Fair Warning, Michael Connelly

 

The Book

Jack McEvoy, everyone's favorite journalist/serial killer hunter and the love of his live Rachel Walling are back at it. When the book opens, Jack and Rachel haven't been a couple in many years. She is now working for herself, as a P.I.. 

Jack, with his dwindling book royalties, has downsized to a smaller apartment. He's on his way home from work, when a pair of detectives approach him and have tons of questions about Tina Portrero a woman he met at a bar over a year earlier. She's been murdered, and Jack is going through routine questions. He soon catches on that she was stalked and then, her manner of death is bizarre, internal decapitation. Jack uses his investigative reporter chops, and access he has to a medical examiner private message board from back in the day when his previous job sent him to a medical examiner's conference to piece together that this might be the work of a serial killer. 

When the cops find out, they elevate Jack from eliminate the obvious people to full fledged suspect. Meanwhile, the serial killer lead turns into something. Jack discovers a shady DNA company, GT23, is linked in the deaths of four women, including Tina Portrero. Jack takes the information to his boss, Myron Levin, as a potential story on the lack of regulation, and what could go wrong. Myron agrees to let him pursue his lead, but at a cost. Jack gets a cowriter, Emily Tina Portrero. 

Through several twists and turns, Jack gets back in touch with Rachel, who agrees to work with him. They reunite. Emily gets busy tracking down quotes, and using her contacts to advance the story. Then, Jack gets arrested for his journalism work. 

While he's in jail, Jack figures out a few things. The police eventually eliminate him. And when he and Rachel track down a lead, they find a DNA tech for the county crime lab murdered. The pieces come together. They finally have something, the serial killer calls himself the Shrike. 

But with the local cops clueless, the FBI taking Rachel seriously but not giving Jack enough to protect his story, and Jack's editor not seeing a real story anywhere in the future, will the Shrike's dumb luck allow him to get away after all? And can Jack and Rachel finally make it work between them? 

My Thoughts

As far as a Jack McEvoy story goes, this one isn't bad. In the intervening 20 whatever years since McEvoy first shows up in The Poet and this book, Connelly has become a much better writer. I struggled to get through The Poet, not for lack of engagement, it was a much better story, but the writing wasn't as tight. This was a breezy read. Having said that, I love McEvoy as a character. And I loved him in The Poet. You could definitely say, McEvoy has the chops to go serial killer hunting. 

As a novelist myself, I get the need to give the protagonist personal stakes. And it is an intriguing entryway into this type of crime. But it's a stretch. So while the writing is better, the credibility of the plot is a little less real. Still, if you like Bosch and Haller, you will love this book. It's a pretty good procedural with some very good plot twists. 

How Much My Library Card Saved Me

This book came from the collection of my home public library, where I was formerly a trustee. It was very lightly read, and had no markings or dogeared pages in the 398 page book. It entered the collection on September 3, 2020. The inside cover says at the time of purchase the cost was $29.00. That's the number I will use. I will say as a side note, it seems to me Connelly's work is slightly more reasonably priced that other authors. I'd have to track it to be certain, but it feels that way to me. 

This Book                                                        $29.00

Items Reviewed This Year                             $413.88

Private Books

This Book                                                        $0.00

Total of Private Books                                    $44.89

Total of All Items Reviewed This Year         $478.65

Still Here? 

 I am now a published author. You can pick up a *FREE COPY* of my novella The Big Intersection here.