The Poet

How it reads

The Poet is mystery (serial-killer crime mystery, specifically), and its dominant mood is dark. It goes to difficult places and doesn't look away. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.

It's set in a big city setting, in the recent past, told in the first person by a single narrator. Its central concerns are justice, secrets and loss and grief. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is dark — no rescue, no neat bow. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.