Customer Reviews

Cookie Cutter

5 star:		(54)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A self-appointed crusader is bumping off victims who he regards as Oreos (black on the outside but white on the inside). A quick tempered hot mama of a homicide detective draws the assignment of stopping him. That's the plot in a nutshell. It's a fresh storyline but I didn't rate it just on originality. What I liked most was the execution and I'm not talking about the murders. I'm talking about the quality of the writing. I found every character believable with strengths and weaknesses. I disconnect with stories based on characters that are all good or all evil. The main character, Bloody Mary (no, that's not the killer), for example, has a number of personal issues that she wrestles with in addition to having to stop a serial killer. And speaking of the devil, Eugene Shaw is an original as far as I know. I've never run across the likes of him on page before and certainly hope never to in person. I sort of stumbled onto this book. It was listed as one of the books readers also bought for another book I ordered. The cover is very eye catching but I was convinced by the reviews. Now I'm returning the favor. Buy the book.

This book should be riveting, based on its premise. Instead, it is clunky and trite. The story isn't so much a reversal of a common theme as a parading of all the usual cliches, done in a slightly different manner. The characters are almost all unappealing or uninteresting, and Mary should have been drawn better. The book is fairly easy to read, but the author's skill is merely adequate, not up to the level of most thriller-writers, let alone Michael Connelly. Read The Poet if you want a story of psychological suspense. Most authors do it better than Sterling, so wait for him to develop into a writer before you spend money on one of his books.

Yeah, this book scored on the fundamentals of plot, character, dialogue, pacing...yadda, yadda, yadda. But as they say on Madison Avenue, sex sells. In this case, the author handled sex in a way that wasn't exploitive but in a way that complimented the story. At different times it was tender, ugly, impersonal, or loving, depending on the participants. The author used sex to give the reader insight into the characters and to give dimension to them. Afterall, reading good writing about sex is second only to the real thing.

I hope that this doesn't come off as sexist, but I was a bit leary over a male writing about a female protagonist, because I'm a guy who's into hard-hitting action---the type that most female protagonists don't deliver. That wasn't the case with Lieutenant Bloody Mary Cunningham. Here, we have an in-your-face, bring-it-on character who can hold her own against the hardest-nose male characters in modern fiction. I give the author kudos for giving Mary a plot that was corky and relentless, and she drove it to the hilt. Sterling Anthony is an author who has intelligence and imagination. But if he doesn't make Mary a serial character, well, I'll take back all of my compliments.

The author should have spent more time developing a hero or heroine (Mary?). I did not find any characters that I could be sympathetic with. The book was too ethnic (Black). I am Black but I don't need to be hit over the head with that. I felt the book could have been lot more effective without playing the 'race card'. I felt the sex scenes in the book were just that, SEX; there was no tenderness or endearing terms. Could have developed the characters better. The author only scratched the surface of the character's emotions. Sterling should have put more into a plausible ending. The book rushed to tie up all the loose ends too conveniently.

COOKIE CUTTER kept me on the edge of my seat. And if that sounds like a cliche, keep in mind that I read while nestled in a very roomy chair. This was a very respectable debut effort that compares favorably with the work of more experienced authors. Anthony demonstrated particular skill in plotting, especially managing parallel subplots then making them all intersect. He also deserves praise for imaginative characterization. I've never encountered anyone quite like heroine Mary Cunningham nor bad guy Eugene Shaw. And while I'm being generous (but honest), I might as well congratulate Anthony on not forcing any political or social agenda on the reader, even though the plot dealt with issues related to both. He concentrated on delivering a tense suspenseful story and he succeeded.

This was a very entertaining story. Thought provoking also. The main character, Mary, reminded me of some females that I have had relationships with: stubborn, professional, and sexy. The motive of the killer was believable because the author did a fine job of presenting his background in sufficient detail for the reader to understand how a killer came to be. There are some philosophical themes in the book that deal with race, politics, and society but they all are relevant to the plot. I appreciate that the author did not preach. I'm going to stay on the lookout for this author's next book because his first one was a fine effort.

This was a pretty good debut novel. I thought the premise was actually quite interesting and very different. Although there are a number of mini sub story lines in this book, the author does a great job of tying everything together in the end. Personally, the book brought back some memories. Having been born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, I remember all too well the 1967 riots and the impact that it had on the city. I also had fond memories of the 4 term mayor who would 'cuss you out in a minute' and the well known Tv anchor who was well known in the area as having a severe drinking problem. For that reason, the book was particularly nostalgic. Can't wait for the second novel.

I gave this book three stars out of five because, for me, it fell in the "not great but not bad" category. I personally could not get into Mary's character. She bothered me from the beginning until near the end and I also did not feel that Eugene's character was developed enough for me to understand why he was killing people. Yes, I could tell he was "crazy" but was it only from the "Parson Curse" that they referred to in the book a few times? I also did not care for the fact that Mary was practically handed the killer at the end. She had some evidence but not really enough to put him away so the ending made me feel like she was not the greatest investigator and the killer came off as being stupid. Not a bad first effort, but the plot had some holes that I could not ignore.

It makes sense to me to judge a psychological suspense novel on whether or not it dealt with psychological themes and whether or not it was suspenseful. This book scores big on both counts. On the psychological side, the reader is given a killer that is very tormented and his background is detailed so that I had no difficulty believing his acts and his state of mind at the end. I found the protagonist less interesting, mainly because she was less complex. But in psychological terms, she had enough personal issues to add to the psychological theme. On the suspense side, there was a lot that I didn't foresee. I got blindsided a couple of times. And in between I kept reading because I really wanted to know what was going to happen next. That's what I call real suspense.