Annie Oakley is on tour at the Chicago World's Fair along with her manager and husband Frank. Annie is tired out from a grueling tour schedule as well as suffering from an earlier miscariage. Just when Annie is starting to feel like things are getting back on track, a friend from childhood leaves her young daughter, Lizzie with Annie with no explanation. At the same time, a body is found at the fairgrounds and one of Annie's fellow performers is accused of murder for defending her from a enraged man. Annie is determined to help her friend prove his innocence as well as help Lizzie reunite with her mother all while continuing to perform flawlessly at Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Transporting me back to the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, Folly at the Fair is a multi-layered mystery featuring real life heroine, Annie Oakley. While Annie may not have actually been a detective, her character attributes of being a dedicated, hard working, and honest friend make her easily believable in this role. I did love the descriptions of Annie's performances in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show along with many of the other acts that were all recreated from history. The mystery was fast-paced and kept the suspense and tension high. While I had a good idea of who the culprit was from early on, the writing kept me on my toes with two possible suspects. With a heart-pounding ending, this mystery entertains from beginning to end. This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

This took me almost an hour to be able to post something. I just want to scream. Trying to add tags and all of that took me a really long time too. 

 

Interesting third book looking at the character of Jack McEvoy. Or as I started to call him, his own worst enemy. I honestly dithered about 3 or 4 stars, but ultimately gave it 4 stars because I thought this one had a lot of interesting sub-plots that I was glad to see Connelly tackle (privacy and DNA). But I was tempted to give it 3 stars because Jack is beyond annoying at this point with his constant need to be a jerk and awful to Rachel. Also it's kind of annoying that Jack will get some success and then we find him 10 years later down in his fortunes (again) due to mess he did (again). Also if you are a serial killer one wonders why anyone even goes near McEvoy.

 

"Fair Warning" finds Jack McEvoy 10 years later after the events in the second book. Readers know that he and Rachel Walling had plans to open their own agency after she finishes up with the FBI. Rachel was in a Harry Bosch book, a few years back, and I can't remember what book it was. She mentions at the time that she was with Jack though as an aside to Harry. So between that Bosch book and now, Jack and Rachel are once again done. We don't get the details, initially, but just go with your gut that Jack messed things up. When you read what happens you are going to go yep he messed things up. Shocker.

 

Jack is now working at a site called "Fair Warning" that deals with consumer warnings. It doesn't sound too exciting and you wonder if Jack misses the big stories that he used to chase down. When Jack is interviewed by the police due to his connection to a murder victim though, he starts to investigate the dead woman and finds a surprising connection between her getting her DNA tested to then being murdered. When Jack starts to identify more victims, he is put on the radar of three men. Jack also reaches out to his former lover, Rachel Walling in order to put together a profile of the killer. Connelly moves the story back and forth between Jack, two men, and the murderer.

 

Honestly Jack kind of sucks. I think that Rachel and other characters really drove this story for me. He stays selfish and doesn't trust anyone and constantly bleats about his story, his scoop, and wanting to ride along with the FBI or police. We do get into the rights of the media in this one which I do think is important now more than ever, but Jack once again kind of sucks so you want him to just be quiet after a while. He also messes so many things up that you are kind of exhausted by him.

 

The murder mystery and how it ties into DNA and privacy though I thought was cleverly done. I have to say that I have never done one of those DNA tests things and have zero plans to do so. There's way too many caveats and I am always surprised that the same people who want to yell about their freedom don't care they are giving up a lot of information to a random DNA site.

 

The ending leaves you with more questions than answers though. We have Jack moving into a new direction which honestly makes sense for him and for a lot of journalists these days. However, he still wants something more. With the ending I think we end up seeing a fourth book in this series.

 

The whole Fair Warning publication is apparently real so if readers for a need, they can click on it and see some stories.

Savannah is the trainer for the Moncton Ice Cats. She maintains a chilly front so the players don't hit on her. When she learns the team is up for sale, she lets Garrick LeBlanc know and they start to plan how the current owner can keep the team. Because of this they grow closer but, unfortunately, a buyer has stepped forward. Can they keep this buyer from the team? What will happen if this buyer gets the team?

 

There is a lot going on in this book. First, the romance. Second, the team and its sale. Third, problems for Savannah with a certain player. Lots of action and adventure as this story goes on as Savannah and Garrick have to find out the truth about the person who wants to buy the team. Savannah sure is a wiz with tape. It saves her many a day. I liked these characters, especially the good guys. I like how Savannah is oblivious to the support she has and discovers it has been there all along. I was glad the bad guys got theirs. Could not have happened to better couple. They deserve each other.

