Cut To The Bone [Mass Market Paperback]

Detectives Emily Thompson and Marty Benedetti are back, along with the supporting cast of "Blown Away" in Gericke's second effort revolving around a serial killer, the Executioner. It is two years later and seemingly unrelated deaths are piling up across the country with no unifying clue until a small town law enforcement officer following standard police procedure enters the finding of two burnt matches at a murder scene into the NCIC and suddenly finds links between all of these killings which previously had been assumed random.

Concurrently, the storyline follows the efforts of Wayne Covington, Governor of the state, death penalty crusader, and friend to our protagonists, to execute Corey Trent in the first legal electrocution in 30 years. Covington's younger brother, a police officer, was killed three decades earlier in front of Wayne's eyes and he has been a death penalty zealot ever since to the point of obsession.

The book actually describes parallel executions, planned and implemented 30 years apart. The first leads up to the execution of the presumed killer of Covington's brother and the second leads up to the planned execution of Trent, a heartless killer of a pregnant mother and her cut-from-the-womb baby. There are, of course, hidden threads linking the two executions that become clearer as the plot unfolds.

Finally, there is a thread revolving around several attempts to murder Emily or Marty or both. Who is being targeted...and why? How are these attempts tied to the pending execution? And what is the future for Emily and Marty now that Emily has discovered that Marty has a deep secret he has hidden from her for years? Clearly there is emotional turmoil on several levels in this book.

I found the first two-thirds of this book to be somewhat formulaic and, while well written, to be uninspiring. I did not find myself engulfed in the many plotlines, nor into the lives of the characters. I was beginning to question why I was finishing the book; however, at that point, things accelerated dramatically until reaching a breathtaking climax. A red herring or two, a credulity straining series of coincidences, an obsessed Governor , and our injured protagonists all come together with the serial killer who has a surprise method to his madness in an excruciatingly detailed climax.

Quibbles: The short choppy chaptering increases occasional confusion as Gericke writes from at least three distinct Points of View. For an intricately planned disruption of an execution and accompanying assassination of a major character, the plot at the end depended too heavily on a series of coincidental occurrences, for example, a food poisoned national guardsman and a karate obsessed little girl, that strained my Suspension of Disbelief.

Keep the lights on when you read Cut to the Bone because you will be jumping at every creak of a board, bump on a window or footsteps that come close.

There is a serial killer out there that seems to murder randomly with no apparent pattern. Victims are spread across the country and the only similarity is two burnt matches left at the scene. The deaths are extremely cruel and ruthless. "The Executioner" as he calls himself has an agenda only he knows and a deadline that he has to meet.

Detectives Emily Thompson and Marty Benedetti are assigned to a local murder almost by default because they happened to be at the spa where the grisly murder took place in broad daylight with witnesses. Unfortunately no one really got a glimpse of what the murderer looked like. There is no trace evidence, no DNA, nothing to help solve this case only the matches.

At the time they are trying to solve this case, Governor Covington is on a mission. He has gotten the death sentence reinstated in IL. The newly built Justice Center is about to hold the first execution by electrocution in 30 years. NOTHING is going to delay this event. Covington is obsessed with seeing it carried out. He has his own agenda and the world could explode but the man scheduled to be "fried" is going to die on the scheduled date!

Events collide and make for a super charged ending that has some surprises and a lot of action.

Shane Gericke has a superbly crafted thriller in Cut to the Bone. The characters are all well rounded - strengths - weaknesses - flaws - secrets and all. The story also touches on the pros and cons of the death penalty. Benedetti is strongly against execution but for reasons known only to him feels compelled to be there. Thompson is totally in favor of the death penalty for murderers and for her own reasons wants to be there. The two sides of the issue are intertwined in the story but not overstated or dwelled upon. The love between Benedetti and Thompson gives even more zest to the story. All-in-all a great thriller and I look forward to reading more from Gericke.

I especially liked this follow-up to BLOWN AWAY. Emily Thompson is back and she's now living with Marty...sorta. But a cold blooded killer named the Executioner plans to add her to his list of victims and do so in a very public way. What's more, Emily's got trouble on the home front. Seems Marty's got an Alice, and he's not telling Emily about her.

Shame Gericke's really found his element. A former Sun Times editor, he knows the Chicago and Naperville scenes, incorporates this knowledge into his stories, and has a knack for strong, succinct prose and realistic dialogue. I'm very much anticipating Emily's next adventure.

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