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Summary: The BEST mystery/thriller I've ever read!
Review: This was my first Michael Connelly book I've read. I have never read an author who could add twists and turns to characters and make them believable until now. I have enjoyed Grisham and others but I must put Connelly at the top now. I am now reading The Black Echo to see how his first book in the Harry Bosch series will stack up. The Poet was a real page turner.Connelly's grasp of what the dark side of our society might be like is scary but yet totally within the realm of possibility.I never knew how the book would end until the final page and thats the way it should be.The characters were well developed and made me feel that I had emotions both good and bad towards them.His style of short chapters made for easy but addictive reading.I understand why he won the EDGAR award for this book. READ IT!
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Summary: A great serial killer story
Review: While this story lacks his main central character Harry bosch, it is still, i am sure, going to end up as one of his best books ever. (Along with "The Concrete Blonde"). The plot is original and compelling (if a tad far-fetched, but i can live with that. fiction is, by its definition, not supposed to be real.) and adds much to the genre. The motive for the killing is good, but its description lacks a certain empathy, which i feel would have given this book even more dimension. Jack McEvoy is a very likeable character, and his quest to discover more about his brother's supposed suicide is written with emotion, feeling, and conviction. Rachel Walling, his obligatory love-interest, is also likeable, and when the two get together first, you really want it to suceed. The killer is chilling, and the way he kills is also so. The conclusion is great...you think it's all over, and then Connelly just finds more and more to hit you with, playing with the reader's expectations and assumptions, and finally trumping them with a nice twist to head it all off. If you're a fan of the serial killer genre, this would be a very good novel to reach for.
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Summary: Great Book....
Review: I recently completed this book about 2 months ago, and thought it was a great book. To many, the book was good throughout until the ending, but that was the part that I thought made it the best. Every time one anticipates who is doing what, or what is going to occur next, Connelly fools you or at least he did me on a couple of occasions. Anyhow, this book is a good "leisure book" and wont totally consume your mind.
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Summary: Great book, lousy ending!
Review: Ok,ok,ok... This is the third Connelly book that I've read and I really am starting to get the same addiction I have for James Patterson. I always need a story that keeps me on the edge of my seat and gives me vivid pictures of the story that I am reading. All of Connelly's books have done that to me including this one. I do have one request from the author though. The book was more than great right up until the last chapter or so. I enjoyed the twist at the end but all my questions were not answered. Why did ``the killer'' kill the cops? I understand everything except the why? I felt like I was left hanging to figure out the rest of the story. If there will be a sequel to this book, fine, but leaving the reader to figure out the entire meaning of the plot twist is too much. I am an avid book reader and all I expect out of a book is to be surprised,entertained,and to be left with a feeling of completeness(in the sense that the story is completely over and I ''get it''.) Michael Connelly's stories fascinate me and I will eventually read all of his books but maybe some words of constructive criticism should be observed-wrap up the story and answer the basic but important questions-who?, and why? If you are reading this and want to know if you should read this book, I say yes! Do not deprive yourself of a good read and interesting story. Also try these other Connelly books- Trunk Music and Blood Work.
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Summary: Original, imaginative and authentic thriller
Review: Perhaps this book is evidence of the old recommendation to would-be writers: to write of what you know. In his central character Michael Connelly captures perfectly the life of a dedicated cop reporter as well as those of the police investigators. Particularly interesting is his drawing of the authentic relationships between the two - from cooperation to the basic slightly hardened attitudes of police towards journalists, and that of journalists on a mission, being hindered by authority. Just when you thought all serial killer plots had been dreamed up, here is an originally chilling one. While I feel the only main female character is slightly underdeveloped, it is in keeping with the first person narration of the male and somewhat inexperienced and lonely journo. FINALLY I'm pleased to note he takes care to humanise his reporter - what a pleasant change in ANY crime fiction where most authors lazily and criminally ignore the mutual and often friendly relationship between newshounds and police to opt for the cheap public perception image of "vultures". But then, I'm totally biased... Louise Matthews, N
Rating: 
Summary: A Few Twists Too Many
Review: A few implausible twists, for twists sake, spoil this otherwise good read.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Read!
