Another great Michael Connelly book. I really enjoy his writing and this one did not disappoint. Thank you Netgalley and publisher for opportunity to read and review.

There's nothing like the smooth flow of a Michael Connelly novel........

Like a slab of butter melting on a crispy slice of toast, Fair Warning is a pleasurable read. Connelly re-introduces us to Jack McEvoy, a seasoned journalist in his 50's who's been around the block more than once. Jack is now employed by an internet news site called Fair Warning that serves as a community watchdog. His boss, Myron Levin, worked many years at the LA Times and cuts Jack more slack than he deserves.

Jack's door is darkened as two LAPD detectives come a knockin'. It seems like Jack's latest one-night-only romance ended badly. The woman that he hooked up with from a local bar was found dead. Jack is now the likely suspect. He cooperates with the police and even gives them a DNA sample to prove his innocence. These detectives are stickin' to Jack like lint from the dryer.

As Jack tries to delve into this crime on his own, he's now connecting the dots to other similar crimes. Connelly presents quite the winding road into the field of genetic analytics. Ever wonder where exactly your DNA sample goes? Are there any government regulations or controls on those samples? Is it possible for second or third sales to unknown parties? That's a whopper of a thought.

Fair Warning reads as a standalone even though it's the third offering in this series. I've not read the prior books but totally enjoyed this one. Plenty of hard-hitting characters in this one with a storyline that keeps the light on late into the night. Connelly delivers and we keep our eyes open and alert for the next one.

I received a copy of Fair Warning through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Little, Brown, and Company and the talented Michael Connelly for the opportunity.

Reporter Jack McEvoy is surprised to find LAPD homicide detectives at his door. They are there about a woman who has been found murdered and Jack had briefly dated her a year ago. The detectives are suspicious of him and even though Jack offers up his DNA for elimination purposes, they seem to be treating him as a suspect. Jack uses his reporter training to try to find out more about the woman and the murder and that makes the detectives angry, with Jack even ending up in jail for a night to give the detectives probably cause to search his apartment.

Jack finds that the woman's neck was broken in what is called an internal decapitation. Using his contacts, he finds that there are other women who have died this way recently and they all share a common trait; they all used a specific DNA testing service. Now Jack starts to believe that there is a serial killer on the loose who uses the results from that service to target women who are vulnerable to his approach.

Jack realizes he needs help with the story and more importantly, the investigation. He contacts Rachel Walling, a former FBI profiler and his former lover. She is now doing investigative work and agrees to help him. His editor also assigns another reporter, Emily, to help him with the legwork and writing. Together the team starts to make breakthroughs to finding the killer but the killer soon realizes that someone is on to him. He starts to kill those involved in any way who might know his identity and then starts to target the investigative team. Who will be successful, the killer or those seeking him?

This is the third novel in the Jack McEvoy series. Jack was the reporter who found The Poet, a serial killer that was the subject of one of Connelly's best ever novels. His relationship with Rachel has ebbed and flowed over the years and usually ends up badly due to Jack's inability to fully trust anyone and his unfortunate trait of putting his career and the story ahead of any relationships he is involved in. The novel also highlights the ethical issues involved in the popular DNA testing that so many have participated in. This book is recommended for mystery readers.

In Fair Warning, Michael Connelly revives his reporter character Jack McEvoy from The Port and The Scarecrow. I honestly thought I was reading about a new Connelly character because it has been a while since he has written about McEvoy. McEvoy is now working for a publication called Fair Warning but becomes involved in a murder investigation when a woman he had a one-night stand with is murdered in a very brutal way, This murder leads to some others that are very unique and are tied together in a new and bizarre way. Not being able to stop himself, Jack investigates and makes a shocking discovery that a killer has been hunting women, using genetic data from a website to select and stalk his victims. Jack enlists his former lover, Rachel Walling, to help him catch the killer.
Rachel and Jack begin their relationship again but as with Jack before, the story is more important than his feelings for her. I liked the book okay but I am definitely more of a Bosch fan.

