Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Unavailable
The Scarecrow
Unavailable
The Scarecrow
Unavailable
The Scarecrow
Audiobook (abridged)5 hours

The Scarecrow

Written by Richard Powers

Narrated by Peter Giles

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

Forced out of the Los Angeles Times amid the latest budget cuts, newspaperman Jack McEvoy decides to go out with a bang, using his final days at the paper to write the definitive murder story of his career.

He focuses on Alonzo Winslow, a 16-year-old drug dealer in jail after confessing to a brutal murder. But as he delves into the story, Jack realizes that Winslow's so-called confession is bogus. The kid might actually be innocent.

Jack is soon running with his biggest story since The Poet made his career years ago. He is tracking a killer who operates completely below police radar--and with perfect knowledge of any move against him. Including Jack's.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMay 26, 2009
ISBN9781600245725
Unavailable
The Scarecrow
Author

Richard Powers

Richard Powers is the author of thirteen novels. His most recent, The Overstory, won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. He is also the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and the National Book Award, and he has been a four-time National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. He lives in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.

More audiobooks from Richard Powers

Related to The Scarecrow

Related audiobooks

Thrillers For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for The Scarecrow

Rating: 3.830011015614618 out of 5 stars
4/5

903 ratings58 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This novel represents Michael Connelly taking one of his regular breaks from the chronicles of Hieronymus ‘Harry’ Bosch, although there are a few oblique references to him. The principal character this time is Jack McEvoy, who has figured peripherally in a couple of the Bosch novels, and who was the main protagonist of ‘The Poet’.McEvoy is an experienced reporter, and for the last nine years has been chief crime correspondent for the LA Times. By 2010, however, the paper is struggling to keep its head above water, as hard copy sales diminish, and even its internet version finds difficulty competing with its rival titles. It is, therefore, ‘downsizing’, and McEvoy falls victim to an austerity drive. Because of the exploits recounted in ‘The Poet’, he had come to the paper as a celebrated journalist who could command a high salary. Nine years on, that high salary puts him on a list of reporters that the paper chooses to ‘let go’, giving him a fortnight’s notice and, to add insult to injury, he is asked to train up his young (and therefore much cheaper) replacement.Still dazed from his bruising encounter with the newspaper’s HR department, he receives a call from a woman complaining about the way her son has been represented by both the paper and the police. It transpires that he has been arrested for the murder of a young woman whose mutilated body was found in the boot of her car. McEvoy had run a brief story which closely followed a press notice issued by the police. Conscious that there may be some mileage in investigating further, thinking it might make for an interesting final case with the paper, he resolves to look into the case more deeply.Working with his prospective replacement, who emerges as already highly capable, and desperately ambitious, he uncovers some anomalies in the police handling of the case. Having reviewed the available evidence, he comes seriously to question the conclusions that the police have arrived at, and believes that the man in custody may be innocent. He and his new partner also uncover some strong similarities to a previous murder.Like ‘The Poet’, this novel is principally recounted in a first-person narrative from Jack McEvoy, occasionally interspersed with third person authorial narration following the actual murder. He is a computer expert and accomplished hacker, who is able to follow McEvoy’s investigation from afar.This is Connelly being as accomplished as ever: a strong, watertight plot and highly plausible characters. Connelly just seems to get even better as time goes on.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This was far from the quality of writing I've come to expect from the author. The cast of characters was two-dimensional. There was no sense at all that he knew anything about the things he was writing. He does best when writing about Harry Bosch. I have not yet truly enjoyed any of his other characters when they were the focus of a book. I gave this three stars only because it was a mindless way to pass an even more boring afternoon.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I loved the first 80% of this book and stayed up all night reading it, but the ending was TERRIBLE! What drew me in about the first part was the realism of the descriptions of newspaper reporting, paired with a fairly plausible crime story. But when the mild-mannered newspaper reporter suddenly starting duking it out with bad guys I found it hard to suspend my disbelief.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Jack McEvoy and Rachel Walling pair up after many years to try to solve a series of sadistic killings of young women, while the reader knows who the perpetrator is and can predict the next horrific event.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The Scarecrow was Connelly's twentieth published novel and features Jack McEvoy, a Los Angeles Times crime reporter and Rachel Walling, the FBI's top profiler. Both characters worked together in The Poet, which had been published thirteen years earlier. The novel carries many similarities to Connelly's Bosch series, simply with different characters. It is recommended for anyone who enjoys the Bosch series or Connelly's Lincoln Lawyer series.

