Connelly is simply the best

Jack McEvoy met the same fate so many people are experiencing today. He's given his pink slip from "The Los Angeles Times." There must be 100 cuts and he's number 99. However, he's given fourteen days to train his replacement, Angela Cook.

As Jack is mulling over his fate, he gets a call from Wanda Sessums, Alonzo Winslow's grandmother. She tells him that the paper has the wrong info. Lo did not confess to murder as the paper claims. Please check the facts, he's being set up.

Jack sees a chance to write one more story. Maybe he'll save his job, or maybe teach the paper that they're letting the wrong person go. He even thought that it might be the chance to write the book he's wanted to do.

After checking, he learns that Lo only said that he saw a purse on the front seat of a car so he stole the car and after taking the money from the purse, he opened the trunk and found the body of stripper, Denise Babbit.

Angela Cook does some research and learns that another woman died in the same way as Denise. This woman was also a stripper and was found in the trunk of her car with marks on her arms similar to Denise's.

The reader learns 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 spy ware and sees that Jack is coming to Vegas to interview the man convicted on killing the first victim.

Carver wants to disrupt Jack. He gets Jack's credit card numbers and calls the company saying they were stolen so put a stop on them, then he finds Jack's email to his boss and deletes it. Finally, he calls the prison and says the prisoner Jack is coming to see, has a hit on him and they need to put him in isolation for his safety.

With all the things going wrong, Jack turns to the only person he could trust, Rachel Walling, the FBI agent he had an affair with when they were working "The Poet" case.

Rachel hears what's happened to Jack and her intuition kicks in. She thinks he's being isolated to be framed or killed so she flies to Vegas and waits for Jack in his room. She doesn't know then but this spoils the attempt on Jack's life by Carver's protege.

Jack and Rachel return to Jack's home and find Angela Cook's body under Jack's bed. Angela calls in the FBI investigators. They are able to trace the emails to the Farm and begin the investigation on Carver.

As usual, Connelly is at his best when dealing out the suspense. The plot was somewhat confusing with Carver and his assistant both being killers. However, Jack is a nice protagonist. He is sincere and shows his ethics in not taking back his job at the expense of another employee. He is also brave and heroic. Rachel is also a good character and reminds me of Jodi Foster in "The Silence of the Lambs."

Recommended.