Another five-star read by Michael Connelly — this one will have you immediately logging on to your 23&Me profile to change research permissions.

I’m a huge Michael Connelly fan. Detective Harry Bosch (both in his book and TV incarnations) is like an old friend who I almost believe is real. And yet I was even more excited for this book and the return of Jack McEvoy and Rachel Walling. Their first book together from years ago, The Poet, is a book I also highly recommend - it’s not necessary to enjoying this book as a stand-alone, but it does add to the relationship and the depth of the characters.

I always think of Jack McEvoy as being more like the real Michael Connelly, who was, once upon a time before Harry, an intrepid reporter for the LA Times, working the police beat. This book has Jack working these days as a journalist at an independent news site called Fair Warning, which keeps an eye on consumer watchdog issues. (We also learn more about Fair Warning in an author’s note after the book.) Jack starts the book as a suspect in a murder case, and soon he decides to take on the investigation himself. Of course, in so doing, he continues beating law enforcement at its own game and also matches wits once again with the awesome Rachel Walling.

This book has an extremely timely topic, which I won’t spoil too much because it is so fun to watch unfold, but I will say that DNA tests like 23&Me play a key role. I also appreciated Connelly’s sensitive and intelligent take on misogyny and the role it plays in the killing of women — this is an issue presented implicitly in many of the Bosch books but never quite analyzed and explained as well as it is in this book by Jack.

As always with Connelly, I was furiously turning pages from page one and devoured this book in 24 hours. There is never a dull moment in Connelly’s intelligent and action-packed prose. Also as usual with Connelly, the ending is pitch perfect.

I loved revisiting Jack and Rachel and getting to see them together again. I saw some hints in this book that there might be more Jack McEvoy books to come, which would be a fantastic treat. (I also learned from this book that Michael Connelly has a podcast called Murder Book, which I’m just about to listen to next!)

Another beautiful LA noir for the 21st century from Michael Connelly. Five stars. I can’t wait to see what he writes next.

Big thanks to NetGalley, Little, Brown and Co., and Michael Connelly for the advance copy of my most anticipated book of the year. It exceeded my very high expectations.

3.5 A good story. Definitely makes one think about who we give samples of our DNA too. Genealogical kits and all. Many abuses can occur. I like Jack but my heart belongs to Haller and Bosch.

Intriguing and thought provoking reflection on the perils of genetic profiling cleverly intertwined with a taut, well-told and character-driven thriller.

[Jack McEvoy #3]


I've not yet read THE POET or THE SCARECROW, though I intend to, so FAIR WARNING was my first introduction to Michael Connelly's series protagonist journalist Jack McEvoy. Mr. Connelly had been a journalist before becoming a full-time author, so he knows whereof he writes. Jack is quite a person of integrity, once enduring 63 days in jail on a contempt of court charge for refusing to reveal his source. Now employed at a consumer watchdog website, FairWarning [an actual organization and website], Jack discovers a horrifying series of killings, when homicide detectives tap him as a contact of a murdered woman. Jack knows his innocence, and determines to track the guilty, actually a serial killer.

Michael Connelly is most famous for creating Detective Harry Bosch, but the author's newspaperman Jack McEvoy, introduced in 2003's The Poet, is no less arresting. When McEvoy chases a story, he's just as relentless as Bosch on a case. In Fair Warning, McEvoy's first appearance after 2009's The Scarecrow, he identifies the chilling link between the deaths of four women.

McEvoy now works at FairWarning, a real-life consumer watchdog news site. A chance encounter with a woman who ends up murdered plunges McEvoy into an investigation in which he discovers recently killed women all submitted DNA samples to the same company for analysis. This puts him in the killer's crosshairs and, due to McEvoy's liaison with one of the victims, the LAPD also considers him a suspect. He contacts former colleague Rachel Walling for help but must tread carefully, because on a previous story he destroyed her FBI career and their romantic relationship. The two still have trust issues, but must work together in order to snare a vicious killer who's already targeted his next victims.

