The Scarecrow

Los Angeles Times reporter Jack McEvoy has been given the pink slip. A lot of that is going around in the newspaper business these days. McEvoy is a veteran crime reporter and to add insult to injury he's been asked to spend his last two weeks with the paper training his replacement. McEvoy decides to go out with a story that will make them sorry they let him go. A young woman has been murdered and stuffed into the trunk of her stolen car. The killer is a sixteen-year-old drug dealer and he's confessed, but his grandmother is convinced he is innocent and she prevails upon McEvoy to investigate. McEvoy sees a story that will make everybody sit up and take notice, maybe even Pulitzer material. But his story about how a kid became a killer morphs into something else when he sees a similarity to another crime. Wacko, nut job Wesley Carver is the genius behind Western Data Consultants. He uses the data to find his victims. Wesley is a killer. But the data he retrieves not only helps him find his victims, it also warns him about McEnoy's investigation. Wesley wants to remain anonymous. Can you guess where this is going? There is tension galore in this delicious thriller that brings back Jack McEvoy from the The Poet and reunites him with Rachel Walling from so many of Connelly's novels. You know there is going to be a whopping good climax and Connelly really delivers.

One of the things I've always liked about Connelly's books is that his characters seem so realistic, reacting to real-life situations the way we'd expect real-life people to act. "Scarecrow" has that same, real-life feel. Jack McEvoy is a former ace-reporter, whose recent career has not lived up to his earlier achievements; and he works for the L.A. Times, a newspaper whose former glory is fading too, just like Jack's. Connelly, a former newsman himself, gives a vivid description of the devastating impact that competition from internet and cable news providers has had on print media. The impact on the L.A. Times was so great that they imposed a reduction-in-force, and Jack is the 99th person to be laid off. Even worse, Jack has to train his own replacement. Connelly does an outstanding job describing Jack's inner turmoil as he tries to deal with his humiliating circumstances. Jack has two weeks to train his replacement, and he resolves to use that time to write one last story, a story that will make such a splash that the paper will have no choice but to keep him on. Jack's last-chance story involves a black teenager accused of brutally raping and killing a young white stripper. Jack thinks he can weasel his way into the boy's confidence and get enough material for a Pulitzer-level, "mind of a young black killer" story, but there are three small problems. First, Jack's ambitious, young replacement may try to steal the story from him. Second, Jack's editor may have the hots for the replacement, who happens to be an extremely attractive young woman. Third, the young black boy sitting in jail may not actually have killed that stripper after all. And that's when the story really gets interesting. Jack faces numerous challenges in his search for the truth, his quest for a Pulitzer Prize, and his fight for his job; and the little details that Connelly throws in make each page seem so true-to-life that you feel like you're actually watching it happen yourself. This is a really good story told by a real master.

THE SETUP Jack McEvoy, a newspaper crime writer has just been fired, but has two weeks to train his replacement. He decides on a parting "screw-you" in the form of an article that the newspaper will be compelled to submit for a Pulitzer Prize. The story will be about a black teenager accused of murder. Jack does not believe the young man to be innocent--rather the story will be about how he got into the situation. Of course, the young man is innocent, and Jack is forced into a serious effort to clear him---or at least to find the real serial killer for the sake of authoring a sensational story. That's the setup. COMMENTS If I were teaching a course in popular fiction writing, "The Scarecrow" would be a case study in how to do it right. Almost as important as getting everything right, "The Scarecrow"t is free of the sloppy writing and gaffs that plague most popular novels in the general action/intrigue/suspense genre. There is NO annoying teaser. The purpose of this loathsome device (which has become "standard" in most popular novels) is to snag potential purchasers, who are skimming first chapters in bookstores, with up-front action. Often such teasers have virtually nothing to do with the story. More typically, they only become comprehensible to the reader near the end of the novel, by which time the details have been forgotten. THANK YOU Michael Connelly There is no filler to pad the page count. The main characters are few and easily identifiable. Although the plot has turns and twists, it is easy to follow. The two principal "good guy" characters are appropriately developed for the genre and easy to relate to and root for. The sex scenes are few and tasteful. I disagree with some other reviewers. I found nothing gruesome whatsoever in the novel. True, "The Scarecrow" has a fairly sedate pace--it is NOT one of those novels which grabs you by the throat and won't let go until you've read the last page. However, I appreciate a novel I can enjoy without risking a cardiac event. THE VERDICT "The Scarecrow" is superbly written, captivating and entertaining.

