The Poet

By: Michael Connelly

Narrated by: Buck Schirner

Length: 15 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

FROM THE #1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE HARRY BOSCH AND LINCOLN LAWYER SERIES

An electrifying standalone thriller that breaks all the rules!

Death is reporter Jack McEvoy's beat: his calling, his obsession. But this time, death brings McEvoy the story he never wanted to write - and the mystery he desperately needs to solve. A serial killer of unprecedented savagery and cunning is at large. His targets: homicide cops, each haunted by a murder case he couldn't crack. The killer's calling card: a quotation from the works of Edgar Allan Poe. His latest victim is McEvoy's own brother. And his last...may be McEvoy himself.

©1996 by Michael Connelly. (P)1996 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

not up to MC's usual standard.

mediocre story line. narration so annoying I barely finished. completely implausible and lacking suspense or believability. only for hard-core Connelly fans.

Not Bosch but an A+ story.

I am a great Bosch fan and had not read or heard of this novel, but as with all of MC’s books it keeps one on the edge and guessing. This is my first novel read by B Schirner who does an amazing job on keeping the listener in the flow of the story. The character development is wonderful.

Slow to Develop

Seemed very slow to flow & evolve—I had to start over several times. Last third to half more interesting. Predictable and trite sex/“romance”/“relationship” scenes & language. Rather poor grammar used by the novel’s protagonist Jack, a seasoned formally-trained journalist with a journalism school (“J school) pedigree.

Starts strong, then weakens to a fizzle

The Poet was enjoyable for the first 3/4 of the book but then implausible plot twists take over. I thought Connelly (my first read by him) did a good job at character development. The main character was likably flawed.
However with the bases loaded Connelly did not bring the story home. I was definitely hooked and too far in not to finish but I was becoming suspicious if I had wasted my time around the last 1/4 of the book. The ending was just not as good as I would have liked, a bit odd.
The technology is outdated, which does not bother me since it reminds us about when payphones, pagers and fax machines were cutting edge.
The narrator is not a bad narrator but he sounded like a 50+ year old man when the main character is supposed to be 35, not a good fit for the story.
I purchased this on sale and I would recommend doing that. Its not a waste of time by any means I just hate a weak ending to a good story.

Had me to the end

Any additional comments?

It's a fantastic cop/thriller mistery that really kept me going to the very end. I will be reading additional books by this author.

Each time I read a review that makes negative comments about the pronuciation, I have rolled my eyes....till now. When Buck Schimer said, "peedifile" (which he says ALOT) I at first giggled...then rolled my eyes, then got nerved. It gets old quick. Add that to a number of dated technical ideas and this book is a little over the edge of being in it's prime.

It's a great cheap book - but, if I paid full price.... I'd not be happy.

Retro read still excellent

Written in the late nineties, Michael Connelly's THE POET provides not only an engaging thriller, but also a sense of how we've come to take for granted the amazing technological advances if the current century. A good read.

Solid “cat and mouse” thriller. Stellar narration!

This novel reminds me of the early John Sandford books. I enjoyed the shifting points of view and exquisite pacing, but the plot (particularly the killer’s motivation and behavior) was too generic to hold my interest. This book is like a Toyota Camry: it may not be the most exciting ride, but it’ll take you where you want to go.

Narrator is wonderful, with subtle vocal distinctions between the different points of view. His voice has a gravelly texture that suits well the scarier scenes of the book.

Sordid story about pedophilia.

The story kept my attention, but I thought the narrator sounded like a 50 year old smoker instead of a young man, which made the story less than it could have been. Pretty sordid plot about pedophilia, was hard to take at times.

Connely's done much better

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The book is overlong and sadly in need of a good, strong editor

Would you ever listen to anything by Michael Connelly again?

Yes, simply because I grew to dislike this particular book, doesn't mean that I'd dislike all of his writings. I've always enjoyed his Harry Bosch series.

What about Buck Schirner’s performance did you like?

It was a generally good, dramatic reading albeit a bit over-dramatic at times

Did The Poet inspire you to do anything?

To be extraordinarily patient at times and listen through to the end.

Any additional comments?

Book is clearly not one of Connelly's best. The plot is, at best, mediocre with a cliched use of several "red herrings". Story is painfully overwritten with far, far, far too much detail at times contributing nothing to scene, story or characterizations. And the amount of psychobabble is,sometimes, mind-numbing. I also had the distinct feeling that Mr. Connelly was very much in love with this particular book and just couldn't let it go. Every time it ends, and it does at least three times, another twist is thrown in and it unnecessarily plods along a bit further.

Great idea, sputters down the stretch

I appreciate taking on the topic. The setup was nice. However our main character comes off as a whiny cuck in the end even though he supposedly saves the day. The double twist is also a roll your eyes moment which only sets up a torturous last 3 chapters of our guy apologizing profusely.