4 out of 5 Hoots!
I am so happy that this book lived up to what I was expecting. The character of Jack Mcevoy was fantastic. He was not this perfect reporter what just happened to know everything. He would listen to his gut and really figure things out and would have honestly made a great cop.
The chapters were told from different perspectives and that really helped to draw you in and move the story along. There was the perspective of Jack Mcevoy as he pieced together who “The Poet” was. And then there was the perspective of Gladden, a pedophile. Is Gladden The Poet? Well, to find out you will need to read the book because I am not going to spoil that for you.
The book was an absolute page turner! Just when you thought you had something figured out Connelly would just pull the rug out from under you. I love trying to figure out who the bad guy is before the book reveals it, and this book made that almost impossible! It was not until the very end that they revealed who “The Poet” was until the absolute end of the book. I was shocked when I finally found out who it was. There were so many red herrings in the book, it really took you on a journey. It was really fun trying to piece all of the clues together.
One of the downfalls for me was the portion of the book with McEvoy and his love interest. He started having feelings for this woman and then all of a sudden thought she was the killer. Don’t get me wrong, the character of Rachel was written well, but the whole love interest thing was annoying. I guess they add that to lighten up the mood of the book, but I was not a fan. Why couldn’t he just become really good friends with her? Okay, okay moving on!
Overall, this was a pretty great book. It was written extremely well and is worth the read. It does in fact have a sequel and I will need to pick that one up some time. I was actually surprised at who the murderer was, which is great! I hate when I can figure out the ending before it happens. I have never read anything by this author before, but I certainly will be reading more of his stuff in the future.
The Owl's Book Nest 