The Scarecrow

by Michael Connelly

Other authorsPeter Giles (Reader)
2010

Status

Available

Collection

Publication

Little, Brown & Company (2010), Edition: Reprint

Description

Newspaperman Jack McEvoy decides to use his final days at the LA Times to write the definitive murder story of his career. Focusing on the case of Alonzo Winslow, a 16-year-old drug dealer in jail after confessing to a brutal murder, Jack realizes that Winslow's so-called confession is bogus and that the real killer is operating completely below police radar--and with perfect knowledge of any move against him.

Media reviews

Read this thriller for the thrills, the computerized crime spree. Or read it for the sad reality of what's happening to almost all newspapers. Or read it to take in the work of a writer who can tell a gripping story through characters who live and breathe.
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A return to form for Mr. Connelly and his sharpest book since “The Lincoln Lawyer”... “The Scarecrow” begins its crime plot routinely, with more emphasis on the press than on the investigation. Then it gets jacked up to a high level of suspense by the Scarecrow’s sinister powers in the
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Internet’s darker reaches. And then it turns back into something familiar, as Mr. Connelly allows the long-range demands of his career to diminish this particular book’s ending.
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User reviews

LibraryThing member BeckyJG
This is what a serial killer thriller should be: taut, scary, fast-moving, making good use of the usual tropes (for the killer: childhood trauma, cool/goofy nickname, grotesque fetish, high intelligence; for the hero: personal life in a shambles, likeability issues, high intelligence) while
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building and maintaining a high degree of originality.

Jack McEvoy is a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Or he was, until he found himself the recipient of a pink slip--now called an RIF, for reduction in force, form. Jack McEvoy is the reporter who broke the story on the Poet, a serial killer working the west over a decade ago. He wrote a best-selling true crime book about the case, and coasted in on that fame to land a job at the Times. And now, after a decade on the crime beat, he's history. He's got two weeks left on the payroll--more than most RIF victims get--to train his replacement, and Jack intends to use that time to write the story of a lifetime, one so great he'll be awarded a Pulitzer Prize and the paper will have to come crawling after him to offer his job back. Or that's the idea, anyway.

He thinks he's found just the right story: a 16 year old African American gangbanger has been falsely accused of the gruesome murder of a young, white stripper. What McEvoy actually finds--after helping get the foul-mouthed young hoodlum released from jail--is a case much deeper than anyone realizes.

McEvoy teams up with his partner (and love interest) from The Poet, FBI Agent Rachel Walling. Together they uncover the work of the serial killer who will come to be known as the Scarecrow. Wesley Carver is a brilliant MIT graduate who--after stripping McEvoy of his savings, his credit cards, and his email access--will manage to stay at least one step ahead of them until the very end.

The book alternates chapters narrated by McEvoy with chapters told from the Scarecrow's perspective, which makes the suspense that much more deliciously unbearable when they cross paths with one another. Michael Connelly is always good, and even the occasional novel of his which feels as if it were phoned in to some degree is a cut above the rest. But when he shines, as he does in The Scarecrow, watch out.
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LibraryThing member Audacity88
I loved the first 80% of this book and stayed up all night reading it, but the ending was TERRIBLE! What drew me in about the first part was the realism of the descriptions of newspaper reporting, paired with a fairly plausible crime story. But when the mild-mannered newspaper reporter suddenly
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starting duking it out with bad guys I found it hard to suspend my disbelief.
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LibraryThing member juli1357
The only other book I've read by Michael Connelly is "The Lincoln Lawyer." Based on reading those two books, I would say that one of the unique features of his mysteries is that in the course of defining his protagonist, the reader will learn a lot about his/her profession. In "The Lincoln Lawyer",
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you learn a lot about what it is like to be a criminal attorney who is forced to defend someone he knows is guilty. In "The Scarcrow," you learn a lot about what it is like to work as a journalist for a major newspaper, in this case the L.A. times. I found this an interesting enough story, but I would have preferred to learn more about the serial killer the book is named after. When you do learn about what motivates and drives him, it's pretty much in the last few pages of the book. A few hints are dropped here and there, but aside from that, the bad guy remains pretty much a stock character. I didn't dislike the book, but I wouldn't recommend it for anyone other than hardcore Michael Connelly fans, those who want to read everything he has written.
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LibraryThing member meli1029
There were some twists once the killer was identified to the reader, but not enough to make the identification worth while. I wish that the author had delayed this gratification just a little while longer. The pacing was good, but it was difficult to get invested in the characters. A nice quick
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mystery read but nothing mind-blowing.
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LibraryThing member EdGoldberg
Connelly has done it again with Scarecrow, an exciting mystery involving computers, identity theft and serial killers.
LibraryThing member tututhefirst
If you spend any time surfing the web, be warned, this will make you want to rip out the internet connection in your house. A stunning plot, very up-to-date, written so non-geeks can understand. Jack McEvoy, a newspaper journalist, discovers that the killer he is tracking is always one step ahead
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of him, and seems to know his every move. I don't do spoilers in reviews, so it's hard to write about the plot without spoiling. There are lots of twists, lots of very well-developed characters, and a stunning story that will keep you on the edge of your chair until the last suprising page.
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LibraryThing member YogiABB
Jack Fogerty is a crusty reporter for the Los Angeles Times. The opens with him getting laid off because he makes too much money. He can stay for two weeks if he agrees to train his new fresh faced right out of college, and much cheaper salaried, replacement.

After that things turn bad, real bad,
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involving ... I don't want to spoil it for you. But this is a book that I read clear through in day. I loved it and strongly recommend it.

Four stars out of four. Yeah!!
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LibraryThing member DBower
This book sees the return of Jack McAvoy and Rachel Walling from The Poet. This book was a quick and easy read - I could not put it down and finished it in a weekend. The bad guy in this book is really scary because he could be living right next door. Also the technology implications in the book
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make you really think. Overall a great read and I can't wait until his next book comes out in October.
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LibraryThing member bigorangemichael
Michael Connelly's continues to expand his fictional universe beyond the confines of Harry Bosch--and that's a good thing. It's not that I don't like Bosch, but it really seems that Connelly's better efforts these days are when Bosch isn't the central focus of the novel.

At the front and center of
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his latest book, "The Scarecrow" is former Rocky Mountain News reporter, Jack McEvoy. As the book begins, Jack has been downsized from his beat at the Los Angeles Times and given two weeks to train his replacement for the crime beat. Jack is famous for his involvement with the events detailed in "The Poet" (which if you've not read, you should, but it's not necessary to enjoy "The Scarecrow"), but that fame and his salary have put him on the chopping block. After taking a call on a seemingly innocuous crime story, Jack begins to look into things and decides to go out with a story to remember. The story concerns a young man, arrested on suspicion of murder, though the young man swears his innocence. Jack finds some troubling details in the confession as well as a larger pattern to the a potential serial killer.

Jack's investigation sets off the alerts of the Carver, who initiates an all-out attack on Jack through technological means. The Carver wants to cover his tracks and begins to set up Jack for a fall.

"The Scarecrow" alternates perspectives between Jack and the Carver as the two engage in a cat-and-mouse race-against-time. The deadline for Jack's career at the L.A. Times as well as Carver's pursuit help give the narrative the drive it needs and the suspense builds with each passing page. Equally frightening is how easily the Carver is able to use technology to cut off Jack from contact with world--including cutting off e-mail access, draining his bank account and canceling credit cards. It will make you think about identity theft and just how apparent your passwords really are in a whole new light.

Connelly is an author whose grown on me with his recent works. His stories are more than mysteries. They're character driven and the biggest success is how he's expanding his universe. He has a wide variety of interesting, fascinating characters--all of whom have their own voice. It'd be easy to just have all the characters be a derivation of Bosch, but Connelly doesn't settle for that. He may not be at quite the nirvana-like level I hold Laura Lippman or Elizabeth George, but he's getting closer with each book.
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LibraryThing member norinrad10
Even though this is not Connelly's best work, its better then 95% of whats out there. Always a challenge and a pleasure keeping up with all the characters that intermingle through Connolly's book. Strong recommendation.
LibraryThing member marient
A! good thriller. Jack MeEvoy is at the end of the line as a crime reporter. Once a hotshot in the newsroom, Jack is now in the crosshairs of the latest set of layoffs at the LA Times. He decides to to out with a bang.using his final days at the paper to write the definitive murder story of his
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career.
Jack focuses on Alonzo Winslow, a sixteen-year old drug dealer in jail after confessing to the brutal murder of a young woman found strangled in the trunk of her car.
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LibraryThing member johnbsheridan
The Scarecrow marks the reappearance of Jack McEvoy and Rachel Walling previously seen in The Poet. McEvoy comes across strongly obviously due to his journalism career being a close parallel to Connelly's own. While I wouldn't rate this as one of Connelly's best it is enjoyable but given that we
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know who the scarecrow is from early on it is not really a whodunnit or similar, more a case of who will come out on top in a game of cat and mouse. Recommended.
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LibraryThing member BillPilgrim
I read this book quickly, over a three day period. It was a seven day loan from the library, so I had motivation to read it fast. But, it was easy to keep at it; it was hard to put it down in fact. The story was fast moving and engaging. The same reporter, Jack McEvoy, from The Poet stumbles upon
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another serial killer that the authorities were clueless about. He reconnects with the FBI agent/love interest from The Poet, and I was glad about that because they make a good couple. Again, Connelly uses too many cliches and bad puns, but he has toned this down a lot since he wrote The Poet.

