The Cutting: A McCabe and Savage Thriller (McCabe and Savage Thrillers)
By James Hayman
Publisher: Witness Impulse
Published: June 3, 2014
ASIN: B00J7Q623C
Amazon Synopsis:
The first novel in the
nationally bestselling McCabe and Savage series—perfect for fans of John
Sandford and CJ Box.
Someone is stealing the
hearts of beautiful women...
Detective Mike McCabe
moved from a top homicide job with the NYPD to Portland, Maine to leave his
failed marriage and suspicions of wrongdoing behind, and to find a more
peaceful life for himself and his 13 year old daughter.
But the small New
England city is not nearly as safe as he thought.
On a warm September
night, a missing high-school athlete is found dead in a scrap metal yard, her
heart removed from her body with surgical precision. As outrage over the
killing spreads, a young business woman disappears while out on a morning jog.
McCabe is certain both
crimes are the work of one man—a murderer skilled in cardiac surgery who is
using his scalpel to target young women. With the clock ticking, McCabe
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My Thoughts:
Detective Michael McCabe is called in on a grisly homicide where
the young victim's
heart
was removed with surgical precision. It's discovered that when the heart was
removed, the young woman was still alive, and not anesthetized. The Cutting
follows the gruesome serial killing of athletic young women who have been
murdered by having their hearts removed while they are alive and conscious.
It's Detective McCabe and his partner Maggie Savage's job to find the killer
before the latest missing woman Lucinda Cassidy wind up as his next victim.
With
the heart being removed with such skill and evidence of the use of specialized
equipment required for this type of surgery, McCabe and Savage look for a heart
surgeon who could possibly be the
murderer. Their clues take them from
Florida to New York and even to Europe.
As
in many serial killer cases, the fascination with killing begins in childhood.
This killer loves the feeling of power that comes with kidnapping and
controlling the life of his victim for the time he controls her before he kills
her.. This is evidenced in the total control he has over her, keeping her in
total darkness, guiding her hand to the bucket to relieve herself, and to the
toilet paper, his use of her at his pleasure and so on. He didn't really need
to take his victim as many days in advance of his killing of her. That week or
so before his murder of the victim was partly for his own pleasure.
We
can see that he has no real fear of being caught as he even introduces himself
to his victims, albeit with an alias, and then jokes about his name. He allows
his victim to get a clear view of his face because he "knows" he will
not be caught.
The
Cutting
was extremely suspenseful. Though there were scenes where we were with the
killer and followed his movements, we really did not know who he was. We had a
clear sense of the evil in him. I loved how the plot and the evidence led us to
thinking one individual was involved in a particular way, only to discover that
wasn't the way it was at all. In fact, many of the things that we were led to
believe were mere twists in the plot.
The
Cutting
was cleverly written and made you feel as though you were right beside
Detectives McCabe and Savage. I know I wanted to kick McCabe once or twice for
his impulsiveness and stubbornness at wanting to go off after the killer
without backup. Not only was it against protocol but it nearly got him killed.
The
profanity and the sexually graphic content of The Cutting makes this
book a definite adult-only novel. I
don't think the addition of the profanity or sexual content really added
anything to the novel. I think the novel would have been just as compelling and
suspenseful without it.
I
liked that we got to know a bit about McCabe's daughter Casey and her situation
with her mother. It gave us an insight into another aspect of McCabe's
personality. His concern over whether or not "Casey wouldn't be better off
living a life where she wouldn't have to wonder whether her father's gonna come
home dead or alive" shows us that he is concerned about how his job
affects his daughter.
The
Cutting
was a tremendously satisfying mystery/suspense read. I'd love to give it 4 and
1/2 stars, but due to the (in my opinion) unnecessary profanity and sexual
content, I gave it 4 stars out of 5.
Thank
you to the publishers for providing a copy of the book in exchange for a fair
and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my
own.
About the Author:
Like McCabe, I’m a native New Yorker. He was born in the
Bronx. I was born in Brooklyn. We both grew up in the city. He dropped out of
NYU Film School and joined the NYPD, rising through the ranks to become the top
homicide cop at the Midtown North Precinct. I graduated from Brown and joined a
major New York ad agency, rising through the ranks to become creative director
on accounts like the US Army, Procter & Gamble, and Lincoln/Mercury.
We both married beautiful brunettes. McCabe’s wife, Sandy
dumped him to marry a rich investment banker who had “no interest in raising
other people’s children.” My wife, Jeanne, though often given good reason to
leave me in the lurch, has stuck it out through thick and thin and is still my
wife. She is also my best friend, my most attentive reader and a perceptive critic.
Both McCabe and I eventually left New York for Portland,
Maine. I arrived in August 2001, shortly before the 9/11 attacks, in search of
the right place to begin a new career as a fiction writer. He came to town a
year later, to escape a dark secret in his past and to find a safe place to
raise his teenage daughter, Casey.
There are other similarities between us. We both love good
Scotch whiskey, old movie trivia and the New York Giants. And we both live with
and love women who are talented artists.
There are also quite a few differences. McCabe’s a lot
braver than me. He’s a better shot. He likes boxing. He doesn’t throw up at
autopsies. And he’s far more likely to take risks. McCabe’s favorite Portland
bar, Tallulah’s, is, sadly, a figment of my imagination. My favorite Portland
bars are all very real.
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