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Summary: My First Connelly Novel, And Definitely Not My Last!
Review: I enojoed this novel the whole way through. I read the whole thing in two days, I just couldn't stop! The book was well-written, had great characters, and many other great attributes. I was shocked about the ending, but it turned out real well. I am going to the bookstore and I'm going to buy some more Connelly novels.
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Summary: Out of SPACE, Out of TIME¿Full of IDEAS but Out of STYLE
Review: The Poet is not a bad book, not by a long shot, but likewise it is not a particularly good book. A first-person perspective story, we follow crime reporter Jack McEvoy's investigation into the apparent suicide of his homicide detective brother. The premise - a cop killer who makes it look like his victims committed suicide by leaving suicide notes comprised of lines from Edgar Allan Poe poems - is a very creative idea, as is the notion that the cop-killing serial killer is following another serial killer across the country without his knowledge and killing in tandem with him. The execution of the story, however, is decidedly lacking in both style and empathy, and towards the end you couldn't care less about who lives or dies.The story begins suitably darkly...As a result, [McEvoy] is a difficult character to engage with, and as it is his story, it does not inspire us to rush onwards to the end. Furthermore, at various points we follow the first serial killer in a third-person perspective, which has a completely different style to McEvoy. Though this obviously displays talent on the part of Connolly, the sudden changes in tone disrupt the flow of the story, making it feel disjointed in places....Add to this a thoroughly unsatisfactory and inconclusive ending, and a far from believable twist on hypnosis, and the climax of the book does not sit well on the potential of the premise outlined above. It just feels like Connolly had a great outline for a novel, but [he failed in] making the ideas concrete...Perhaps it is only a personal criticism, but as a fan of Edgar Allan Poe, I found the usage of his poetry very painted on. Such an enigma surrounds the life and writings of Poe, his feelings, his manic-depression and periodic bouts of madness, that I thought much more could have been made of it, but instead the poems were used, it seemed, only because they were easily applicable to suicide notes. Also, dropping Edgar Allan Poe, master of darkness, into a story which is not all that dark, makes it feel misplaced. If the novel had maintained the darkness and poignancy of the opening few chapters it would have been much better, but as it stands it feels like Connolly is trying to emulate James Patterson and falling short. On ideas it is very good, but those ideas mutate as the story progresses into things which never really come to light, leaving you entirely unsatisfied. And one final criticism: what's wrong with a bunch of people hunting a killer? Why does the killer so often have to be one of the hunters? It has been done and double-done. Maybe traditional crime has just gone out of style.
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Summary: And someone thought this comparable to Silence of the Lambs?
Review: The Amazon reviewers are far more on-target than the ones in the mainstream press who compared this to Silence of the Lambs. Hello? The only thing this book has in common with Silence is a female FBI agent and grisly murders. And just because the plot and characters mimic Silence, it doesn't make them "comparable". The ending is totally unsatisfying and asks more questions than it answers. But most of what precedes the final pages is entertaining and definitely a fast read.
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Summary: Good Storyline - Parts Insult the Reader
Review: This book has an amazing storyline but certain parts of the book bothered me enought to give it three stars. There are so many details in the investigation parts of the book that it is difficult to absorb the facts - and then anticipate what's happening. The thing that bothered me the most was the whole drugging of victims with cough med.'s and then hypnotizing them. I actually laughed out loud. I still liked this book (it was scary) but I preferred Concrete Blonde. More consistent and beleivable.
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Summary: Why that ending ?
Review: From page one, this cat and mouse chasing grabbed me by the lapels and did not let me go because the story was solid, fast paced,unpredictable and coming developments were difficult to figure out. As other readers I did not like the ending because it was shook with too many twists and the last one, unrealisitic, came out of nothing unveiling the culprit without any logical base to substantiate it, ....simply just turn some facts upside down and thats it..., nevertheless for the most part I recognize that the whole plot was very well told.
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Summary: Tou Lee's review of The Poet
Review: A wonderful mystery/suspense murder mystery full of wonderful characters and a great-hard-to-figure-out plot, this book will have the reader asking for more. A must get for any reader.
Rating: 
Summary: A must read for mystery buffs
Review: This was my first Connelly book and what an introduction! I have ordered three more Michael Connelly books. The Poet will keep you spellbound and guessing until the end. The characters are believable and the logic of the story follows even if it has what I consider two endings. A twist that's not a twist but just another ending like he could not decide how to end the book. But still every bit worth the price and the thrilling time you'll have with this book.
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Summary: Five Stars Are Not Enough
Review: Quite simply I rate "The Poet" as the best mystery/crime thriller I have ever read starting with The Hardy Boys as a youngster in the 1950's. I cannot count the number of times I have given this book as a gift to introduce friends to Miacael Connelly. It never fails to hook them and make them Michael Connelly fans as well. In my opinion Mr. Connelly is the finest in the genre currently writing. The Poet was impossible to put down. In fact I was sorely tempted to cheat and read some of the ending chapters early in the read. Resisted the temptation, but few books have enticed that behavior in me.
Rating: 
Summary: Predictably Unpredictable
Review: The Poet makes for decent summer beach reading, but overall I was disappointed by its loopholes and lapses in logic, and most of all by the laughable ending, which attempts to deliver an unexpected twist, but becomes so wildly unpredictable and outrageous that I could no longer hold on to my suspension of disbelief. What attracted me to the novel originally were the references to Edgar Allan Poe, but don't be fooled by the back of the book: the Poe subplot is only a tease, and has nothing to do with the majority of the plot. In other words, don't expect meaningful literary connections ala the film Se7en; Poe's name is used merely to lend credibility to an otherwise silly tale.
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Summary: Edgar Allan Poe would be proud...
Review: Reading Michael Conelly's novel The Poet was an extraordinary experience in many ways. It was the first novel by this writer I had read and it really caused a great imapct on me. I am usually quite demanding and I usually find it hard to find both good entertainment and fine literature in the same binding, but I did find it in The Poet. It is a well-written thriller that will keep you turning pages till the very end ( which I did like and found quite appropriate , by the way). I must confess I have become a Conelly-addict by now and I really recommend good readers to adopt him. Second after The Poet I would like to recommend Blood Work, which I found almost as original as The Poet. Michel Connelly is a writer you would not like to miss.
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