Michael Connelly
THE SCARECROW
Orion 2009Pages: 545 +16
Paperback
Stan dobry, ślady używania na obwolucie, środek czysty, zdjęcie wystawionego egz.
Book Description Forced out of the Los Angeles Times amid the latest budget cuts, newspaperman Jack McEvoy decides to go out with a bang, using his final days at the paper to write the definitive murder story of his career. He focuses on Alonzo Winslow, a 16-year-old drug dealer in jail after confessing to a brutal murder. But as he delves into the story, Jack realizes that Winslow's so-called confession is bogus. The kid might actually be innocent.
Jack is soon running with his biggest story since The Poet made his career years ago. He is tracking a killer who operates completely below police radar--and with perfect knowledge of any move against him. Including Jack's.
Jack McEvoy is at the end of the line as a crime reporter. Forced to take a buy-out from the Los Angeles Times as the newspaper grapples with dwindling revenues, he’s got only a few days left on the job. His last assignment? Training his replacement, a low-cost reporter just out of journalism school. But Jack has other plans for his exit. He is going to go out with a bang — a final story that will win the newspaper journalism’s highest honor — a Pulitzer prize. Jack focuses on Alonzo Winslow, a 16-year-old drug dealer from the projects who has confessed to police that he brutally raped and strangled one of his crack clients. Jack convinces Alonzo’s mother to cooperate with his investigation into the possibility of her son’s innocence. But she has fallen for the oldest reporter’s trick in the book. Jack’s real intention is to use his access to report and write a story that explains how societal dysfunction and neglect created a 16-year-old killer. But as Jack delves into the story he soon realizes that Alonzo’s so-called confession is bogus, and Jack is soon off and running on the biggest story he’s had since The Poet crossed his path years before. He reunites with FBI Agent Rachel Walling to go after a killer who has worked completely below police and FBI radar — and with perfect knowledge of any move against him. What Jack doesn’t know is that his investigation has inadvertently set off a digital tripwire. The killer knows Jack is coming — and he’s ready. The Scarecrow is now available as a paperback in the USA, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand
Amazon.com Review
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Michael Connelly and Janet Evanovich: Author One-to-One In this Amazon exclusive, we brought together blockbuster authors Michael Connelly and Janet Evanovich and asked them to interview each other. Find out what two of the top authors of their genres have to say about their characters, writing process, and more. Janet Evanovich is the bestselling author of the Stephanie Plum novels, including Finger Lickin' Fifteen, twelve romance novels, the Alexandra Barnaby novels, and How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author. Read on to see Janet Evanovich's questions for Michael Connelly, or turn the tables to see what Connelly asked Evanovich.
Evanovich: So dude,... Okay, you're back in Florida. Do you ever get to the beach? And when and if you get to the beach...is Harry Bosch with you? And what kind of beachwear are you guys sporting? Flip-flops? Crocs? Speedo? Board shorts?
Connelly: I go to the beach often on weekends. Board shorts are required and I wear flip-flops with the built in bottle opener. Comes in handy. In Florida we rarely have waves, unless there is a hurricane in the Gulf. So I have taken up paddle-boarding, which essentially involves a big surfboard that you stand on and paddle. Still a balancing act, but easier than surfing, and you don't need waves.
Evanovich: What will a bookstore look like in 2020? Will we all be downloading?
Connelly: Good question. Since it is only eleven years from now, I think there will still be a solid population of "old school" readers who need the book in their hands. The question is, will they get it at a bookstore or will we have a Kindle 9.0 device that manufactures a book for you at home, complete with photo of author in a bomber jacket.
Evanovich: If everybody is downloading in 2020 what the heck will we be signing on book tour? Body parts? Kindle cases?
Connelly: I signed two Kindles yesterday. One person asked me to leave room for signatures from you and Dennis Lehane. So next time you're in Seattle she'll be in your line.
Evanovich: Do you eat when you write? Beer nuts? M&Ms? Just coffee? What keeps you from falling out of the chair in a narcoleptic stupor?
