biggest genre forum sites, for nearly ten years. He has also been on the David Gemmell Awards organisation committee for the last two years. In this series of rereads, Mark will guide us below through the whole of Jim Butcher’s fabulous Dresden Files series as we count down to the new hardback Ghost Story at the end of July.
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White Night takes place fairly soon after the events of Proven Guilty. We find that Molly, Harry’s trainee from Proven Guilty, is developing really well. And Harry’s growing relationship with Molly has given him, though he might be shocked to realise it, a much more positive and enthusiastic response to life. Some (but not all!) of that weariness and cynicism he experienced in Dead Beat and Proven Guilty seems to have gone, and it’s clear that the apprenticeship, for all its difficulties, actually quite suits Harry.

Having said that, it’s clear that the dramatic events of this book are really cathartic experiences for Harry. White Night is about pain and facing up to your responsibilities, however awful they may be and whatever consequences may result. It is about death and regret, and how we resolve these issues.

Here we’re back to the good ol’ fast-paced murder-mystery tales of the earlier books. Harry is asked by Karrin Murphy (now demoted from Lieutenant to Sergeant) to have a look at a murder that may be more mysterious than it seems. It’s then discovered that a number of women have been killed around Chicago, with no apparent link or motive in common. However, Harry finds clues that can only be read by those with a background in magic – and it seems that someone is hunting down witches and then making sure Harry sees the grim results.

Things start to become even more interesting when the actions of the local witches’ group lead not only to Harry’s involvement, but also point to Harry’s half-brother Thomas as a possible suspect. Harry will have to prove Thomas’ innocence, and deal with the appearance of Elaine, a wizardess-for-hire employed by the group (and co-incidentally Harry’s first love).

As if this wasn’t enough, further complications ensue and the tale broadens nicely in scope and scale. While dealing with the above, Harry is still trying to uncover members of the mysterious Black Council, who seem to be determined to destroy the White Council of wizards. Things also move up a pace as the vampire Red Court, having been knocked back a little in Proven Guilty, tries to maintain an uneasy peace with the more subversive White Court. This fragile détente is threatened by the actions of the stealthier White Court vampire Houses, who seem to be attempting to re-assert their power in the vampire world.

This was, for me, a longer and even stronger book than Proven Guilty. After the introduction of new characters in any series, there is often a degree of settling-in and bedding-down. Jim has clearly got past this here and has all characters working brilliantly by this point. He clearly knows what fans of the series want to read by now.

However, Jim Butcher’s great strengths here are still his characterisations and the plotting. There are revelations on Harry’s past, and consequences unveiled concerning his future, and despite all the plot twists and turns at the end we still really care about Harry. The series is as robust as ever, and in addition now has a rich background and history that paves the way for even greater plot opportunities in the future.

SEE BELOW FOR A RUN DOWN OF THE DRESDEN FILES
Previous rereads are available here, though books don’t have to be read in this order:

STORM FRONT
FOOL MOON
GRAVE PERIL
SUMMER KNIGHT
DEATH MASKS
BLOOD RITES
DEAD BEAT
PROVEN GUILTY