Book info

• Title The Poet
• Author Michael Connelly
• Year 1996
• Genre Thriller

The apparent suicide of his policeman brother sets Denver crime reporter Jack McEvoy on edge. Surprise at the circumstances of his brother's death prompts Jack to look into a whole series of police suicides, and puts him on the trail of a cop killer whose victims are selected all too carefully. Not only that, but they all leave suicide notes drawn from the poems of writer Edgar Allan Poe in their wake. More frightening still, the killer appears to know that Jack is getting nearer and nearer. An investigation that looks like the story of a lifetime might also be Jack's ticket to a lonely end.

Thoughts

Jack is a reporter with a small town newspaper, and his brother is a detective working on a horrifying crime. When he fails to solve it, he commits suicide. Or does he? Jack begins to follow a trail that leads him to a tangled web of police officials, FBI agents, secret sources and ruthless reporters - all struggling to find or conceal the truth.

I found it hard to get on side with Jack McEvoy because he seemed a really closed off character. A reporter with a conscience, but a closed off and lonely man. He’s desperate to move up in his career, but not about to push his principles to make it work. The book doesn’t delve too much into what makes him tick, but I suspect there is more to come on that front.

I really liked the writing, it kept me hooked and wanting to turn the page. I read it in just a couple of days. I hadn’t realised it’s almost ten years old, which explains why I found a lot of the technology old-fashioned. It was probably brand new and cutting edge when it was written.

Stephen King wrote the introduction and from the way he spoke, I thought I was about to embark on a horror novel. But it is not that, it’s much more thriller/action than scares. I still enjoyed it though, probably more so because of that.

Rating: 3 / 5