Connelly: Have you ever seen what eating Cheetos can do to a keyboard? I have to say I am addicted to Coke. I always have a glass of it nearby. I eat a lot of candy, too. Keeps me going. Smarties are a great writing tool. I often need to raid my daughter's stash and then there is trouble on the home front.
Evanovich: Are you a messy guy or a neat guy? Do you keep clutter on your desk? In your head? Are there soda cans and crumpled fast food wrappers rolling around on the floor of your car?
Connelly: I keep a clean car but a desk that gets progressively messier as I write a book. When I am finished with the book, I clean up the desk—and eat all the stray Smarties found under the paperwork. The clean desk then promotes the start of the next book.
Evanovich: The new book, The Scarecrow sounds terrific, and I know it's followed by Harry Bosch in Nine Dragons in the fall. Does your publisher prefer one series over another? And do you find one series to be more commercially viable than another?
Connelly: They let me do what I want. I like writing about Harry Bosch and he's pretty popular, but usually when I write a standalone it widens the audience a bit.
Evanovich: Want to meet me in a bar in Ft. Myers? Is that halfway?
Connelly: Name the place.
From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. Bestseller Connelly comments on the plight of print journalism in a nail-biting thriller featuring reporter Jack McEvoy, last seen in 2004's The Narrows. When Jack is laid off from the L.A. Times with 14 days' notice to tie up loose ends, he decides to go out with a bang. What starts as a story about the wrongful arrest of a young gangbanger for the brutal rape and murder of an exotic dancer turns out to be just the tip of an iceberg that takes McEvoy from the Nevada desert to a futuristic data-hosting facility in Arizona. FBI agent Rachel Walling, with whom he worked on a serial killer case in 1996's The Poet, soon joins the hunt, but as the pair uncover more about the killer and his unsettling predilections, they realize that they too are being hunted. With every switch between McEvoy's voice and the villain's, Connelly ratchets up the tension. This magnificent effort is a reminder of why Connelly is one of today's top crime authors. 8-city author tour. (May) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Bookmarks MagazineConnelly introduces characters from one series into other novels or series, and veteran readers will find enduring, familiar faces in The Scarecrow. A compelling and suspenseful thriller, it is also a sharp if unobtrusive commentary on the death of our nation’s newspapers, as well as a “frighteningly plausible” examination of the sinister nature of computer technology (New York Times). “Reading it will make it impossible for you to ever again think that when you do something online, no one’s watching,” noted the St. Petersburg Times. The dual perspective (McEvoy’s and the killer’s) adds depth to the narrative, if some clichéd characters and missing details marred critics’ reviews. Because The Scarecrow ends with the beginning of Connelly’s next book, readers anxious about the ending don’t have long to wait.Copyright 2009 Bookmarks Publishing LLC --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Booklist*Starred Review* Former Los Angeles Times crime reporter Connelly has said that his goal in writing The Scarecrow was to come up with a story “that would be a thriller first and a torch song to the newspaper business second.” He succeeds on both counts. By bringing back Jack McEvoy, the reporter star of The Poet (1996), and by beginning the novel with McEvoy downsized from his job as crime reporter for the Times, Connelly puts both plotlines in gear. McEvoy, determined to go out with guns blazing, plans on writing a story about how poverty turns a 16-year-old into a killer, but he quickly learns that the kid’s confession is bogus. That unlocks the door to a serial killer every bit as warped, perverted, and brilliant as the Poet, the case that made McEvoy’s career. It also leads to a reunion, both professional and romantic, with FBI agent Rachel Walling, who has also been popping up in Connelly’s Harry Bosch novels recently. Not surprisingly, Connelly nails the death-of-newspapers theme, from the gallows humor of the reporters watching their world crumble to the callousness of the bureaucrats in charge of the dismantling. What will drive this novel for most readers, though, is its villain, the Scarecrow, a computer genius who operates a data storage center, or “server farm,” providing security for all manner of Web sites. Except, the Scarecrow doesn’t just protect his clients’ data; he also mines it for victims. Alternating point of view between villain and reporter, Connelly builds tension expertly, using dramatic irony to its fullest, screw-tightening potential. Even confirmed Harry Bosch fans will have to admit that this Harry-less novel is one of Connelly’s very best. --Bill Ott --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
