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|  | Author: Michael Connelly
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
List Price: $27.99
Buy Used: $3.25
as of 11/23/2009 08:47 CST details
You Save: $24.74 (88%)
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Seller: hanks-used-books
Rating:  214 reviews
Sales Rank: 1569
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 448
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.6
ISBN: 0316166308
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780316166300
ASIN: 0316166308
Publication Date: May 26, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: PLEASE READ! We list all of our books as acceptable. We sell used library books in various conditions. We do not sell unreadable books. All of our books are in acceptable or better condition but we cannot check each book for every flaw. For that reason all books are listed as acceptable. These are not new books so buy accordingly.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 211-214 of 214
Jack's back May 27, 2009
OEJ (England)
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
Michael Connelly once worked as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times but it's nothing more than speculation on my part that the central character of this novel (Jack McEvoy) is loosely based on Connelly himself and his personal working experiences in the newspaper industry. It's the second time McEvoy has fronted a Connelly thriller, the first being The Poet, and once again Jack's involved in the hunt for a highly intelligent and organised serial killer. I so nearly gave this one 5 stars but reluctantly trimmed it by one because, good as it is, it doesn't quite have that special feel to it that many of the Harry Bosch tales provide.
It could easily be one of the best thrillers of 2009, though. Connelly's a far more accomplished author these days and I would say that this is actually a better-told story than The Poet, even if The Scarecrow himself isn't as esoteric or as enigmatic as the earlier creation. Instead we are given a well-structured, pacey thriller that might defy credibility on more than one occasion but it entertains at all times and for that we get our money's worth. As a character Jack McEvoy lacks the magnetic draw of Connelly's main man Harry Bosch but his 'ordinary guy' personality will appeal to many. He teams up with FBI agent Rachel Walling who also featured in The Poet and who has had a relationship with Bosch in the past, although, tantalisingly, this is only hinted at in the dialogue here and Bosch's name is never actually mentioned. The backgrounds to the story are very topical - company downsizing, redundancy, difficulties in selling a property and on-line invasion and identity theft. It's Jack who faces the door as his newspaper faces the inevitable slide towards surrender to on-line news reporting, so he wants to go out with a bang and write a story to remember. What he doesn't realise is that he will be very much part of the story itself.
The reader knows who the killer is from the outset, and this has been a recipe for low levels of suspense in the past (from all crime fiction writers) but there are no such problems here as Connelly is one of the best at putting together a rivetting story that just keeps you turning the pages. I must say though that the one big question that I was asking from an early stage was never resolved, and I suspect that Connelly tried to come up with answers but ultimately decided not to offer any. I won't go into any detail but he does address this question in a kind of epilogue, so it was a relief that he showed an awareness of it, but still slightly disappointing that he couldn't create a solution. Instead I suppose the reader has to draw their own conclusion.
It's been a busy year for Michael Connelly, with The Brass Verdict still fresh in our minds and the eagerly-awaited Bosch outing Nine Dragons later this year; perhaps another topical sign of the times is that even the writers at the top of the tree are finding the going tough in this recession and they find themselves having to publish two novels a year rather than the usual one! Or perhaps Connelly's publishers are under the knife, who knows. But the fact is, The Scarecrow is most definitely not a 'filler' in between two proper Haller & Bosch escapades, no it's a very good crime thriller on its own and more than up to the author's expectedly high standards. If you're a Connelly fan, you'll have this already. If you're wondering if he's as good as you've heard, then buy this with confidence because chances are you'll want more of the same - and there's a treasure chest of a back-catalogue to enjoy. I have read every single one and he continues to rank as one of the very best in the world of crime fiction.
The Midnight Hour May 26, 2009
Mr. Richard D. Coreno (Berea, Ohio USA)
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
Elements of the plot are poignant for those who remain in the print media; a reporter has two weeks left on the beat before being given the boot, but gets a lead on a sensational story that may not save his job, but be a proper coda to his career pounding the pavement.