 

I am looking forward to the other books in this series.

Veteran reporter Jack McEvoy is no longer on the crime beat, he's no longer hunting serial killers or anything of the sort. He's doing consumer watchdog reporting for a website. One night after work, he's approached by two LAPD Detectives about a former one-night stand, Christina Portrero, who has been murdered. The detectives take an almost instant disliking to McEvoy and he's soon a Person of Interest.

 

I groaned once figured out what was going on initially (it's in the book blurb, I really should pay more attention to things like that). Series protagonists being suspected of murder almost never works for me. The stakes don't feel real. But Connelly abandons this fairly quickly, and his being a person of interest really only serves to get McEvoy interested in the case. Because there's no way he's going to wait for the police to clear him—he's going back to his strengths to clear his name, and maybe uncover the truth.

 

McEvoy quickly discovers a handful of murders throughout the country that seem to match Portrero's. But the link between them eludes him for a while—and once he begins to get an idea, it's so outlandish that it seems near-impossible. Teaming up with another reporter at the website, he dives in—defying the police. He also recruits Rachel Waling (now in the private sector) to help build a profile of the killer.

 

McEvoy isn't too far into this investigation before he comes alive—he seems content with his work (maybe not the income from it), but it's not the same as this kind of work. Working with Walling doesn't hurt his enthusiasm, either.

 

This would just not have worked as a Bosch or Ballard story, it possibly could've worked as a Mickey Haller story—had he been representing someone like McEvoy. But why go to that much trouble when you've got Jack in your back pocket for just this time? (also, we've already got a Haller novel slated for later this year).

 

One of the advantages of Connelly having invested so little into the character is that the peril he faces when the killer focuses his attention on McEvoy (or Walling)—there's a strong sense of peril. I'm not worried about Ballard or Haller (although I can see the appeal of letting Bosch go out in action, rather than retiring), so even when things get threatening, you don't really worry too much. But McVoy? Come on, the dude's totally expendable and therefore the danger is real.

 

The initial set up just left me cold, but by the time that had been resolved and the team was fully into the investigation? I was hooked. Hooked in the "please don't bother me with anything short of medical emergency" sense. That didn't stop my family from interrupting me, but it did result in me glaring at them frequently.

 

This isn't Connelly at his best—it's not even the best McEvoy novel. But man, it's gripping. It's exciting. I had a great time reading it and am glad Connelly brought McEvoy back (and leaves the door open for more).

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Jack is now writing for an online magazine Fair Warning, a consumers watchdog type of machine that exposed the wrong doing of companies and protect the public interest. 

 

He is called on the police again when a woman was killed. This woman name Christine when out of a date with Jack a year ago. He didn't recognized the name at first as he knew her as Tina. 

Now he is a person of interest for the police because the victim's friend told the police that she was cyber stalked by a creep who she had met before. Jack knowing his own innocence offer his DNA to clear his name. 

 

He then interviewed and search for more information on Christine. She was young and has recently got in-touch with long lost family through genetic matching. She used the service of GT23, a genetic matching services that only cost 23 dollars. 

 

That got Jack interested. The victim was found and she broken her neck internally, with a term AOD, atlanto-occipital dislocation. He then posted on a coroner forum and asked if anyone seen suspicious cases like that. 

 

By linking the murders to the genetic matching services, he found out that the genetic sequencing services have no regulatory body at all. It is a self-regulating service subject to abuse. He pitched this to Myron his editor and got the go ahead to write this piece focusing of genetic sequencing services. 

 

He also got Rachel involved. They had broken up because Jack mistake. He put his piece before the interest of Rachel. Now Rachel is working as a private investigator doing background check. 

 

Getting her involved is a good move. She still know people in the FBI and they could help the case. The local police had mistreated Jack when he tried to raise alarm. 

 

The investigation lead to Incel group, (Involuntary Celibate) sexist men who think they are entitled to have sex with women. These are women haters. One of these jerk was a geneticist who had bought genetic information from GT23, and resold the information to other Incel men on women who had addictive behavior gene labelled as Dirty4. 

 

These sexists are targeting women and preying on them. One of them is the killer. 

 

Really good book. The story flow nicely and fast. A lot of tension and action that flow naturally. Not a lot of surprised plot twists but really good discovery on how we offer our genetic and social information that could be misused on the web. 

 

Excellent work. Highly recommended.