    It is, without question, a terrific and well-written story that captures the reader from the beginning and does not let go. It contains elements of police procedural crime stories, legal thrillers, and serial killers. It is also quite a modern story which takes place in the internet age with cell phones, hackers, and server farms. Connelly does tell the story from multiple points of view, at times intersplicing brief chapters from the killer's point of view.

    Without giving anything away, it is a terrific book and one of Connelly's best ever. Enjoy!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Good, would give it 3.75 stars if I could.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    this is not my normal genre, but in the spirit of summer as the time to explore new areas I gave it a try - a page turner even in audio!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A really great thriller by Connelly. This one features reporter Jack McEvoy and FBI Agent Rachel Walling. Jack is contacted by a family member of a person that he wrote about for the newspaper who insists that they are innocent. Jack decides to do some research and finds another crime that is identical. He and Rachel team up to bring down the killer know as the Scarecrow while he is trying to destroy them. Where will the cat and mouse game end...
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A good Michael Connelly novel, although the Jack McEvoy character is not as well defined as Harry Bosch, Connelly's main hero. One of the problems with the plot is that you no who the Scarecrow is fairly early on, so the story is more about trying to catch him than a whodunit mystery
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    a jack mcavoy book - the reporter that was in the Poet and Rachel Walling. Good story about a serial killer that is a data geek (named Wesley Carver). Excellent listen though started a little slow.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I was slightly disappointed by this book. Not sure why, because Void Moon and The Lincoln L awyer were both excellent reads. Maybe the subject matter just left me a little cold.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a sequel to The Poet, which was a good read. The Scarecrow's is well written and well characterized, but it isn't as suspenseful as the Poet or Black Echo was. Maybe I'm becoming too familiar with Connelly's writing and there's some predictability. Another factor though is that this one even more than The Poet was written from both McEvoy's point of view and the villain's. From the beginning, there's no mystery for the reader to solve, you only wonder how or whether the protagonists will catch the villain. Among the suspense/thrillers I've read, this technique seems surprisingly common. Other more convincing books with that dual perspective for the reader include Forsyth's The Day of the Jackal and Higgins' The Eagle Has Landed. But in The Scarecrow I think it would have been a stronger book if we didn't know so much about what the killer does, how he plans and operates before McEvoy uncovers it all.This was the third Connelly book I read. Black Echo, The Poet, then Scarecrow. The character of Jack McEvoy is convincing and human, no doubt written so well since he works the same job Connelly himself held for so many years. He's a heroic alter ego of the author.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Fun listen, twists and turns of plot kept me engaged.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Interesting plot for this serial killer book. I wonder if there are really people out there that can hack computers as well as this guy can.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Reporter being downsized out of the LA Times begins writing his last big story along with his replacement but instead becomes part of the story as a serial killer targets him and his girlfriend, an FBI agent. It becomes apparent that the killer has an accomplice and has computer hacking knowledge.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    quick summer read. not deep. no sursprises. not really my style.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Delighted to find this in our holiday cottage and quickly read it. Jack McEvoy a crime reporter on the LA Times who has been downsized out of a job, seizes an opportunity of one last scoop to go out on a high. The story seems to be an innocent black juvenile accused of murder but soon becomes a much deeper,darker story. Great holiday read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book in the Jack McEvoy series sees Jack being laid off by the newspaper and wanting to go out in style. One last story to show them that they shouldn't have let him go. But what can he find?The story of a 16 year old drug dealer who's grandmother says he was wrongly accused of murder seems like the ideal story. One that can be done in a week, show him as a good reporter and see him leave in glory. However this was until he finds an undercurrent to the story which leads to the discovery of a serial killer and then means that he is being chased down so that the story can be killed and this is only done with him dying.This is the sort of murder story you do not want to put down. It is pure fiction at its best as you lose yourself in it and then when you next look you are 50 odd pages further on in the book. Read it and enjoy every page please!