I’d heard so many good things about author Michael Connelly that I spent most of the summer listening to several of his audiobooks, hoping that I would discover the intriguing stories that his fans credit him with. Unfortunately, while I’ve found his works to be somewhat interesting, I don’t like the way he writes his main characters. I don’t sympathize with them, don’t root for them, and don’t want them to win. As a result, his books are a chore for me to get through, so I’m admitting defeat. Having just finished The Poet, I’m giving up on Connelly for now. I’m just not his target audience.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Jack McEvoy is a seasoned reporter with the Rocky Mountain News. He covers the “death beat,” so it’s his job to write stories about the most sensational murders and accidental deaths in the state. He has interviewed countless witnesses soon after their loved ones have been buried, and can’t help but feel that there’s a definite element of sleaze to his job. Nevertheless, he likes it well enough that he hasn’t sought to move on, even after 17 years.

Jack’s life is turned upside down when he gets the news that his twin brother Sean, a police officer, was found dead in his car, with no evidence of foul play. All signs point to suicide, particularly since Sean had recently become obsessed with the unsolved murder of Theresa Lofton, a young co-ed who was found brutally murdered and mutilated in Denver. There were no clues and no leads, and Sean couldn’t let the case go.

Jack decides to write a story about cop suicides in general, and Sean’s death in particular, deciding that this would be the best way to deal with the pain of losing his brother. During the course of his research, Jack discovers some eerily similar cop suicides in different locations across the country. Each cop was working on an unsolvable, grisly murder at the time of his death. Each cop committed suicide under circumstances that seemed a bit odd. Jack pursues the matter and uncovers what might be the work of a serial killer.

The FBI then gets involved in the investigation, and Jack somehow manages to keep himself on the case. He gets to tag along with FBI agents in exchange for not publishing the story, which might tip off the suspected killer, nicknamed The Poet because of his affinity for quoting Edgar Allen Poe in the suicide notes left with the cops’ bodies.

The rest of the novel then chronicles the FBI investigation as they scramble to find The Poet before he strikes again. In addition, there is a romantic subplot involving Jack and an agent named Rachel Walling, plus the usual twists and turns you’d expect from a crime thriller.

My Reaction: I tried very hard to come up with a couple of positive things to write about this novel because a couple of readers have taken me to task about writing such negative reviews of Connelly’s works. So here goes. One thing I liked about The Poet was the way we got numerous chapters from Gladden’s point of view. Connelly hadn’t used this technique in his previous novels and I found it to be very effective here. The Gladden POV chapters were some of the most interesting in the entire novel; I really can’t imagine what the book would have been like if everything was told from Jack’s POV.

That being said, I unfortunately found that many features of this novel irked me and made my listening experience less than enjoyable. Here are some of the problems I had with The Poet:

– I absolutely HATED the romantic subplot involving Jack and Rachel. Am I really supposed to believe that these two people would fall into bed together within 24 hours of meeting, especially when they’re working to track down a serial killer? Give me a break. That was totally unprofessional and I just couldn’t see a character like Rachel taking that road.

– Nitpick: I couldn’t STAND how Connelly had Jack refer to his first romp with Rachel as “making love.” Real people don’t talk that way about sex, not when it’s with someone they’ve known for a single day. And to have a guy say that made the description even more jarring.

– Here was another Michael Connelly protagonist that I didn’t like. Jack McEvoy seemed like such a whiny, self-important schmuck with an exaggerated sense of entitlement. Everybody had to give him what he wanted because his brother was killed. Whatever.

– Having Backus be the serial killer at the end? Where the hell did that come from? Connelly didn’t play fair with that one. If he’s gonna pull a killer out of left field, then he damn well better take the time to explain the guy’s motivations. What set Backus off? Why did he do it? I realize that we don’t always get those answers in real life, but this is a work of fiction and there’s more or less an understanding that the author will reward readers who stick it out til the end with a decent explanation of what has happened.

– Another criminal FBI agent in a Connelly work. What’s he got against the Bureau?

Overall, I thought The Poet started out strong, and then fizzled out into a complete bore. The middle was very slow-paced and the end was completely unsatisfying. I give The Poet 4.5 stars out of 10 and am relieved to say that I am done with Connelly for the time being.