I had a few problems with the details this time. At the end of the book, McEvoy uses Google to connect some of the dots, and it seemed to me that they should have figured those details out much earlier, since it was so easy to do using only Google.
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LibraryThing member kraaivrouw
I just can't help it. I love Michael Connelly's books. He's one of the few people writing in this genre that consistently delivers a good read. He manages to do this when writing books about his main series character, Hieronymous Bosch, or about other series characters, or when writing stand alone
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novels. His writing is crisp, his plotting is excellent & I'm always entertained.

This book finds us back again with Jack McEvoy, the erstwhile hero of an earlier book, The Poet. In that book, Jack, a newspaper reporter has helped catch a serial killer & has risen up the newspaper food chain - even writing a best-seller based on the crime. Now, things are much different. The newspaper business is dying, & money for print journalism is drying up - this means layoffs & Jack just got one. His pursuit of his last big story leads him in an unexpected direction & reunites him with Rachel, his love from the first book.

Connelly makes the world of the newspaper believable - he should since he was a reporter once himself. He also handily creates the atmosphere of a company with an ongoing Reduction in Force - I've lived through those, I know what I'm talking about. He's got the dread, the depression, the bravado, the anxiety. All of these elements swirled together with the chase for a new killer make for a fun mix.

I've said before that I appreciate the way Connelly writes L.A. It reminds me a bit of the way the original CSI shows us Las Vegas. Sure, it's the Strip & Fremont Street & tourists & gamblers, but it's also hustlers & the homeless & folks living out the American Suburban Dream. In many ways the Las Vegas of CSI is more real than the actual place, if only because my access is broader.

Connelly's L.A. has Hollywood & Beverly Hills & Rodeo Drive, but it's also got Santa Monica & downtown L.A. around the Parker Center. It's got lawyers & cops & reporters & gang bangers & laundry entrepreneurs & he gets that L.A. is all about the hustle. I like a writer who can capture a place & Connelly's one of those.

All in all another satisfying read from a highly dependable writer.
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LibraryThing member mikedraper
Jack McEvoy met the same fate so many people are having today. He's given his notice as the "Los Angeles Times" is cutting jobs. He is given 14 days so he can train his successor, Angela Cook.

As Jack is mulling over his fate, he gets a call from Wanda Sessums, Alonzo Winslow's grandmother. Wanda
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tells him that the paper has the wrong info. He did not confess to a murder as they paper claims. Would he check his info.

Jack sees a chance to write one last story and maybe save his job, maybe teach the paper that they were letting the wrong man go. He even thought that it may be the time to write that book that he'd wanted.

He does check the info and it turns out at Lo only said he saw a purse with money in it on the front seat of a car so he stole the car. Then he looked into the trunk and saw the dead body of stripper, Denise Babbit.

Angela does some research and finds anothe woman died in the same way, she was also a stripper and found in the trunk of her car with marks on her similiar to Denise had.

We learn about a place called the Farm and a man named Carver. He is one of the killers. He has a web site for trunk murder search and learns of Angela's inquiry. Thinking things were getting too close, he uses his spyware and learns that Jack is coming to Vegas to interview the man convicted of the first victim's murder.
Carver makes Jack's credit cards unusable for a short while, changes the email to his boss and tells the prison that there's a threat to the prisoner's life so that man is put under guard and Jack can't see him.

