Paul Gitsham
  • Welcome!
  • News
  • Books
  • Blogs
    • Writing Tips
    • Recommended
  • Newsletter

Recommended Reads Blog

Newsletter
#RecommendedReads
Picture
​Breaking News!
DCI Warren Jones 9, Web Of Lies, Out Now!
​Click Here To Visit My Writing Page (opens in a new window).
Free Download!
Papering Over The Cracks - A DCI Warren Jones short story
(Includes a sneak preview of Web of Lies)
​
Picture

Fair Warning

4/8/2021

0 Comments

 

Fair Warning (Jack McEvoy 3)
Michael Connelly

Picture
​Buy from Amazon.
Buy from Bookshop.org and support independent sellers.
I am a huge Michael Connelly fan. But with all the praise heaped upon his Harry Bosch and Mickey Haller series, and their high profile from their TV and film outings, it's easy to forget sometimes that Connelly also writes other characters.
Fair Warning is the third solo outing for Jack McEvoy, the investigative reporter that first appeared in 1996's The Poet, Connelly's fifth book. He made a second appearance 2009's The Scarecrow. There are no cameos by Bosch or Haller, but McEvoy's long-time associate Rachel Walling plays a key role. She's popped up in the occasional Bosch and Haller book (as has McEvoy), so the book is still part of the LA-based "Connelly-verse".


The "Fair Warning" of the title refers to the online consumer rights website that McEvoy now works for, using his skills as an investigative journalist to uncover safety violations and scams. Previously, he's built a track record for capturing killers, but the opening of this novel sees him being accused of being one himself, after a woman he went on a single date with turns up dead.


I'm not going to detail the plot anymore; I'll leave that for you to enjoy. Suffice to say, the plotting is meticulous, with the pacing spot-on, and the premise ingenious and scarily prescient. Unlike most of Connelly's novels. This is primarily told from a first-person point of view. I read a recent review of another author's work, where the person claimed that they automatically gave such books one star. I will try to remain professional and merely say that not only is this one of the dumbest statements I have ever read, it also robs them of brilliant stories such as this. The first-person narrative gives an intimacy to the prose that would be missing in a third person telling, and works tremendously well.
As with all Connelly novels, he really gets under the skin of Los Angeles. I've never visited the city, yet through the eyes of Bosch, Haller and McEvoy, I feel as though I have walked its streets. The characters are well-drawn, and the villain is excellent.
Something worthy of note, without giving too much away, is how accurate the science in this book is.  This overlaps with my own field of expertise and not only is he technically correct, his use of the associated language is precise, yet comfortable. This can be rather difficult to pull off. The concepts dealt with can be hard for a non-specialist to render into meaningful prose. I confess to wincing whenever this is dealt with in fiction or on the screen; all too often writers throw a few appropriate phrases and words at the page and kind of hope they make enough sense to the casual reader to get their point across. To paraphrase Eric Morecombe "I am using all the correct vocabulary, but not necessarily in the correct order". In Fair Warning he avoids this trap and any extrapolation that he does for story-telling purposes is seamless. All praise to his editors and beta readers.


This is another Connelly classic - which is in itself a recommendation - and the welcome return of one of his lesser-known characters.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Paul's Recommended Reads.

    Welcome to my reccomendations page.

    Here you will only find reviews of books that I have enjoyed, and think others will also.

    If a story doesn't grab me, it won't feature on here.

    The books featured will be a mixture of new releases, old favourites and books that have sat on the 'Too Be Read' pile for longer than they should have.

    I hope you see something that you enjoy, so please do feel free to comment on here or on social media.

    Disclosure: I regard some of the authors featured here as friends. I promise that I only include a book if I genuinely liked it, not because I know the writer!

    All content copyright Paul Gitsham 2020-23

    RSS Feed

    All the books featured on this page can be bought from my
    Amazon list page here:

    If you are buying a paperback or hardback copy, why not consider my online shop at
    Bookshop.org,
    which supports independent booksellers?


    Disclosure: I am a member of both the Amazon and Bookshop.org affiliates programs, meaning that I get a small commission every time a book is purchased using links from my site.

    Archives

    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    August 2022
    May 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020

    Categories

    All
    AIDE Locke
    Aidian McKinty
    Alex North
    Aloysius Archer
    Artificial Intelligence
    Blood Runs Cold
    Courtroom
    Craig Robertson
    Crime Fiction
    Cut To The Bone
    Darkly
    Dark Memories
    Dark Objects
    David Baldacci
    Dead Ground
    Deeply
    DI Kelly Porter
    DI Rachel Narey
    DS Max Craigie
    In Cold Blood
    Investigative Reporter
    Jack McEvoy
    Jack Reacher
    Jane Bettany
    Jo Callaghan
    Karin Nordin
    Kat Frank
    Kidnap
    Kjeld Nygaard
    Lee Child
    Legal Thriller
    Linwood Barclay
    Liz Mistry
    Look Both Ways
    Louise Mangos
    Michael Connelly
    M.W. Craven
    National Crime Readers Month
    Neil Lancaster
    Nikki Parekh
    One Good Deed
    Paranormal
    Police Procedural
    Psychological
    Rachel Lynch
    #RecommendedReads
    Renee Ballard
    Richard Osman
    Roz Watkins
    S.A. Crosby
    Scandinavian
    ScandiNoir
    Series Review
    Simon Toyne
    Stand Alone
    Steve Cavanagh
    Susi Holliday
    The Beaten Track
    The Blood Tide
    The Botanist
    The Chain
    The Curator
    The Last Resort
    The Late Show
    The Night Watch
    The Photographer
    Thriller
    Thursday Murder Club
    Tilly Bradshaw
    Truly
    Victoria Selman
    Washington Poe
    Will Dean

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Welcome!
  • News
  • Books
  • Blogs
    • Writing Tips
    • Recommended
  • Newsletter