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A review by lesserjoke
Fair Warning by Michael Connelly
4.0
This 2020 novel is the third title to center on reporter Jack McEvoy, an otherwise peripheral figure in author Michael Connelly's broad Harry Bosch / Mickey Haller franchise. He's always an interesting change of pace from those more frequent protagonists, and I pictured them yelling at the character along with me at the beginning of this story, when he voluntarily talks to the police and gives them a sample of his DNA after learning he's a suspect in a recent murder. (One of the minor antagonists even turns out to be an employee at a tech lab who has previously falsified criminal evidence, so I was fully expecting this rash decision to come back and bite the hero, though it weirdly never does. Still: don't talk to the cops without a lawyer present, and don't let them search your property or take your DNA without a warrant.)
While Jack knows he's innocent and is less concerned about being arrested and convicted anyway than I would be in his position, the information that he's a person of interest -- he had a one-night stand with the victim a year ago -- prompts him to look into the matter, eventually discovering it's the work of a heretofore-unknown serial killer. The justification for the ensuing investigation is a little wonky, since the journalist's beat is consumer protection and the women were apparently targeted by someone who accessed the personal data they submitted to a genealogical research company like 23andMe, but the taut cat-and-mouse thriller that develops is creepy and unpredictable in all the best ways. McEvoy's limitations as a civilian with no law enforcement training or instincts further distinguish the affair, as they have for his previous outings, and the result is a definite page-turner. As a reader who's found the Bosch series to be growing somewhat stale of late, I've really enjoyed this one.
[Content warning for incel sexism, suicide, gore, pedophilia, and rape.]
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While Jack knows he's innocent and is less concerned about being arrested and convicted anyway than I would be in his position, the information that he's a person of interest -- he had a one-night stand with the victim a year ago -- prompts him to look into the matter, eventually discovering it's the work of a heretofore-unknown serial killer. The justification for the ensuing investigation is a little wonky, since the journalist's beat is consumer protection and the women were apparently targeted by someone who accessed the personal data they submitted to a genealogical research company like 23andMe, but the taut cat-and-mouse thriller that develops is creepy and unpredictable in all the best ways. McEvoy's limitations as a civilian with no law enforcement training or instincts further distinguish the affair, as they have for his previous outings, and the result is a definite page-turner. As a reader who's found the Bosch series to be growing somewhat stale of late, I've really enjoyed this one.
[Content warning for incel sexism, suicide, gore, pedophilia, and rape.]
Like this review?
--Throw me a quick one-time donation here!
https://ko-fi.com/lesserjoke
--Subscribe here to support my writing and weigh in on what I read next!
https://patreon.com/lesserjoke
--Follow along on Goodreads here!
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6288479-joe-kessler
--Or click here to browse through all my previous reviews!
https://lesserjoke.home.blog