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This was great as an audio book.Lots of surprises and the protagonist as a newspaper reporter kept me interested.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Best Michael Connelly in awhile. Great tense thriller recalling the characters from The Poet.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really enjoyed this book. It is very timely, with really up to date references to what is happening in the newspaper biz and the far reach of the internet. I was very glad to see a new protagonist....I liked him a lot. When an author is writing a series around a central figure, it starts to get old for me.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The only other book I've read by Michael Connelly is "The Lincoln Lawyer." Based on reading those two books, I would say that one of the unique features of his mysteries is that in the course of defining his protagonist, the reader will learn a lot about his/her profession. In "The Lincoln Lawyer", you learn a lot about what it is like to be a criminal attorney who is forced to defend someone he knows is guilty. In "The Scarcrow," you learn a lot about what it is like to work as a journalist for a major newspaper, in this case the L.A. times. I found this an interesting enough story, but I would have preferred to learn more about the serial killer the book is named after. When you do learn about what motivates and drives him, it's pretty much in the last few pages of the book. A few hints are dropped here and there, but aside from that, the bad guy remains pretty much a stock character. I didn't dislike the book, but I wouldn't recommend it for anyone other than hardcore Michael Connelly fans, those who want to read everything he has written.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    pretty good. good reader. i can't really tell you how the hero solved this. some parts seemed to be glossed over. but i was carried along. i agree that the perversion talked about is so peculiar. where would one get leg braces now? e-bay?
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Suspense fiction with a brain and, more importantly, good writing. Books by authors like Michael Connelly create a sharp contrast to formulaic, less imaginative tales. "Scarecrow" is the typical good read that makes it sad when you come to the end.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Jack McEvoy met the same fate so many people are having today. He's given his notice as the "Los Angeles Times" is cutting jobs. He is given 14 days so he can train his successor, Angela Cook.As Jack is mulling over his fate, he gets a call from Wanda Sessums, Alonzo Winslow's grandmother. Wanda tells him that the paper has the wrong info. He did not confess to a murder as they paper claims. Would he check his info.Jack sees a chance to write one last story and maybe save his job, maybe teach the paper that they were letting the wrong man go. He even thought that it may be the time to write that book that he'd wanted.He does check the info and it turns out at Lo only said he saw a purse with money in it on the front seat of a car so he stole the car. Then he looked into the trunk and saw the dead body of stripper, Denise Babbit.Angela does some research and finds anothe woman died in the same way, she was also a stripper and found in the trunk of her car with marks on her similiar to Denise had.We learn about a place called the Farm and a man named Carver. He is one of the killers. He has a web site for trunk murder search and learns of Angela's inquiry. Thinking things were getting too close, he uses his spyware and learns that Jack is coming to Vegas to interview the man convicted of the first victim's murder.Carver makes Jack's credit cards unusable for a short while, changes the email to his boss and tells the prison that there's a threat to the prisoner's life so that man is put under guard and Jack can't see him.With the credit cards claiming he told them they were stolen so they put a temporary stop on them, and the prisoner unable to see him, Jack turned to one person he knew he could trust, Rachel Walling, an FBI agent he had an affair with when working on "The Poet" case.Rachel hears what's happened and feels Jack is being set up so she flys out to Vegas to warn him. She waits in his hotel room and unknowingly, spoils the attempt of Carcer's associate to kill Jack.Jack and Rachel return to Jack's home. They find Angela's body under Jack's bed. With this, RAchel brings in the investigating team from the FBI.They are able to trace the emails to the Farm and begin the investigation of Carver.As usual for Michael Connelly, this is a suspenseful novel. The plot was somewhat confusing with Carter not being the only killer. However, Jack is a nice protagonist. He is sincere and has a ethical goal seen in not taking his job back at the cost of someone else. He is also brave and heroic. Rachel is also a good character. She reminds me of Jodi Foster in "The Silence of the Lambs."Well done and recommended.