Connelly (The Late Show), a former journalist, excels in making investigative reporting as enthralling as any action scene. Fair Warning shines a spotlight on the shocking lack of government oversight in the field of DNA analysis and ancestry identification. Patrons who submit samples have no control or knowledge of where their DNA ends up, and Connelly spins a skin-crawling, cutting-edge mystery about the dangerous ways the data can be mined. The scariest part? According to the author's note, the depictions of genetic research and government oversight are based on fact. Fair warning, indeed.

As always, Connelly does a fantastic job at pulling the reader in and keeping the momentum going. I love the characters in this series. The storyline regarding DNA genetic testing was kind of scary because it feels like something like that could so easily happen in real life. My only complaint is that I would have liked to have the bad guy be a little bit more developed.

The third book in the Jack McVoy has him investigating from the first page when detectives informed him that he’s a person of interest in a murder. Eventually McVoy finds his investigation leading him to DNA research and the dark web. Lots of creepy stuff and readers will be satisfied with the end.

Michael Connelly is a best-selling author for a reason. His books suck you in immediately, and keep you up all night reading. This book doesn't feel like it has anything extraneous or filler - it's just a tight thriller that goes by quickly. A good book!

Bestselling author Michale Connelly has created iconic characters, including Detective Harry Bosch, Mickey Haller, the Lincoln lawyer, and Detective Renée Ballard, who have been featured in his thirty-four bestselling novels. It may seem surprising that Fair Warning marks only the third appearance of Jack McEvoy, the tenacious reporter in The Poet and The Scarecrow. Through Jack's adventures, Connelly has depicted the state of journalism in America. The Poet was published in 1996, but by the time The Scarecrow appeared in 2009, the industry had changed dramatically. As newspapers struggled to reinvent themselves in order to survive in the digital age, journalists found themselves doing the same thing, often after losing jobs they had held for decades.

In Fair Warning, Jack has been forced to reimagine his own career as an investigative reporter. The book's title comes from the consumer watchdog internet news site where he has been employed for four years. A far cry from the massive Los Angeles Times, where Jack was previously a crime reporter, FairWarning is just a five-person organization. The site displays a donate button prominently on the page of every news story, and the editor, Myron Levin, spends most of his time seeking donors and placing stories as co-projects with bigger news organizations.

Jack is justifiably dismayed by the current attacks on his profession, but knows that Myron is "undaunted, unprejudiced, and therefore [will] not be intimidated." So even though Jack has been forced to downside his lifestyle -- incoming royalties from his books have slowed to a trickle and his salary at FairWarning is a fraction of what he once earned -- he knows "for the first time in a long time" that he is in "the right place."

In Fair Warning, finding the truth is particularly personal to Jack because he finds himself a person of interest in a murder investigation. As the story opens, a woman with whom he had a one-night stand a year ago is brutally murdered. When the police link her to Jack and two ambitious LAPD detectives pay him a visit, he learns the cause of death was internal decapitation. Shortly before her death, the victim confided to her best friend that she felt she was being digitally stalked, claiming a man she met in a bar seemed to know things about her he should not have known. Jack is intrigued not only because of his encounter with the decedent, but the unusual way in which she died. His research leads him to a an online forum for coroners and medical examiners where he learns that atlanto-occipital dislocation (AOD or internal decapitation) is a rare form of death, but there have been a few other unsolved cases in various U.S. locations. He also delves into the issue of cyberstalking, and reaches out to the friend to whom the dead woman divulged her discomfort about how much a supposed stranger seemed to know about her.

Jack quickly finds himself immersed in the investigation and trying to convince Myron that the story actually fits into FairWarning's stated mission. He discovers a commonality among the women who died as a result of AOD: each of them provided a sample to a company called GT23, a low-budget alternative providing DNA analysis in exchange for agreeing that samples submitted may be sold to and used anonymously by research facilities and biotech firms. Jack's research reveals that there is "virtually no government oversight and regulation in the burgeoning field of genetic analytics. . . . And that was a news story."

