The Poet, Michael Connelly

 

Trigger Warning: Pedophilia, Suicide, and Cop Suicide, Are All Plot Points in this Novel

The Book

Jack McEvoy is grieving the loss of his identical twin brother Sean, a homicide cop in Denver. As Jack, a newspaper reporter at the Rocky Mountain Star, digs into the details of what drives cops to end their lives, he discovers his brother's death wasn't by his own hand, but a cleverly planned murder by a meticulously methodical serial killer, called The Poet for his affinity to leaving "notes" at the crime scenes that quote Edgar Allen Poe.

Armed with that information, Jack painstakingly pieces together the pieces of a complex puzzle that leads him to Chicago, Washington, DC, Florida, Arizona and finally, L.A. Along the way, he meets the formidable FBI agent Rachel Walling, her ex-husband Gordon Thorson,  an over testosteroned FBI Agent, and her boss with an inferiority complex, Bob Backus. Along the way he gets scooped on his own story, falls in love with Walling, manages to get two people fired from their jobs and just barely keep his own. At the cost of being ousted from the investigation. 

Meanwhile, the LA cops are trying to catch a pedophile. The cases merge in the most bizarre way. With a it looking for the longest time Goldman will get away with his heinous acts. The FBI finally catches up with him, they find a man who quotes Poe. Is he The Poet? Rachel Walling thinks she has the answer, but with her career and Jack in danger, which will she save and which is she willing to let go of? 

My Thoughts

I read the sequel to this book, The Narrows, before I picked this one up. I was reading through all of the Harry Bosch novels and it was the next one up in the sequence. So I knew the plot twist. And yet, Michael Connelly was soo goooooood at his job that I fell for the red herring. I did not, I repeat, I did not forget the plot twist. I just got sucked into the narrative. I didn't see certain thing coming, and I should have. 

Personally, for me, the jury is still out on how I feel about Jack McEvoy and Rachel Walling as characters. I've stuck with them through thick and thin, and I think every single one of their novels at this point. IDK, maybe there is one left, but I am firmly a Michael Connelly fan. 

This book is Connelly's fourth book. A wow, as a writer I totally get the construction process of this book. I don't know how long this book had been bouncing around in his head. But forever would be my guess. 

The construction of the plot goes like this: Michael Connelly was a crime writer. If he couldn't make it as a novelist, what beat would he want. He made that up. Then he made up a reason why someone like him could get that job. Since this book was written way back in the 90s, before the internet disrupted the newspaper industry ecosystem, I get where the beat, The Death Beat, as Jack McEvoy called it, came from. 

OK, now what is the thing a writer, in his dream job, want the most? To actually be on the inside of an investigation. Ok, now we ask the writer question. What would be the worst way to get there? If someone you love dies. Who would be the worst person to have that happen to? A lover, a spouse, a child? No....your identical twin. You're writing about your own death, in a lot of ways. And what would be the worst person for the other you to be? Well, if you're a reporter, than that has got to be a cop. 

Now what if everyone but you missed that your twin had been murdered? Murdered by a serial killer? What type of story would that be? Big? Bigger than big. I already know the answer to that question. True crime, the extraordinary tales of survival. If it made the front of People, it would sell a million books, or get you a made-for-TV movie. You would have big bucks come your way. 

And this set up permeates the whole book. At every turn, Connelly ups the stakes by answering who or what circumstance would be the worst. And at every turn, he answers that in a satisfying way. Connelly takes the usual set up, and just raises the stakes. And yet, despite being me able to see it all, he still delivers a satisfying read. Masterful sentence structure. Masterful pacing. Masterful character work. Masterful setting of clues. 

Yes, the book makes a few story leaps, but the pays out in spades. I hope one day to be able to do that in one of my stories. He's just so freaking genius at it. And you don't have to take my word for it, Stephen King was so impressed he wrote a foreword to the paperback version. It was enough for me to pick up a copy at my local used book store, although the version I read I did check out of my library.

How Much My Library Card Saved Me

This 600 page book entered my library on January 27, 2012. It has been lightly, but frequently read. The cover is showing signs of age and wear. The book was easy to hold in my hand. There were no creases, dog ears, or markings in the interior. The price of the book was $14.95. That's the price I will use. 

This Book                                                                   $14.95 

Items Reviewed this Year                                           $91.93

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