Customer Reviews

Cut to the Bone

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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.

With advance praise from the likes of Lee Child, John J. Nance, Zoe Sharp, and Douglas Preston, my review is pretty much a drop in an ocean. However, I thought that as a reader not entirely fond of serial killer novels I should share the enjoyment I experienced reading Shane Gericke's CUT TO THE BONE.

Forty years ago, a man who was not completely innocent but who definitely was not guilty of the crime was convicted of mass murder and executed. Among the victims was the brother of the Wayne Covington, a man who would later become the crusading pro-execution governor of Illinois. Now Covington is determined to execute the convicted murderer of a pregnant woman and the baby he cut from her womb, despite the mounting protests of anti-execution advocates. Controlling the relatively obedient crowds is an unwanted burden for Detectives Emily Thompson and Marty Benedetti, who are enmeshed a rash of seemingly unrelated homicides involving a ruthless killer who leaves matches at each crime scene.

With her enormous load of emotional baggage, Emily is decidedly pro-execution, which has her butting heads with her partner and lover, Marty. When the killer begins to target Emily she is brought near her breaking point as she balances her own inner turmoil and her determination to solve the murders before the killer achieves his ultimate goal.

While the dialogue occasionally seems more suited for an action movie ("Now! Out! Run for your life!") and the quick point changes at times left me confused, Gericke keeps the action moving along so swiftly that I was unable to put the book down. Gericke throws in some clever red herrings and the plot was so riveting that Cut to the Bone can be read in one sitting. The author also presents a surprisingly balanced view of legal execution, with no side being truly favored. While the motivation behind the killings seems a little far-fetched, this is a very fast-moving read that satisfies the reader and lives up to the success of the previous novel by Gerick, Blown Away.

I enjoy this author. His stories are very graphic and not for a sissy. I'm looking forward to his future books.

Gericke worked for many years as a journalist, and he is the son of a 30-year police veteran. He lives in Naperville, Illinois.

After Gericke's exciting Blown Away, Cut to the Bone follows the story of Naperville Police Detective Emily Thompson, and her boyfriend Marty Benedetti, a commander in the sheriff's office. Several stories come together here, one beginning in 1966; several policemen are killed, among them the brother of Wayne Covington, now Governor.

Another storyline follows Emily and Marty in the present day as they are taking a mud bath at a spa. The receptionist is murdered, and the killer escapes after bouncing Emily off his windshield.

More murders follow, committed all over the U.S.; with the same odd clues--most of the victims are stabbed in distinctive ways; and two burned matches are left at the scene. The NCIS database does pull together the matches and stabbings and connections are made, but it is only when a historian connects newspaper accounts with a project he is working on, that they get a real break.

Meanwhile Governor Covington is preparing to electrocute a particularly nasty murderer, Corey Trent, at his newly constructed Justice Center, and a huge protest crowd is expected. Emily and Marty are among the many officers charged with keeping the peace.

The pacing is relentless, and the serial killer, The Executioner, is very disturbing. The various streams of storyline converge on the day Trent is to be executed, with a huge jolt of a conclusion.

The various sub plots can be a bit confusing; but the finale ties it all together. The relationships between cops and between Emily and Marty are real and a positive part of the story. The cops are heroic and persistent; and the police procedural aspects are spot on.

Armchair Interviews says: Recommended but be wary of the many subplots.

In Naperville Illinois, detective commander in the sheriff's office Martin Benedetti and local police detective Emily Thompson brought down a serial killer. In a very short time Corey Trent was convicted of killing a woman, tearing her unborn from her uterus and killing it too. He is scheduled to die in the electric chair. On site will be Governor Wayne Covington who in the 1960's on the day the Supreme Court struck down the death penalty was at the execution of the man who killed his beloved younger brother, innocent bystanders and some men in blue. He intends to be there for Corey's execution as well.

The police are busy with a series of killings, one of which took place in Naperville. Marty and Emily investigate the homicide including extracting information from the national crime database; at least nine other comes up with the same modus operendi. Also the victims were the grandchildren of Naperville residents. As the killer makes his way back to Naperville and the execution, Martin and Emily race the clock to prevent another murder and see justice done.

Serial killer thrillers are glutting the market but CUT TO THE BONE is no ordinary work. It is as much a police procedural as it is a thriller and there are two shocking twists when taken in total context make perfect sense. The one thing is for sure is that fans won't get bored while reading this novel with its non-stop action, red herrings and romance between Marty and Emily. Their relationship feels genuine, takes up a significant part of the book and brings a little needed light in the dark world that the knights in blue explore.

Harriet Klausner