Connelly lays out the steps Jack takes to investigate the case via his first-person narration. As he relentlessly and meticulously follows the clues he uncovers, Jack realizes that he is on the trail of a story that has his "blood moving with an addictive momentum." It's a feeling he hasn't known for quite some time, and it's "good to have that feeling back." Connelly also includes third-person descriptions of the movements of Hammond, an unscrupulous lab technician, and a killer who calls himself the Shrike, a moniker adopted because a shrike is a bird that silently stalks and attacks from behind. The shrike grips its victim's head in its beak and snaps it viciously.

No one writes a better police procedural novel than Connelly, and he brings that same deft timing of revelations and taut story construction to Fair Warning, along with an intimate look at Jack's frustrations and emotional journey. Now fifty-eight years old, Jack has remained single since he and Rachel Walling last broke up. The former FBI agent now operates RAW Data Services, providing background investigations to various businesses and organizations. It's not what she wants to be doing -- she loved being an FBI agent, but that career came to an abrupt end in a prior installment of the McEvoy series. Now she and Jack haven't seen each other for at least a year, but Jack seeks her advice and assistance with his investigation. Connelly tenderly and believably portrays their complicated history, and the seemingly insurmountable barriers to their relationship's success. It is an excrutiatingly heartbreaking story, and intriguing accompaniment to the murder mystery. Rachel told Jack years earlier about her theory of romance: everyone has one special person out in the world who can "pierce their heart like a bullet." For Jack, Rachel's name is "on the bullet that pierced me." Can they make it work this time?

Fair Warning is a contemporary, cautionary story about the dangers of releasing private information pertaining to one's DNA into the hands of a commercial enterprise that may be controlled by persons with unethical, immoral interests. It's a compelling step-by-step exploration of the gritty work required of investigative journalists, especially on a complex case fraught with peril. It's also a timely commentary on the value and importance of dedicated, independent journalists who devote themselves to finding and publishing the truth so their informed audience members can make up their own minds about the issues confronting society.

In short, it's Connelly at his best. He delivers yet another gripping, compulsively readable, entertaining mystery that leaves readers wanting more stories involving Jack McEvoy.

I have read every single one of Michael Connelly's books... One of my favorites was The Poet... Gripping and suspenseful so was thrilled to see the return of Jack McEvoy... Fabulous book and escape in these times... Loved the twists and turns... So many character ties in all Connelly's books I sometimes wish there was a character summary and which books they were in to refer to! Overall, a great weekend read to get absorbed in. Keep them coming!

This is the newest release from Connelly, who is an award winning best selling American author. This newest mystery thriller sees the return of Jack McEvoy who was previously featured in 'The Poet' and 'The Scarecrow'. It is not necessary to have read the previous books to enjoy this one. The plot begins when Jack is considered a person of interest in the murder of a woman. As a journalist he uses his resources to research the case. When he finds other similar deaths and all the women have signed up to have their DNA tested by the same company his 'Fair Warning' online newspaper takes on the story. This is a great read and the subject matter is very current. An interesting tidbit is that Fairwarning.org is an actual online news site that deals with consumer issues.

Michael Connelly is an excellent writer who keeps writing books that draw you in the moment you start to the very end. Jack McEvoy is a seasoned reporter who has knocked around before he settles down in a small Web based news writing operation that specializes in consumer affairs. Things are going OK for him until two policemen manhandle him in an investigation of a murdered woman he had a one night stand with a year ago.

Jack is angry and starts searching for who really murdered her. His investigation leads him to a DNA testing company with really low rates, into a pedophile ring and finally on the trail of a ruthless killer.

His characters are done well and are likable. The reader roots for them. The story is interesting and has many twists and turns. The ending really took me by surprise. You have to have confidence to write it and Connolly has certainly earned that. It's a great way to spend some time.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair review.

Jack McEvoy - one of my favorite book boyfriends. I love this character and love his stories. I am glad that Michael Connelly is continuing his story and will be anxious for the next thrilling installment!

