TLC Tour Review: The Poet by Lisa Renee Jones

Title: The Poet

Author: Lisa Renee Jones

Year Published: 2021

Category: Adult thriller

Pages: 368

Rating: 4 out of 5

Location (my 2021 Google Reading map): USA (TX)

Summary (from the inside flap of the book): The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth.” -Jean Cocteau

Some call him friend or boss.

Some call him husband or dad.

Some call him son, even a favorite son.

But the only title that matters to him is the one the media has given him: The Poet.

A name he earned from the written words he leaves behind after he kills that are as dark and mysterious as the reason he chooses his victims.

One word, two, three, a story in a poem, a secret that only Detective Samantha Jazz can solve. Because he’s writing this story for her.

She just doesn’t know it yet.

Purchase Links Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

Entangled Publishing

Review: It's another thriller! This really is the genre for the times. That works well for me since I enjoy a good thriller. This novel combines a few things that work well for me in a book: strong female lead, detective/police/mystery solving as the main characters, tension because there are multiple people who could be "the bad guy," and good relationships.

Detective Sam Jazz is smart, has a great spidey sense when something just isn't right, and she is independent. That said, why are all the other characters male? This is a serious question for me. I am looking forward to the day when many of the characters are women or BIPOC and it isn't a big deal. The men in this book do spend a fair amount of time talking to Samantha with sexual innuendos, which I know is accurate, but it would be great to read a book where the woman just does a great job and has supportive colleagues. Actually, the two main colleagues in this are supportive and they work well with her.

The mystery portion of this book had me flipping pages quickly so that I could find out what happened next. I was afraid for the next victims, I wondered who the perpetrator was, and I woke up early to finish the book before I had to start work. That's a good sign. Then the book wrapped up too quickly. I often feel this way about mysteries and thrillers, it's as if they realize the book is getting too long and so the police/detective/whomever figures it out in what feels like a rush.

So, I liked this book quite a bit and recommend it if you are into thrillers. There isn't too much gore, you get to know a bit about the main character (and she's a good one), and the story will pull you along at a good clip.

Challenges for which this counts: