The Law by Jim ButcherMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This novella takes place after the last book in the Dresden Files, Battle Ground, where a supernatural being called a Titan apparently nearly stomped Chicago into the ground. I haven't read it yet, and one of the reasons for that is the [massive spoiler] that occurred therein. Generally I don't mind spoilers, but this one put me off enough that I don't know if I will ever read Battle Ground. (I have it, but I bought it at the ongoing library used-book sale, so I suppose it's a good thing I didn't pay full price for it.)
This is a short, blessedly lower-stakes story that returns Harry to his private-investigator roots. A woman comes to Harry for help: Maya, a former sex worker who left the life and started a successful tutoring business. Now her pimp is out of prison and leaning on her. Harry needs to restart his life again after the events of the last book, so he takes the case.
There is not very much fighting in this one. Harry tries to intimidate the pimp into dropping the case, but that doesn't work and he has to solve it more the old-fashioned way by hiring a lawyer. Said lawyer, Maximillian Valerious, is an interesting new character and wins Maya's case for her. There are a few more complications, like the pimp being an all-around idiot and trying to kill Harry with a car bomb, but this story is fairly straightforward.
It's also fairly slight and predictable. This series started in the 2000's, one of the first of the urban fantasy boom, and it shows. It's beginning to feel like the author is spinning his wheels. I know there's still supposed to be a few more books before the series wraps up, but I'm not sure I'll be reading them.
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