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    There were some twists once the killer was identified to the reader, but not enough to make the identification worth while. I wish that the author had delayed this gratification just a little while longer. The pacing was good, but it was difficult to get invested in the characters. A nice quick mystery read but nothing mind-blowing.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Bestseller Connelly comments on the plight of print journalism in a nail-biting thriller featuring reporter Jack McEvoy, last seen in 2004's The Narrows. When Jack is laid off from the L.A. Times with 14 days' notice to tie up loose ends, he decides to go out with a bang. What starts as a story about the wrongful arrest of a young gangbanger for the brutal rape and murder of an exotic dancer turns out to be just the tip of an iceberg that takes McEvoy from the Nevada desert to a futuristic data-hosting facility in Arizona. FBI agent Rachel Walling, with whom he worked on a serial killer case in 1996's The Poet, soon joins the hunt, but as the pair uncover more about the killer and his unsettling predilections, they realize that they too are being hunted. With every switch between McEvoy's voice and the villain's Connelly ratchets up the tension.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I just can't help it. I love Michael Connelly's books. He's one of the few people writing in this genre that consistently delivers a good read. He manages to do this when writing books about his main series character, Hieronymous Bosch, or about other series characters, or when writing stand alone novels. His writing is crisp, his plotting is excellent & I'm always entertained.This book finds us back again with Jack McEvoy, the erstwhile hero of an earlier book, The Poet. In that book, Jack, a newspaper reporter has helped catch a serial killer & has risen up the newspaper food chain - even writing a best-seller based on the crime. Now, things are much different. The newspaper business is dying, & money for print journalism is drying up - this means layoffs & Jack just got one. His pursuit of his last big story leads him in an unexpected direction & reunites him with Rachel, his love from the first book.Connelly makes the world of the newspaper believable - he should since he was a reporter once himself. He also handily creates the atmosphere of a company with an ongoing Reduction in Force - I've lived through those, I know what I'm talking about. He's got the dread, the depression, the bravado, the anxiety. All of these elements swirled together with the chase for a new killer make for a fun mix.I've said before that I appreciate the way Connelly writes L.A. It reminds me a bit of the way the original CSI shows us Las Vegas. Sure, it's the Strip & Fremont Street & tourists & gamblers, but it's also hustlers & the homeless & folks living out the American Suburban Dream. In many ways the Las Vegas of CSI is more real than the actual place, if only because my access is broader.Connelly's L.A. has Hollywood & Beverly Hills & Rodeo Drive, but it's also got Santa Monica & downtown L.A. around the Parker Center. It's got lawyers & cops & reporters & gang bangers & laundry entrepreneurs & he gets that L.A. is all about the hustle. I like a writer who can capture a place & Connelly's one of those.All in all another satisfying read from a highly dependable writer.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Scarecrow marks the reappearance of Jack McEvoy and Rachel Walling previously seen in The Poet. McEvoy comes across strongly obviously due to his journalism career being a close parallel to Connelly's own. While I wouldn't rate this as one of Connelly's best it is enjoyable but given that we know who the scarecrow is from early on it is not really a whodunnit or similar, more a case of who will come out on top in a game of cat and mouse. Recommended.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A! good thriller. Jack MeEvoy is at the end of the line as a crime reporter. Once a hotshot in the newsroom, Jack is now in the crosshairs of the latest set of layoffs at the LA Times. He decides to to out with a bang.using his final days at the paper to write the definitive murder story of his career.Jack focuses on Alonzo Winslow, a sixteen-year old drug dealer in jail after confessing to the brutal murder of a young woman found strangled in the trunk of her car.