Rating: 
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.
Rating: 
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.
Rating:
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.
Rating:
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!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Compulsive Reading
Review: "The Poet" is Michael Connelly's 5th book, and proved to be something of a departure for him - it was his first book not to feature Harry Bosch. Instead of Bosch, the central character is Jack McEvoy, a journalist based in Denver. He works for the "Rocky Mountain News", covering virtually whatever murder he chooses. As the book opens, he's just been told of his twin brother's suicide. Sean, his twin, was a cop in Denver. He worked in the "Crimes Against Persons" unit, an area that included the investigation of murders. Not long before his death, he had directed the investigation of one particularly gruesome and high profile case. Theresa Lofton, the victim, was a 19-year-old student who corpse had been found cut into two parts. No progress had been made in the case, and the police initially believe that this case had simply "got" to Sean. He was found in his car, on the shore of Bear Lake, having apparently shot himself. There was a note written in the steam of the car windscreen : "Out of space, out of time". It's not the first death in the family - McEvoy's younger sister had drowned in the same lake about twenty years previously. When Jack returns to work after the funeral, he decides to write about his brother - a decision that, initially, isn't too popular with either his parents or his brother's widow. Part of the background research he does includes looking over reports in other newspapers regarding police suicides. One of the reports he finds covers the apparent suicide of John Brooks, a Detective in Denver. Brooks' case is a carbon copy of Sean's - right down to the suicide notes : both are quotations from poems written by Edgar Allen Poe. Sean, feeling there are too many similarities to be coincidental, now believes his brother was murdered. This book is easily up there with the best of the Bosch novels. The Poet, the book's villain, is a thoroughly disgusting character - and, in my opinion, the most memorable of Connelly's bad guys. I didn't find McEvoy quite as likeable as Bosch, though - at times, it nearly seemed that getting the story was at least as important to him as catching his brother's killer. All the same, I found it to be a gripping book - one that I'd recommend highly.
Rating: 
Summary: Plodding along dissappointment
Review: I feel like I read a different book than many of the other reviewers. A great fan of Baldacci, Grisham, Chrichton, smart writers and surprise twists - this one was a let down. After a foreward by Stephen King, which promises the world - the let down was even worse.
I've never read a Connelly book before - and maybe that makes the difference. The concept was good, the writing okay - but it just plodded along (apparently he hasn't heard that old adage about leaving out things that contribute nothing to the story or character development). Hoping for an eventual payoff after all the reviews and blurbs - I forced myself to stick with it. A final thrown-in "twist" that had absolutely no rational - was the poor payoff. It was basically a lazy writers "surprise twist", one I'd expect from an author if everyone wasn't raving about him. Won't buy another one of his.
Rating:
Summary: It would be great if not the ending
Review: I love Michael Connelly books and this one is also pretty good. It has the atmosphere so familiar from Harry Bosch series (a little dark, a little lonely) - although I think nothing can beat Harry Bosch. Anyway, the story was great (if maybe a little slower then usual although it doesn't mean this is a shortcoming), the characters are very well developed, the suspense is present and it was scary... until the ending, which I found very disappointing. Without revealing the plot I would just say that I found the ending totally unwarranted. It just wasn't logical and seemed made up just to finish the story in some unexpected way. I still give the book four stars since even with this ending it's a good book and I can recommend it to all Michael Conelly fans.
Rating:
Summary: The Poet
Review: TITLE: The Poet
AUTHOR: Michael Connelly
PUBLISHER: Hieronymous, Inc.
PAGES: 501
PRICE (paperback): $7.99
PUBLICATION DATE: 7/1996
ISBN: 0-446-60261-2
CATEGORY: Fiction "Death is my beat." Those are the words used by our narrator Jack McEvoy, a reporter for the Rocky Mountain News. At the beginning Jack finds out his brother a Denver Homicide cop, has just commited suicide. The death of his brother thrusts Jack to begin writing a story over cops and suicide, but during the investigation he starts finding pieces that just dont fit together. Jack has to travel to differnt states so he can piece the puzzle together. First he has to convince the cops to reopen his brothers case. To do this he described the message that had been left by his brother. "Out of space Out of time."
The killer uses a script from an Edger Allen Poe poem, on each of his victims. Each of the homicide cops killed were working on a case, that could not be solved. Because of this and other important evidence Jack was able to convince the cops to reopen the case.
Upon the reopening of the cases, Jack was able to travel to different states in hopes to piece it together. Along the way he is able to convince other law agencies to reopen their cases involving police officers suicides. During his travels Jack runs into Michael Warren an "ex reporter" working at the Law Enforcement Foundation who appears to be very helpful in giving him important files that jack was earlier denied. His journey also took him to the F.B.I'.s Behavioral Science Service, that allows Jack to tag along during the investigation with the stipulation that he does not write anything about the case until it is solved. This is to prevent the "Poet" so the FBI calls him does not escape. In return, Jack gets all the information first in order for him to write the story when it is all said and done.
The novel is well written and worth the time to read. It has one spiral after another. Friends and coworkers turn on each other, as when someone leaks out the story that Jack is doing, even though Jack and the FBI have an agreement. The story is also written with climax after climax, once the FBI and Jack get their man, or do they? The story keeps the reader guessing untill the very end. As for the romantics out there, there is a love story that takes off between Special Agent Rachel and Jack that has a guessing ending. Reviewer: Jeff Dunbar
Date: May 2, 2004
|
