The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly

Jack McEvoy, a reporter at the Los Angeles Times, is given two weeks to train his replacement, then he will be let go. Jack decides to go out with a bang when he finds the story of a 16-year-old boy arrested for murder who just might be innocent. We, as the reader, know he is, since the murder was commited by a serial killer named Carver. Carver is watching every move Jack and FBI Agent Rachel Walling are making. Carver knows they are on his trail and is able to stay one step ahead. Will Jack and Rachel be able to catch him? In The Scarecrow, Jack McEvoy (from Connelly's novel The Poet) and Rachel Walling (from many Connelly novels, including The Poet and some books in the Harry Bosch series) team up again and their attraction to each other is, as before, immediate. Connelly does a great job in this novel describing the decline of the American newspaper and the journalist's job along with it. While The Scarecrow was a fast-paced read, the Harry Bosch series is my favorite by far.