This is the first book in the Dresden Files and our introduction to Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, a modern-day wizard living in Chicago. Somebody has been using very dark, dangerous magic to brutally kill people, and Harry must figure out who it is, because the wizard council thinks he did it. 
 I enjoyed it. I did find it a bit hard to concentrate for, like, the first 20% or so, but then things really picked up as the story, well...picked up... and I had myself a fun time. 
 I will definitely be reading more of this. It seems like a nice addition to the UF genre. No unique, per se, but it has an interesting twist on things. I like the Chicago Jim Butcher has created so like our own world, and yet not. This means you don't have to do a lot of thinking to figure out the rules of the world - you already know it because it's like ours. And the rules he's added on are also fairly straightforward that you don't need a whole lot of info to get right into the thick of things. They are interesting rules too - for example the part about potions needing eight components. 
 And the world is interesting enough to set it apart from the many worlds in UF. 
 And I like the author's voice. Male (fantasy) authors have a starker voice than female (fantasy) authors, for me. And it either works very well or it doesn't. Mr. Butcher's storytelling is shaping up to work very well for me.