Dresden Files Reread - Storm Front Chapter 2

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This is the second longest chapter in Storm Front, and quite a lot of it is painstaking description of a room we will not re-enter at any point in the series. And painstaking description of a lot of other things. 

This chapter is where Butcher's newness as an author is most obviously on display. It didn't need to be this long. There is value in giving a very thorough description of Murphy, who is important throughout the series and whom we don't really get to see in any non-professional capacity until Summer Knight, but Carmichael is given almost as much page space, and he dies in the next book, only reappearing briefly in Ghost Story. 

There's some good characterization in the over-description, especially once Dresden is actually looking at the murder scene. The note, interpret, note, interpret pattern of observation is a core feature of Dresden's narrative voice and professional approach, and introducing it here demonstrates aptly that he can do it under pressure, and when he's upset. The combination of details that matter (Jennifer Stanton's eye color) and details that don't (Tommy's tattoo) is good mystery writing, even if he does take too long about it. But this need for thoroughness gets in its own way as often as it helps. The repeated specification of the left side of the chest, left lung, etc introduces anatomical inaccuracy that didn't need to be there. When Dresden stands near the CD player, a moment that functions to help establish the nature and severity of his issues with technology (the CD starts skipping almost immediately), he notes that it is "state of the art, although not an expensive brand," which raises far more questions than it answers. How does Dresden, who as we have just seen cannot stand near a stereo system without it glitching out, know on sight what constitutes a "state of the art" model, especially if it isn't a luxury brand. I suppose he might have picked up the information pouring over one of those catalogs Best Buy keeps sending him, but we don't find out about those until I think Blood Rites. 

We run into a worse version of the same problem earlier in the chapter, with the description of Murphy's makeup, which is apparently "of sufficient quality and quantity that it was difficult to tell she was wearing any at all". Literally what does this mean? Is she wearing quite a lot of makeup, including highlighters, neutralizers, and other things that, used correctly, can make other makeup less obvious? Is she wearing super minimal makeup, perhaps just a "nude" lipstick and some brown eyeliner, both from high-quality brands that resist smudging, crumbling, or otherwise failing in ways that overtly announce their presence? The description we're given is just complex enough to be useless. We know her makeup is "expertly applied". If the only other description we got was that it was "simple", "understated", or both, we could reasonably get the gist and fill in the details. If we had been told literally any specifics about the type, colors, or techniques involved, we would have something to build on to form a clear idea of the state of Murphy's face. Instead, we are mostly left with the impression that Dresden, or perhaps Jim Butches, can't actually tell whether a person is wearing makeup or not, something which is in general understandable for a 25-ish year old man, but seems out of keeping with Dresden's observational skills, especially given that he could tell at a glance that Jennifer Stanton's hair was dyed. 

This chapter is also where most of the basic "rules" of magic are laid out. The differences between evocation and thaumaturgy, and the requirements for each of them, the fact that you have to believe in magic to get it to work, and the idea that "magic comes from life" are all first introduced here, and the concept of a soul gaze, the White Council, the Laws of Magic, and the Doom of Damocles receive their first mentions. A few concepts, like True Names, magic circles, and potion making are left for later chapters, but most of the basics are here. There's a good balance stuck between using Murphy's relative ignorance to explain the world building and letting Dresden's narration directly address the reader. 

We also get the rundowns on both Bianca, vampire proprietress of the Velvet Room, and John Marcone, distressingly capable mobster. The description balance issue between Murphy and Carmichael is not repeated here. Bianca, who only matters in this book and the third one, is sketched out in a few sentences, while Marcone, who is present in about 2/3 of the books going forward, gets a detailed description of his current activities, and as much backstory as Dresden currently has access to. While the pretext for their introductions is that Jennifer Stanton worked for the Velvet Room and Tommy Tom was Marcone's personal enforcer, it very much looks like we're being set up to expect one or both of these two to be the villain of this book - while it doesn't necessarily feel like it on an 8th or 9th read, the reality that they are both victims targeted by the real killer, is a genuine twist. 

We've gotten the phrase "the confines of the elevator" two chapters running now. I'm going to be keeping an eye out, as we progress through this reread, for other indicators that, technology issues notwithstanding, Dresden may also just be claustrophobic. 

Our obligatory Cringey Moment here (as I mentioned in the Chapter 1 writeup, we've got an average of one per book, but some of the later ones don't have one - he gets a bunch in early), is the introduction of Dresden's whole fucking chivalry thing. It's actually much worse here than it becomes later in the series. The whole "can't resist helping a lady" thing is annoying but bearable, and occasionally an effective conceit for dragging Dresden into plot he would otherwise know better than to touch. Opening the door for Murphy when he knows it makes her uncomfortable because, in his own fucking words, he "enjoys" performative chivalry is...something else entirely. 

I did find it interesting that Harry is straight up, uncomplicatedly wrong in his initial theory about who is likely to be responsible for the murder, and what the motive is, even as the "feminine vengeance" theory foreshadows Helen Beckett's involvement. I don't think we ever see him be this level of wrong again (although the whole "demon ghost" thing in Grave Peril comes close), and it's largely because later-books Dresden would never commit so strongly to a hypothesis when he knew so little about what was going on. In the same conversation, we once again see Dresden being very reluctant to lie about magic, even when the available alternative (without talking about things he doesn't feel like he can talk about) is being so vague and obstructive that he makes Murphy suspicious. 

The chapter ends with Dresden getting threatened into accepting a ride from Marcone. Suspenseful!
Long chapters make for long writeups. Tune in next week(ish) for Chapter 3, which will hopefully be shorter and sweeter. 
I'm still working on all the other things I promised in the last one of these, and maybe a regular post or two as well. I've been focusing hard on writing fiction, and getting a lot of reading done, but sadly very little of it is gay and only about half of it has crime, so I'm gonna need you all to help me make up the difference this week - be gay, do crimes, and read ALL the things!