Jack McEvoy may have stumbled upon facts that prove a serial killer is on the loose and a young gang member is taking the rap for the murders. Author Michael Connelly teams McEvoy with FBI agent Rachel Walling, whose gumshoeing may uncover the true story....or lead McEvoy into a permanent "unemployment" line.
The strong plot wobbles slightly in the end, but the nod to print journalism is a neat angle that successfully drives the thriller.
 Connelly Delivers Another Winner! May 26, 2009
Michael A. Newman (New Hyde Park, NY)
6 out of 12 found this review helpful
Connelly delivers again with one of his early characters (Jack McEvoy) now paired with Rachel Walling who we last saw with Harry Bosch. McEvoy is told he is being let go from the his paper and has two weeks to train his replacement. Jack decides that he wants to go out with a bang and happens to follow-up on a tip from the mother of teen caught up in a murder that Jack reported. As Jack starts to probe he realizes that the teen couldn't have committed the crime and may be in fact innocent.
Meanwhile the scene is switching back and forth with a place called "the Farm" where two hacker types are discussing attacking people trying to get into their system and also women subjects for other purposes. When Jack's replacement does a search on a web-site it sets off an alarm to the hackers who decide that Jack and his replacement need to be eliminated.
Jack tries to enlist Rachel Walling's aid, since he knew her from the Poet case. As the hackers get close to carrying out their plan Rachel and Jack must save each other and try to find out who the bad guys are.
The author uses third person when writing about the hackers and in investigative reporter first person when discussing Jack. This works very effectively.
The tension is high throughout and there are some parts towards the end that have the excitement of the Fugitive movie as Jack must take the bad guys out.
Jack seems to be more interesting than either of Connelly's other main characters, Harry Bosch and or The Lincoln Lawyer. I am hoping for more Jack tales in the near future."
(4.5 stars) "I had one last deadline and one last murder story to write." May 26, 2009
Luan Gaines (Dana Point, CA USA)
11 out of 18 found this review helpful
The face of crime has changed. Mind-numbing murders still occur, random violence, serial killers, perverted thrill seekers. But with advanced technology, law enforcement faces a more sophisticated field of criminal enterprise, these days tracking suspects "through the labyrinthine portals of the digital world". Author Michael Connelly has kept up with the pace of technological investigation and in this novel he delivers an action-packed, up-to-date thriller that runs the gamut from serial perversions to a digital landscape where a twisted mind preys on the innocent postings of a naïve public. Meanwhile, print journalism continues its slow dance with irrelevance, as crime reporter Jack McEvoy gets pink-slipped by the latest rash of downsizing at the LA Times.
To add insult to injury, Jack is expected to train his replacement, an eager, tech-savvy, young reporter, Angela Cook. As Jack Tackles his last story, the trunk murder of an exotic dancer by a sixteen-year-old gang-banger, Angela searches the internet for related crimes. Random events escalate as McEvoy begins to suspect the murder might not be as simple as first appears and he is suddenly vulnerable to a growing threat. Leaving Angela in the dust, Jack heads for Las Vegas, in a nail-biting cat and mouse chase where the reporter's every move is followed by a killer always a few steps ahead of law enforcement and Jack's inventive approach to reporting.
Connelly is an innovative writer who uses technology to crank up the excitement in a novel riddled with surprises and the outrageous mayhem of a serial killer adept at covering his digital tracks while mining pertinent information on his prey, especially Jack. The story is infused with the harsh reality of today's newspapers, these bastions of the truth, including the LA Times, gradually dismantled to reflect the demands of a changing world. McEvoy may be a dinosaur, but he's not through. The one clear voice in a mixed field of corporate cutbacks, the bureaucratic roadblocks of the FBI and the evil machinations of a monster, Jack stubbornly rides the wave of his last big story at the LA Times. Luan Gaines/2009.
Showing reviews 211-214 of 214
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