The Poet
by Michael Connelly
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Book Summary Information
Author: Michael ConnellyEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1997-01-14
ISBN: 0446602612
Number of pages: 501
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Book Reviews of The Poet
Book Review: Devilishly Clever, Suspenseful Mystery
Summary: 4 Stars
While I am a fairly ardent fan of the mystery genre, it must be said that the overall quality of most of them is somewhat lacking, and finding a good one requires wading through the mediocre titles to find an author worth sticking with. If "The Poet" is any indication, Michael Connelly is one of those authors. It centers on Jack McEvoy, a crime reporter whose twin brother (a police officer) dies in an apparent suicide after investigating a brutal case that he couldn't solve. But when McEvoy looks closer, unable to believe that his brother would do anything like that, the details of the case don't look so open and shut, and suddenly he finds himself working with the FBI to track down a killer that has been preying on cops and making it look like suicides - leaving a quote from Edgar Allen Poe behind as the `suicide note'. McEvoy makes for an intriguing protagonist - torn between his anger/grief over his brother's death and his career as a reporter, because his brother's murder ends up being the perfect story, and McEvoy's involvement with the FBI investigation gives him the perfect in to write the definitive article about it all. As a crime reporter, McEvoy has lost an essential part of his humanity in pursuit of big bylines and big stories at all costs, and now he finds himself having a crisis about that. "As a police reporter I was a tourist of the macabre. I moved from murder to murder, horror to horror without blinking an eye. Supposedly. As I walked back in the lobby toward the bank of elevators I thought about what this said about me. Maybe something was wrong with me."
Two of the blurbs inside the front cover compare "The Poet" with Thomas Harris' early masterpieces Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs (Hannibal Lector) (quite accurately omitting any mention of Harris' later, inferior and commercial-driven Lecter novels), and the comparison, particularly to "Red Dragon," is apt. Connelly has great skill with suspense and with crafting a memorable villain whose diabolical crimes earn a place in your memory on those nights you find yourself home alone. And he takes his time letting the story mature naturally, allowing suspense to slowly take hold of the reader in a genre that increasingly seeks to grab your attention with a splashy opening, move the plot along at a rapid clip, and then peter out in the end as if from exhaustion. Connelly is too smart for that. He takes his time instead; it is 77 pages before the suicide really begins to look like a homicide, about 200 pages until the killer gets his titular nickname, and almost 300 pages before the requisite message from the killer arrives at FBI headquarters. And not a moment of it is boring. (As an aside, "The Poet" was published in 1996, and it is amusing to see how the `advanced' technology that defines the case's particulars has become hopelessly outdated in a mere eleven years. The first chapter of the sequel, published more recently and excerpted in the back of the book, seems to come from another planet with its mention of cell phones and GPS systems)
There are flaws in "The Poet," but thankfully they are minor compared to Connelly's brilliant touches. Least of it are the numerous errors in grammar and spelling that occasionally pop up, since those are really the editor's fault and not Connelly's. But Connelly does rely a little too heavily on mystery clichés, such as the bombshell FBI agent whose inexplicably instant sexual tension with McEvoy adds a dose of sex to the story. Connelly also goes out of his way to keep McEvoy at the center of the action, and when this includes a somewhat ridiculous contrivance to put him in the middle of a hostage crisis that he had no business getting involved in, it almost goes over the top (almost). Then there's the ending, that final twist that traditionally upends the mystery novel for one last surprise to leave the reader with. Connelly's is a surprise, yes, but almost too much of one because he seems to be at a loss to explain it, and therefore doesn't even try. No wonder there's a sequel, entitled The Narrows (Harry Bosch) - Connelly left himself with a lot of explaining to do.
That said, "The Poet" is head and shoulders above most mysteries, and Connelly proves to be a fiendishly clever writer.
Grade: B
Summary of The Poet
New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly has written one explosive thriller after another featuring Detective Harry Bosch. Now, in an electrifying departure, he presents a novel that breaks all the rules and will keep your heart racing and your mind guessing until the very last page.Death is reporter Jack McEvoy's beat: his calling, his obsession. But this time, death brings McEvoy the story he never wanted to write--and the mystery he desperately needs to solve. A serial killer of unprecedented savagery and cunning is at large. His targets: homicide cops, each haunted by a murder case he couldn't crack. The killer's calling card: a quotation from the works of Edgar Allen Poe. His latest victim is McEvoy's own brother. And his last...may be McEvoy himself.
Jack McEvoy is a Denver crime reporter with the stickiest assignment of his career. His twin brother, homicide detective Sean McEvoy, was found dead in his car from a self-inflicted bullet wound to the head--an Edgar Allen Poe quote smeared on the windshield. Jack is going to write the story. The problem is that Jack doesn't believe that his brother killed himself, and the more information he uncovers, the more it looks like Sean's death was the work of a serial killer. Jack's research turns up similar cases in cities across the country, and within days, he's sucked into an intense FBI investigation of an Internet pedophile who may also be a cop killer nicknamed the Poet. It's only a matter of time before the Poet kills again, and as Jack and the FBI team struggle to stay ahead of him, the killer moves in, dangerously close.
In a break from his Harry Bosch novels--including The Concrete Blonde and The Last Coyote--Edgar-winning novelist Michael Connelly creates a new hero who is a lot greener but no less believable. The Poet will keep readers holding their breath until the very end: the characters are multilayered, the plot compelling, and the denouement a true surprise. Connelly fans will not be disappointed. --Mara Friedman
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