Storm Front

This theme acknowledges the many difficulties of navigating a morally complex world in a way that leaves one’s integrity intact. Throughout the novel, Butcher introduces a range of characters who occupy different points on the spectrum that stretches between good and evil, and Harry must often make critical decisions in situations that have no clear-cut answer. Given that he has access to a deep well of magical power that can be used for good or ill, the issue of moral ambiguity becomes an overriding theme throughout the Dresden Files series. 

In Storm Front, several other characters represent a worldview that is cast in shades of gray, illustrating the precarious balance between right and wrong. Johnny Marcone is the most prominent example of this dynamic, for he is a notorious mob boss who profits from drugs, extortion, violence, and murder. As Harry sees in the unwitting soul gaze that he shares with Marcone, the man has killed before and is willing to kill again. Marcone is not a “good” person by any stretch of the definition, but this view is complicated by the fact that his iron-fisted control has a “civilizing influence on crime” in the city and that he rules the criminal elements of Chicago with considerable restraint (24).