The Scarecrow
by Michael Connelly
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Book Reviews of The Scarecrow
Book Review: Walling and McEvoy at it again
Summary: 5 Stars
Jack McEvoy, LA Times crime beat reporter/author, and Rachel Walling, famed FBI agent, team up to take down a serial killer in Michael Connelly's latest thriller, The Scarecrow. McEvoy (familiar to regular readers) is back in his usual form...a reporter - from the "good ole days" where hard-copy newspapers were preferred to web-delivered content - who stops at nothing to get his story. Walling also returns to us as the no-nonsense, intuitive profiler.
In The Scarecrow, Connelly yet again delivers a clever and engaging storyline, complete with the usual geographical references and hotel room love scenes familiar to his readers. The writing style is all Connelly, however the presentation of the plot is different from his past work. The killer's moves are known to the reader well before they are known to the main characters of McEvoy and Walling so the suspense is found in the hows and whys and not so much in the whats. This makes for a slightly less climactic storyline in some ways, but surprisingly more interesting in that the reader is constantly a step ahead of McEvoy & Walling (and therefore eager to put the pieces of the puzzle together). It was a nice change of pace from what Connelly's readers have come to expect (not that this expectation is a bad thing in and of itself) and made for a fascinating read.
Connelly's characters are well-developed, as always, as are the intricate details that are spun together to form the storyline.
My only complaint (aside from a glaring editing mistake found near the end of the book) was that the end was too abrupt...not fleshed out enough, perhaps. Even though this is surely purposeful and makes perfect sense given the sequence of events that lead up to the resolution, as a reader, I was left wanting a bit more. For that, I would give The Scarecrow 4.5 stars if possible, but felt it was more deserving of a five-star rating than four.
Book Review: A Bit of a Letdown
Summary: 3 Stars
I must say right off the bat that I'm a big Michael Connelly fan. I've read all his books and eagerly anticipated reading this book. I enjoyed reading about the newspaper reporting process and is saddened by the impending demise of the print news media. The beginning of the book as many had indicated was indeed well written which presents what would eventually be a cat and mouse game between the story's protagonist and the serial killer he is trying to catch. The process in which Jack McEvoy discovered that there was a serial killer on the loose was cogently plotted which also took readers through a newspaper reporter's routine for submitting a story for publishing which I thought was really interesting. Mr. Connelly spoke fondly about the interactions and camaraderie amongst the journalists and the pride in not only breaking the news but in being able to write a good story with "breath and depth" - hallmarks of good journalism.
The latter half or third of the book though was a bit of letdown. While the identity of the killers were no longer a mystery at this point, the chase had somewhat become stagnant and quite honestly predictable. You almost know that there was gonna be a final confrontation between the main characters at the 'Farm', although the revelation as to who the brain behind the murders was actually pretty clever.
The A-ha moment was frankly just not that exciting. I also thought it kind of odd with the kind of intellect the killer possesses that he would allow himself to be known to colleague as the "Scarecrow" while applying that hideous culpatory "signature" on his victims. There was also no real sense of impending danger or urgency in most of the novel; even during the attempted abduction of Agent Walling.
Anyway, I did enjoy reading the book but I was not as drawn into the story as I normally would Mr. Connelly's previous works.
Book Review: Not as good
Summary: 3 Stars
Michael Connelly is probably one of my top 3 authors, but this book is somewhat of a disappointment.
First of all, what I like about him is that he is a very good writer. His books are easy to read, the book flows smoothly and I'm drawn along it, without having to slog through it. I just think he's a natural in putting words to paper. Not only that, I think his writing craft has improved. His later books are written better and easier to read and follow.
Secondly, he's also a very good story teller. There are no long boring parts in his books, his characters are reasonable and realistic, who act and think realistically, and we are drawn into either liking or disliking them, which is good either way.
Thirdly, he was a police beat reporter and the police procedurals are very good and realistic.
Now, this book - all of the above still applies. However, what I didn't like the book was that:
1) We saw everything from the bad guys point of view, ergo, no suspense. That wasn't so bad in itself, but the bad guys were not fully developed as characters. And that's bad, because if you see things from their POV, you expect to see them more fully. We weren't told a lot about the whys or hows. It gave me a feeling that less than optimum effort was spent here.
2) Authors have to tread very carefully when dealing with technical computer stuff, and I'm not sure that MC got it totally right.
I don't reveal the storyline of a book in my reviews because I like to read the book without knowing anything about it. I've explained why I like this book, or not; readers wanting to find out more about the book can read the publisher's blurbs or other reviews. To summarize, as a diehard MC fan, I don't regret getting this book, but I liked his last book a lot better.
Book Review: Another Fun Read
Summary: 4 Stars
Michael Connelly's latest book, THE SCARECROW, involves a soon-to-be-laid-off long-time LA Times reporter Jack McEvoy, who decides to "go out with a bang" by writing an investigative story about a black boy from South LA who may be wrongfully accused of murder. McEvoy finds a heck of a lot more than he thought he would as a high-tech company and some techno savvy employees there try to thwart his investigation. As a result, although the kid from South LA gets out of jail, McEvoy and his gorgeous (of course) FBI girlfriend nearly lose their lives every few pages.
THE SCARECROW may sound corny, but it really is a fun read. I hadn't read a Connelly novel before and wasn't expecting much but was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed it.
If you haven't read Connelly before but enjoy authors such as Harlan Coben, Lisa Scottoline, Stephen White, or Lee Child, you'll like THE SCARECROW. You'll probably want to read some of Connelly's others, too. I do.
Now that that's said, I have two criticisms:
* The beginning of the book has a reporter with less experience than McEvoy who will take his place because she makes a lot less money. But she does have news writing experience between undergrad and grad school with a newspaper in Florida. And she does have a masters degree in journalism. Yet she has to ask McEvoy what it means to put "30" at the end of an article. Give me a break! You can't take a single journalism class and not know what that means!
* McEvoy is smart and performs as a smart person would--except when he is around his FBI agent girlfriend. She is unbelievably all-knowing. Whenever they're together, she bosses McEvoy around, and he meekly takes direction from her, suddenly out of his own ideas and dependent on her brains.
Minor flaws
Book Review: A really good book considering it doesn't feature Harry Bosch
Summary: 4 Stars
The Scarecrow works at a computer farm where top secret data is stored for many top law firms and businesses that want their secrets secured. The scarecrow scares off any potential hackers to the farm. He's also a master criminal that has been getting away with many vile crimes for many years without even a sniff of suspicion by law enforcement.
Jack McEvoy, the crime reporter for the LA Times is featured in this novel. McEvoy was the lead in THE POET, where he helped catch a man who killed his brother and wrote a bestselling book about it. Now, McEvoy is a victim of the tough economic times and is laid off from his job. McEvoy hopes to write one last great story and go out with a bang. While looking into a case where a 16-year-old gang banger murdered a prostitute, he discovers the kid may have been innocent. More importantly, he discovers there have been other people put jail for similar crimes that may also be innocent. Jack begins investigating and enlists the help of one time lover, FBI Agent Rachel Walling.
The good: I don't think they were mentioned by name, but Bosch and Mickey Haller both get mentions in this novel. Connelly's writing is excellent as always, a true page turner.
The not so good: I don't think Connelly does this with Bosch novels, but in this book, Connelly covers the point of view of the Scarecrow. Other authors are great at this, but Connelly is at the top of his game when he writes a straight procedural and we don't know who the villian is.
Connelly fans should rejoice that the author has two books coming out this year. THE SCARECROW is not as good as most Bosch novels, primarily because Jack McEvoy isn't the same beloved character as Harry Bosch. Still, a must read.