A Reporter Tracks a Killer in FAIR WARNING

 Author Michael Connelly brings back crime reporter Jack McEvoy in a new thriller, Fair Warning. McEvoy appeared previously in the best selling novels The Poet and The Scarecrow, where his reporting helped hunt down diabolical serial killers. 

Jack lost his prior newspaper job and is now reporting for a small investigative website magazine called Fair Warning. But when a woman he knew briefly is murdered by an unknown killer, it leads Jack to look into her death. He uncovers a pattern of similar murders of other female victims, all having their necks broken in an identical manner. McEvoy reaches the chilling answer that a serial predator is at work.

The killer is called The Shrike. Jack finds the link between the scattered victims. All of them had sent their DNA samples to an ancestry analysis service. The Shrike used that same service to find his next targets.

The LAPD is also investigating and they don't want McEvoy interfering in the case. But the police don't know about the serial killer pattern yet. Jack is way ahead of the cops and he wants to be the first to publish a story on The Shrike. But the killer is already watching what McEvoy is doing.

Fair Warning is another addictive read from Michael Connelly. The novel follows the methodical work of a crime reporter as it builds toward a wrenching final reckoning for Jack McEvoy.

 

GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB a Worthy Effort

The Girl in the Spider's Web is a continuation of the best selling trilogy that began with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Swedish author Stieg Larsson. Sadly, Larsson died shortly after writing the last novel in the trilogy.

New author David Lagercrantz has now continued the original series with this latest novel. Set again in Stockholm, the novel brings back the striking character duo of investigative reporter Mikael Blomkvist and tough hacker punk Lisbeth Salander.

The plot is a complex web involving cyber-espionage and the theft of valuable industrial secrets. The U.S. spy agency NSA may be involved, along with a team of ruthless killers, and an autistic savant boy who possesses key information.

The novel offers much of the same technical depth and sweeping storyline of the original Larsson books. The character of Mikael Blomkvist is a solidly familiar presence that anchors the story. Where new author Lagercrantz has trouble is in catching the enigmatic character of Lisbeth Salander.  She comes across coldly and remotely, never showing the same fiery, volatile intensity of the Larsson portrayal.

That said, The Girl in the Spider's Web is a worthy effort and an enjoyable read, if only a somewhat diminished echo of the vividly original Stieg Larsson works.

NIGHTCRAWLER A Social Drama of Obsession

Nightcrawler (Now on DVD) is neither a suspense movie nor a crime movie, although it contains strong elements of each.  Rather, the movie is a disturbing social commentary on the endless drive for visceral video footage in TV news coverage.

Lou Bloom is a freelance video shooter who makes a living selling raw video footage of car crashes, fires, and violent crime scenes to local TV stations in Los Angeles. He makes contact with a female news director eager to buy the most sensational footage Bloom can supply.

Bloom is a manipulative, ruthless competitor. He is  essentially a sociopathic personality with no internal moral workings beyond his own obsessive personal goals. He begins to cross all ethical and legal boundaries in his pursuit of the most graphic video images to sell.

Bloom's manic conduct builds tensely, with ominous foreboding of a bad end point coming. When it does happen, the violent results are sudden and hideous.

 Nightcrawler is also a biting commentary on the TV news culture itself. The daily news cycle is a ravenous beast that must be constantly fed with new red meat stories in order to attract viewers and gain ratings. Viewers are drawn to the most sensational video material. We can't look away from the graphic scenes of carnage in spite of ourselves.  TV news exploits this for its own commercial benefit.

The cycle goes on, day after day, always seeking the next new raw spectacle to report. This is the other side of the screen from Lou Bloom's amoral camera lens. And it all never stops coming.