JAN - The Poet

January review for Eclectic Reader's Challenge 2016: The Poet by Michael Connelly, 1991. [Serial Killer Thriller category]

I started reading The Poet by Michael Connelly last year, originally intending it to be my selection for PI fiction, but I ended up putting it down because Jack McEvoy, the protagonist, is actually a reporter, and not a PI--although I suppose I could've argued a transference, I've made similar "edits" to categories before. But I was intrigued enough by the concept to want to find another opportunity for it to work for me, and lo and behold, here came "serial killer thriller" for me. Jack McEvoy is a crime reporter who specializes in death, covering the murder beat for his paper. His homicide detective twin brother was recently found dead in his car, having ostensibly killed himself after a particularly rough and unsolved case--or so it would seem. Going back over the facts obsessively, reopening old wounds and delving into a dark corner of his brother's work, McEvoy finds links to a number of other would-be cop suicides and is on the case, so to speak. After securing the assignment, he begins to follow the trail of a sinister serial killer whom the FBI nicknames The Poet, after his use of Edgar Allan Poe lines in the "suicides." The book follows McEvoy as he enmeshes himself into the federal pursuit of The Poet, utilizing his research and knowledge to propel the investigation as well as find the end to the story and justice for his brother.

One of the reasons I was excited about this book because of the Poe trope that was woven throughout, as I am a sucker for all things Poe, but unfortunately, Poe was not utilized as heavily as I wanted it to be. (But I was still happy that it was there.) I enjoyed the scenes where McEvoy sits with his copy of Poe's works and tries to find meaning in the deaths, try to link the words to some shred of wisdom or truth in the context of Poe. It was a very literary book, in that sense, paying much attention to the logic of meaning and outlining the path of detection. It was incredibly readable, despite being published 20 years ago, although there are dating elements, such as the revelation that digital photography was used representing a major break in the case. Not to mention, you know, print media moguls still being a thing. Ohhh mid-90s concerns.

One of the reasons I was not excited? Serial killers. Especially serial killers with surprise child pornography/pedophilia thrown in. This was not an easy book to read, especially considering the chapters narrated by a card-carrying child pornographer/murderer, William Gladden. At first, his chapters seem completely out of left field, but they soon begin to link up with the case--I am unsure if I was just actively ignoring him until the book slapped me in the face and told me they were connected, or it really wasn't that heavy-handed, but either way, I didn't see it right off the bat. I'm not sure what else to write about this aspect of the book, especially without giving away some of the twisty twists, but suffice it to say that it was an uncomfortable slog.

I  relished the presence of a strong lady in the book, FBI Special Agent Rachel Walling, the best of the best who clawed her way onto her team with her talent and badassery and is fiercely protective of her position there. Spoiler alert, she and McEvoy do sleep together, which is slightly annoying and maybe uncalled for, but I suppose it did add some elements of complication and tension to the case politics. But that's just it: was that the only reason they slept together? I don't know, maybe I'm jaded.

Although for the most part I enjoyed this book, I had a hard time getting started and writing this review, for whatever reason. Maybe it was the subject matter, maybe I just didn't find the little kernel to pull at me like I have in some of my other selections, but here I am, trucking through a month too late. Maybe I need to have an editor who yells at me to get my ass in gear, like McEvoy does--and then I could ignore him, like McEvoy does too!