Book Review: The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly (Jack McEvoy 2)

This is the second in the Jack McEvoy novels following on from the introduction of the character in the Poet. Also in this novel FBI Agent Rachel Walling is also involved and these two characters have links to the Harry Bosch novels.

McEvoy is to be terminated at his job on the LA Times due to the economic downturn. However he has to train his young female replacement before he leaves. She is keen as mustard and her investigations into one of Jack's reporting cases, sets her up in a computer trap that leads to her murder. The LA Times network is also hacked into.

Jack follows the leads that he has to a prisoner serving time for a similar crime. However while he is at the remote prison at a hotel he is set upon and beaten up. Rachel Walling comes to his rescue and they both are on the trail of the attacker and the murderer.

The hacking of the IT system lead them down an electronic path to find the killer. Some odd clues come together to help Jack and Rachel on their quest to track down the Scarecrow. Why the Scarecrow, well you will just have to read the book to find out why, it would be too much of a spoiler to tell you here.

Well worth reading this novel and 9/10 for me.