With the credit cards claiming he told them they were stolen so they put a temporary stop on them, and the prisoner unable to see him, Jack turned to one person he knew he could trust, Rachel Walling, an FBI agent he had an affair with when working on "The Poet" case.

Rachel hears what's happened and feels Jack is being set up so she flys out to Vegas to warn him. She waits in his hotel room and unknowingly, spoils the attempt of Carcer's associate to kill Jack.

Jack and Rachel return to Jack's home. They find Angela's body under Jack's bed. With this, RAchel brings in the investigating team from the FBI.

They are able to trace the emails to the Farm and begin the investigation of Carver.

As usual for Michael Connelly, this is a suspenseful novel. The plot was somewhat confusing with Carter not being the only killer. However, Jack is a nice protagonist. He is sincere and has a ethical goal seen in not taking his job back at the cost of someone else. He is also brave and heroic. Rachel is also a good character. She reminds me of Jodi Foster in "The Silence of the Lambs."

Well done and recommended.
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LibraryThing member buffalogr
Fun listen, twists and turns of plot kept me engaged.
LibraryThing member librarygeek33
Suspense fiction with a brain and, more importantly, good writing. Books by authors like Michael Connelly create a sharp contrast to formulaic, less imaginative tales. "Scarecrow" is the typical good read that makes it sad when you come to the end.
LibraryThing member Ti99er
This is my first foray into the world of Michael Connelly. This was a book involving one of his established characters Jack McEvoy a journalist for the Los Angeles Times. In the begining of the story I found myself connecting with the antagonist (Carver) rather than the protagonist (Jack). But as
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the book progressed, Jack became more engaging.

The story follows Jack as he looks to write his last big story on his way out the door. He had just been pink slipped with a two week notice, just enough time to train his replacement. A woman calls him to complain that her son was innocent of the murder he had written about on the crime blotter the day before. Jack begins to research the story and starts to find some interesting parrallels between this murder and another recent murder. As he begins to piece things together, writing the biggest story of his career becomes secondary to staying alive.
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LibraryThing member ctfrench
Jack McEvoy became a national bestselling author when he wrote a book about his experience with a serial killer named the Poet, and since then, he’s worked as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times. The Times, facing financial woes, decides to lay off 100 employees and Jack’s number 99.
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Jack decides to make a grand exit by writing a book about a 16-year-old drug dealer who claims he did not confess to strangling a young woman and stuffing her in the trunk of her car, although the police investigators state otherwise. Jack’s research connects this murder to one of a similar nature in Las Vegas, at which time, he notifies FBI agent Rachel Walling, whose arrival saves Jack’s life from a serial murderer enraged that Jack has “outed” him and means to stop Jack from further investigating.

Fans of The Poet will enjoy Jack McEvoy’s reappearance in this book. Connelly takes his reader into the world of print newspapers, emphasizing their continuing decline due to the internet and cable news programs. McEvoy is a character with flaws, which makes him all the more interesting. He teams up with Rachel Walling, who played a part in The Poet, and the two are a strong team as they track the killer, a computer whiz who has stayed below the radar for years while killing and isn’t too happy someone is trying to stop him.
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LibraryThing member mahallett
pretty good. good reader. i can't really tell you how the hero solved this. some parts seemed to be glossed over. but i was carried along. i agree that the perversion talked about is so peculiar. where would one get leg braces now? e-bay?
LibraryThing member PermaSwooned
I really enjoyed this book. It is very timely, with really up to date references to what is happening in the newspaper biz and the far reach of the internet. I was very glad to see a new protagonist....I liked him a lot. When an author is writing a series around a central figure, it starts to get
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old for me.
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LibraryThing member dbeveridge
Best Michael Connelly in awhile. Great tense thriller recalling the characters from The Poet.
LibraryThing member losloper
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
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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.
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LibraryThing member edwardsgt
Delighted to find this in our holiday cottage and quickly read it. Jack McEvoy a crime reporter on the LA Times who has been downsized out of a job, seizes an opportunity of one last scoop to go out on a high. The story seems to be an innocent black juvenile accused of murder but soon becomes a
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much deeper,darker story. Great holiday read.
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LibraryThing member kakadoo202
quick summer read. not deep. no sursprises. not really my style.

Awards

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2009-05

ISBN

1600248322 / 9781600248320

Barcode

0100180
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