The Poet by Michael Connelly is very dark atmospheric mystery. The killer from The Poet is the most terrifying because of the way they mask their kills, there’s a line from the movie The Usual Suspects written by Christopher McQuarrie “The Greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist, that fits so well here. The Killer only goes after detectives and makes their kill look like suicide. The police department don’t want to talk about so are quick to dismiss it, until a reporter and a twin bother of one of the victims won’t let it rest and discovers his brother might not be the only one. This book is so great and what’s cool is it is a reporter solving the crime instead of a detective. I think this is Connelly most personal story since he used to be a crime reporter before becoming a full time novelist. The story could be called slow by some, but I found it so interesting how the crime is broken down and you the reader are there for all of it the discovery the crime and then the hunt. The twists in this story are jarring and there is plenty of them. The climax is good and some pretty unexpected things happen. This is listed as number 5 in order of the Harry Bosch Universe series, this is one of the few that don’t feature or mention Harry Bosch, but the reporter that leads this novel will meet up with Harry in the next book the character is featured in. This book 1 in the books involving Jack Envoy. Trigger warnings for sexual abuse and sexual abuse involving a child.

The Plot Summary: Jack Envoy has just learned his twin brother has just died as a result of suicide. Jack a reporter was on the outs with his brother but just can’t believe this. Jack pitches an investigation into this and police suicide but really want to investigate the suicide. His editor reluctantly agrees but says he should drop it. Jack starts investigating and finds that his brother wrote a note in the fogged window. Jack solves where the note came from a poem written by Edgar Allen Poe. When he starts looking at the facts this case that seems so open and shut now has holes. Jack finds he is not the only detective targeted and that he my have discovered a serial killer that has been operating for a while undetected.

What I Liked: The build up to all the fact checking that proves Jack’s theory was so intricate and written so well and so smart. I liked that I was never lost on the kind of complex mystery. The killer the poet will stick with me for some time, the motive is so unique. I loved all the inside knowledge we go about murder journalism. The first line is a great one, Stephen King writes a forward about it which I really enjoyed. I loved the way Rachel, the strong FBI agent was written. I loved the way the plot moves and how into this book I was it’s long for a mystery 600 page on the kindle but I was there all the way.

What I Disliked: there’s a twist that I wanted a little bit more information on than we got on why that happened not that it wasn’t plausible, but more information would have been hard for when this twist happens.

Recommendations: This book is so good I read it almost 20 years ago and it is still as good as I remember. The only reason for you not to read this book is if you can not handle the tigger warnings of sexual abuse on adults and on children, the book does not go into crazy detail but hinted at pretty heavily. I rated The Poet by Michael Connelly 5 out of 5 stars. The order of the Harry Bosch Universe books so far 1) the Black Echo, 2) The Black Ice, and 3) The Concrete Blonde, 4) The Last Coyote and 5) The Poet. The order in which I rank them from best to worst is 1) The Poet, 2) The Concrete Blonde, 3) The Black Ice, 4)The Last Coyote and 5) The Black Echo.