I added this up last night and discovered that I have read more books by Michael Connelly (15) than any other author I've read. So I guess one could say I'm a huge fan. The amazing thing is that they were all five star books (except for Chasing The Dime, of course). I find this almost hard to believe but it's true. And I'm actually one of the readers who started reading Connelly before his real fame came into being with the publication of The Poet. I guess it's only fair then that his latest offering features journalist Jack McEvoy....the same Jack McEvoy who appeared in The Poet. Connelly's true fans have been awaiting a reappearance by one of their favorite characters for years now and in The Scarecrow, Jack's return does not disappoint for one minute. I loved this book from the beginning to the end. Having started his career as a journalist, I'm sure this book is close to Connelly's heart as he watches the slow demise of the newspaper industry. The fact that technology is killing newspapers becomes only too clear as the book starts off with Jack getting a pink slip from the LA Times. But "our" Jack is intent on going out with a bang and makes it his business to come up with one last story that will be Pulitzer prizeworthy. He will set out to prove that a sixteen year old gang member is not guilty of the murder for which he is being accused. The good news to Jack's fans is that he will need to ask FBI agent Rachel Walling for her help as he starts to get too close to the answer to the mystery and much too close to The Scarecrow. Their "coupling" in this book is well worth the wait as they make such a great team. We learn at the beginning of the book who the real villain is and I enjoy when an author does this because I then get to follow the thoughts of the "bad guy" right up front. As Jack is closing in on The Scarecrow, we get to view this villain as he becomes a bird being scared by a scarecrow as opposed to the opposite way around. I enjoyed all of the Wizard of Oz references in the book as well. At one point, music is playing in the background and it's Eric Clapton in concert singing "Somewhere Over The Rainbow." In addition, the city editor of the LA Times where Jack works is "Dorothy" Fowler and guess where's she originally from....you guessed right...Kansas. I also love when an author references one of his other books within the book I'm reading. In this case, Jack mentions reading a series of stories about a lawyer who did his business out of a Lincoln. Nice shoutout to Mickey Haller of The Lincoln Lawyer fame. Unlike other authors who don't have Connelly's talent, he doesn't have to make his stories so convoluted that you can't even understand them. He also doesn't resort to having the villain be one of the investigators as so many other authors "cop out" and do. He writes a clear-cut story from start to finish and it's always one you can't put down. I always comment that I read very few books in a given year that

'Theres a killer on the road His brain is squirmin like a toad Take a long holiday Let your children play If ya give this man a ride Sweet memory will die Killer on the road, yeah' The Doors It is easy to forget just how good a writer Michael Connolly is. That is until you start reading one of his books. 'The Scarecrow' may be just one of his best. You know going in that this is going to be a book that will scare the hell out of you. That is a given. The writing is the best around, Connolly an ex-paper man, of course it is. Connolly allows you to get inside the minds of everyone. The killer, we feel the way along as he thinks about his next victim and how he will proceed, and what is he going to do about the people after him? The characters and in this case bringing back Jack McEvoy, the newspaper crime writer and his 'single bullet' love, Rachel. she of the FBI, are the perfect foils. The murderer is always sharp and intelligent and we know in the first chapter who the murderer is. We just need to be patient and take the ride with McEvoy until he catches up. He provides all the clues, and he and Rachel fill in all the holes. This murderer is particularly clever- he has a tag and a plan and can outwit anyone. We are taken into the world of the collapsing newspaper where jobs are lost and it seems McEnvoy is the 99Th to go- he has two weeks to train his replacement. And, that is what it takes, two weeks and everything is set to explode. Then into the world of computer security and a killer who has a thing about the rock group 'The Doors'. I am writing this at 2:30am because I had to finish the last 50 pages, and then had to write the review to get it out of my mind so I can sleep. This is one of the best mystery novels around. I know I have read them all. My hat is off to Mr Connolly. He has put us all on notice that the best has come and it will keep on coming. Highly, Highly Recommended. prisrob 05-27-09 The Brass Verdict: A Novel The Reapers: A Thriller