Review: A reporter, Jack McEvoy, looks into the death of his twin brother, a homicide detective who is found dead in his vehicle, an apparent suicide. Doubting the facts, he investigates the circumstances of his brother's death and uncovers cases of assumed suicides of other officers, with one commonality, a suicide note that apparently is a line from a poem. This opens an official investigation for a serial killer dubbed "The Poet." This book may not grab you right off the bat, but after you get into it, you keep turning those pages longer than you intended to. If you like details of crime investigations you will like this book. The main character, Jack, is not a super-hero, but a believable and likeable good guy, who's persistence and determination one has to admire. The pedophile personality in the book is very disturbing, and the murders descriptive, so it is not for the squeamish reader. I liked the fact that the book keeps you wondering as to who the real cop-killer is. The only disappointment was in the killers motivation - when the real killer is revealed, it is unclear what caused the individual to go wrong and created such an evil, warped personality... it is also open to a sequel, but since this was written in 1996 I should think Connelly would have had one out by now if he is going to do one.
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Summary: Ehhh ...
Review: Out of the three Michael Connolly novels I've read (the other two being "Angels Flight" and "Trunk Music"), "The Poet" was, at least in my mind, the most readable. Connelly sets up an excellent premise--after his twin brother, a Denver PD detective, is found dead in what looks to be a suicide over an unsolvable case, a journalist begins his own investigation, only to find that his brother may be the latest in a line of cop homicides set up to look like suicides. The band that ties them together are quotes from Edgar Allan Poe poems supposedly left as suicide notes. The book opens with a bang, with Connelly providing expert plotting and pace, but ... as with a great deal of commercial thrillers, the cliches start showing up. First, we have the cop's widow discovering she's pregnant ("and we weren't even trying!"). Then we have the sexy troubled female FBI agent showing up and getting involved with the journalist, then her ex-husband and fellow agent shows up to be a bad..., then the stereotypical superior preening of the supposed murderer ... on and on until the out-of-nowhere and pretty unbelievable ending. Connelly writes well--his particular strength is dialogue--and if push came to shove I would definitely read his work over that of James Patterson or Ridley Pearson. "The Poet" in the end, however, is a fairly typical commercial thriller, albeit with a little more poetry.
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Summary: Poe Lives On Evermore
Review: Police officers are committing suicide all over the country. Cops who could never quite solve the murder cases they were on. Strange quotes left by each of the men, lines taken from the famous poems of Edgar Allan Poe. Sound thrilling? Read on. Edgar Allan Poe was the master of mystery and the macabre. Now there could be a killer on the loose using call signs taken from the poet who has been dead for over a hundred years. Michael Connelly is looking to place himself up in the ranks as the master of mystery and the macabre. He has done so with The Poet and will keep you searching around for the next clue in a new twist. Connelly tells the story from the first person point of view of Jack McEvoy, a reporter from Denver whose twin brother is the latest of the mysterious detective suicides. With the dynamic writing style, the reader is with McEvoy every step as he surrounds himself with some colorful characters of the FBI to help solve the puzzle of his brother's death. The Poet moves with the grace of a poem and keeps the excitement of a good mystery as you find yourself turning the pages looking for the next clue. At times it seems to slow down but then picks up with a surprising twist or two. Michael Connelly has accomplished one hell of a thriller and this is one you won't want to miss.
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Summary: Amazing realism especially with work issues! Wow!
Review: For a minute there as I was reading The Poet-I thought-id the author really a policeman? Some of the same issues in the book I have heard about from friends who happen to be in the local police force and some things really do match up.... Getting into the villian's head was sheer genius! I found myself wanting to read more as you peeled the layers like an onion... I really hated this villian... Great BOOK!!!!
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