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Reviewed by Allen Hott

Michael Connelly, having been a newspaper reporter at one time, uses this book to give the world a look at the sad state of newspapers today. Jack McEvoy, a newspaper reporter for the LA Times, has just received notice of his forthcoming layoff.

As he prepares to leave the office he gets a phone call from an irate reader of one of his last articles. The woman is extremely upset because she feels McEvoy has accused her “grandson” of murder in his piece. He attempts to calm her down by promising to come see her and look further into the matter. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Allen Hott

Detective Bosch is back and as usual there is action, plots, sub plots, and just very interesting police mystery writing. In case you haven’t read Michael Connelly you need to know that home base for a lot of his stories is Los Angeles. And Harry Bosch is one of his main characters.

Normally Harry has problems with his superiors in the police department but this time he is having problems with his latest partner. Ignacio Ferras. Ferras was wounded on one of his operations in the field and that coupled with the new twins that his wife just recently delivered makes the guy want to stay in office. Harry has problems with that approach. Harry is a street cop. Harry vows to do something about the situation and little does he know that by the end of the book something will be done!

However Harry gets up to his elbows in other problems when he begins investigating the shooting death of a liquor storeowner in south L.A. Mush of the area is inhabited by immigrants from the Far East and this dead gentleman is no exception. Harry happens to have known the store and its owner from a previous problem. He feels indebted to the dead man and his family to find out who did the killing and why. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Nancy Eaton

In most novels, you don’t know who the killer is until the very end of the book. The Scarecrow is just the opposite. You know whom the killer is from very early on. Michael Connelly then takes the reader on a very thrilling ride as newspaper reporter, Jack McEvoy, tries to catch the killer.

Things have been going downhill for Jack lately. His marriage did not last very long and now he is told that the newspaper is cutting back and he would no longer have a job. As Jack stated, it is not called getting a pink slip anymore but a reduction in force. To make matters worse, Jack is asked to train his own replacement.

Jack is working on his last story involving a sixteen-year-old drug dealer who confesses to the murder of an exotic dancer. Her body was found in the trunk of a car. Jack receives a call from the young man’s mother telling him that her boy is not guilty. Jack soon realizes that the young man could very well be innocent. He then makes a connection between this murder and another one in Las Vegas. This could be one of Jack’s most sensational stories. He heads for Las Vegas. He also has the help of Rachael Walling, an FBI investigator.

There is a problem. What Jack does not realize is that the killer is always one step ahead of him!

Will Jack and Rachael find the killer before it is too late?

Michael Connelly is one of the best at writing mystery novels. With the Scarecrow, he is at the top of his game. I have read many of his books and this one is the best yet. I really liked the character of Jack McEvoy who really fits in so well with the sharp storyline. Michael Connelly is a master at taking the reader back and forth from McEvoy’s thoughts to the killer’s. Don’t pass on The Scarecrow. Read it and you will see why Michael Connelly is one of the greatest writers around today!