In my last blog post, I discussed Michael Connelly's 1996 novel "The Poet," and why I had decided to read it now. I have just finished the book and I liked it. The story held together pretty well, and there were several clever twists and turns as newspaper reporter Jack McEvoy works with the FBI to track down a serial killer.

This is not my usual type of reading material, but as a change of pace I enjoyed the fast-moving narrative. Connelly, a former newspaper reporter himself, is a clear and concise writer, and he does a fine job here of capturing the journalism game as well as the world of the FBI.

Now it's on to Connelly's latest novel, "The Scarecrow," which resurrects the newspaper reporter character after many years in mothballs.