Fair Warning

By: Michael Connelly

Narrated by: Peter Giles, Zach Villa

Veteran reporter Jack McEvoy has taken down killers before, but when a woman he had a one-night stand with is murdered in a particularly brutal way, McEvoy realises he might be facing a criminal mind unlike any he's ever encountered.

McEvoy investigates - against the warnings of the police and his own editor - and makes a shocking discovery that connects the crime to other mysterious deaths across the country. But his inquiry hits a snag when he himself becomes a suspect.

As he races to clear his name, McEvoy's findings point to a serial killer working under the radar of law enforcement for years and using personal data shared by the victims themselves to select and hunt his targets.

©2020 Michael Connelly (P)2020 Orion Publishing Group

Story to think about

Love Michael Connelly, all the cases and all his books have a moral behind it and it makes you this twice before you just jump into the unknown
Thank you

Michael Connelly Delivers Again

I have every Connelly book in my library so I am a real fan and love most of his books. This book did not disappoint.
Journalist Jack McEvoy works for an Internet news site called "Fair Warning" and usually investigates situations that affect consumers. When he's questioned by the LAPD about the homicide of a woman he had a one-night-stand with, he becomes interested due to the way she was killed. He senses there might be a story and finds that the victim also had told a friend that she had been a victim of cyber-stalking. Jack sets out to learn all he can about Tina Portero and soon finds himself down the rabbit hole. Soon he has information about four similar deaths and all of the women had turned their DNA over to a company known as GT23. All of them seem to be the work of one person -- The Shrike.

This was great writing and lots of action with details galore. Although two other books by this author feature Jack McEvoy, this worked fine as a standalone. (I listened to THE POET and also THE SCARECROW again before the book was released to refresh my memory. Both great books) The listener is immediately drawn into the story and the well-drawn characters are believable as the narrative continues relentlessly to the climax. Who is the elusive Shrike and where will he strike next? The really scary stuff within actually has to do with the concern about the DNA that so many willingly put in an envelope and mail to these companies. For, you see, government oversight of the DNA analytics industry is a bit lax.

Another interesting aspect of this novel is that, even though this book is a work of fiction, the news site "Fair Warning" actually exists and does watchdog reporting as described. The science is real. The dangers are real.

Peter Giles and Zach Villa were wonderful with the delivery of the story

Jack McAvoy is so frustrating

Jack McAvoy is so frustrating, so consumed in himself. He could have otherwise ended up with the woman he yearned for.

Wish there were more books in the McEvoy series!

Really enjoyed this one, especially the discussion between Michael Connelly and Myron Levin at the end. Never imagined that Fairwarning actually existed. It was interesting to hear about it. Having only read the book in 2026, and upon checking the website, it was disappointed to find out that it had been shut down in 2021. Even more so because of the reason behind it. It is a shame that such an organization does not exist anymore. It made the topic of this story even more relevant, bringing an element of reality and (still) current events into a fictional setting. The narrator did an excellent job too.