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Showing posts with the label Jack McEvoy

book thoughts: Fair Warning by Michael Connelly

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The backstory: Michael Connelly is my favorite mystery writer. I've read all thirty-six of his novels (so far), and I read through most of those in 2014 when I was pregnant with Hawthorne. The basics: Fair Warning brings back journalist Jack McEvoy, whom we haven't seen in more than ten years (in The Scarecrow ). He finds himself a suspect when a woman he had a one-night stand with is murdered. He takes on the story as a reporter. My thoughts: Connelly started has a newspaper reporter, and he uses this opportunity to showcase how the profession has changed since we last saw Jack McEvoy: "I was proud of what we had accomplished and proud to call myself a journalist in a time when the profession was constantly under attack." Connelly has written most of his novels featuring LAPD detective Harry Bosch, but his two other series ( The Lincoln Lawyer --Mickey Haller and this one, featuring McEvoy) have always featured mysteries that couldn't or wouldn't be ...

mini-book reviews: The Overlook, The Brass Verdict, and The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly

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I've been tearing through Michael Connelly's lengthy backlist, and I often find myself with repetitive things to say about them, so I'll mostly be doing mini-reviews of his titles, unless one compels me to write more deeply. Note: these reviews all contain some spoilers and references to previous Connelly books. The Overlook  is the thirteenth book in Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series. It was originally published as a serial, and this pacing is evident. It's also a short novel, particularly by Connelly standards. Harry Bosch is now working with the Homicide Special unit, and he's called to investigate the murder of Dr. Stanley Kent. The case soon becomes a race against time due to the presence of missing radioactive agents. While the story is still a murder mystery at its core, it's more of a terrorism thriller. The pace is frenetic, and I cannot imagine having the patience to read it in its original serial form. Connelly masterfully, or perhap...

mini-book reviews: Void Moon, A Darkness More Than Night, and City of Bones

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I've been tearing through Michael Connelly's lengthy backlist, and I often find myself with repetitive things to say about them, so I'll mostly be doing mini-reviews of his titles, unless one compels me to write more deeply. Find links to all my Michael Connelly reviews in my Book Review Database . Void Moon  is a stand-alone thriller featuring Cassie Black, a con artist. In that sense, it's quite a departure for Connelly to write from the point-of-view of the criminal. it's also a departure to have a female narrator. Connelly does both well. Cassie shares narration with a private investigator hired to recover what she steals. This approach was mostly successful, but it slowed down the fast-pace of this novel a bit. Overall, Void Moon  was a page-turning thriller more than a mystery, and while it lacked the jaw-dropping twists I've come to expect from Connelly, it did keep me on my toes until the last page. Rating: 4 out of 5 Source: library A Darkn...

book review: The Poet by Michael Connelly

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The backstory: I've been racing through Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch novels and loving them. I decided to read all of his novels in the order in which they were published rather than just the Bosch novels. The Poet  is the first non-Bosch mystery. The basics: When Jack McEvoy, a Denver newspaper journalist, hears his twin brother, a police officer, committed suicide, he doesn't believe it and starts investigating his death as a possible murder. My thoughts: The best stand-alone mysteries are the stories that couldn't be told the same way if the usual crime-solver caught the case, and The Poet  is a stellar mystery. Admittedly, I'm a fan of journalist-fiction, and McEvoy is a smart, savvy journalist (and character) to root for. In many ways The Poet  is the best of both worlds: solving mysteries inside and outside of law enforcement. McEvoy has access to some clues that may have been missed, while he also relies on law enforcement at other times. The result i...