FAIR WARNING
Michael Connelly
Little, Brown and Company
ISBN-13: 978-0316539425
Hardcover
Thriller

It has been a while, to say the least. Reporter Jack McEvoy was initially introduced by Michael Connelly in THE POET, almost a quarter-century ago. He was supposed to be a one-off character, apparently, but returned in THE SCARECROW which was published in 2009. All but forgotten, and undeservedly so, the announcement that McEvoy would reappear in the now newly-published FAIR WARNING was greeted with joy by longtime Connelly readers, who will find that their patience --- and yes, prayers --- have been answered and their expectations more than rewarded.

Given Connelly’s long and extensive background as a reporter, it is not surprising that McEvoy is so accurately drawn. While much has changed on the surface since he was introduced the nuts and bolts of successful and honest investigative reporting --- so rare in the current climate --- has stayed the same, and McEvoy embodies these qualities. McEvoy in FAIR WARNING is working as an investigative reporter for a website named, by amazing coincidence, FairWarning. McEvoy and FairWarning investigate and report consumer fraud. The website, which is small but mighty, has quite a reach and a sterling reputation. Given that it does not hide behind a paywall it relies upon no-strings-attached fundraising to obtain great cupfuls of money to stay in operation. McEvoy accordingly finds himself in the position of making a bit of a stretch to his editor when he comes across an extremely clever killer who is preying upon women by making their very intentional deaths appear to be accidents. We learn, well before McEvoy, that the killer refers to himself as The Shrike and that he is cutting quite a wide swath in pursuit of his victims. McEvoy works the case from the other direction, finding what seems to be an initially tenuous consumer issue in an industry that has grown by leaps and bounds over the past several years. The issue --- and I am being oblique here, given that I don’t want to give away the game that Connelly so intricately and wonderfully constructs --- is one which in our real world we ignore at best and actually occasionally welcome which is surprising considering the privacy issues it entails. McEvoy gets the heart of the matter and exposes it while painstakingly chasing down the identity of the anonymous killer, even as McEvoy eventually finds himself in the sights of The Shrike as well, who, in the end, is much closer to McEvoy than he suspects. It’s a wild ride in spots, so much so in the final fourth of FAIR WARNING that it should come with its own “fasten seat belts” warning.

Connelly will never be accused of having a strong literary style, but as a storyteller he is second to none. That talent is possibly eclipsed by his ability to develop and refine primary characters such as McEvoy, whose default nature tends to be mildly abrasive and prickly, even with --- maybe particularly with --- his friends and colleagues. It is interesting that he has a great deal of self-awareness and often hits the reset button by apologizing and starting over. McEvoy is extremely realistic, so much so that when one reads the passages where he is front and center --- most of them, actually --- it seems as if we are in the room as opposed to reading the book. Given that Connelly leaves the reader, and McEvoy, hanging on a secondary issue at the end of FAIR WARNING I would hope that we would see McEvoy back again in another full-length novel, and much sooner than later. Strongly recommended.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
© Copyright 2020, The Book Report, Inc. All rights reserved.

Jack McEvoy is a journalist who stumbles onto a murder mystery when a woman he previously spent time with is found dead. I was hooked upon reading the first page--the book dives right into the meat of the story and I could not stop reading. There were multiple twists and unexpected turns in the book as the mystery got deeper and deeper, leading up to the explosive finale. I wanted a little more from the finale--it left me with questions, but as with the real world we don't always get those answers.

The book talked a lot about DNA and genetic testing, and how that DNA could be used. I loved reading this and feel it was very informative. There is a lot of information that many people probably don't know, including regulation of DNA testing and what DNA can be used for. It was woven very well into the story, and was not at all like reading a textbook with all that dry information. The information was paramount to the characters solving the mystery in the book.

Thank you to #NetGalley and Michael Connelly for this ARC! I can't wait to read more of his books!

Fair Warning
by Michael Connelly
Little, Brown and Company
You Like Them You Are Auto-Approved
Mystery & Thrillers
Pub Date 26 May 2020 | Archive Date 30 Sep 2020

Michael Connelly at his best! We have many readers who request this author. I wanted to give this book a try to see what I am missing. I was really intrigued by this book and how sometimes we can be surprised in mystery/thrillers.

Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for this ARC.
5 star