Customer Reviews

Cutthroat

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I finished this just the other night. It was a true masterpiece of contemporary horror suspense. This was the first Slade I ever read, and I am making plans to go looking for some more this weekend. I truly liked his descriptive narration and the urban myths and history were really cool. If you ever find this, ya gotta get it!

Yet another harrowing, blood curdling tale in Slade's saga. We watch familiar characters battle even more evil humans (although - you would like to think they aren't with what they do..) Get ready for a bumpy night if you read this after dark!

In this one we start out with a Canadian judge being assassinated. We take a peak in on Custer's last stand. Then we flip around to Hong Kong. Some Canadian mountie named William Blake tracks down an Indian named Ironchild (I think that's his name...can't remember off the top of my head). There is some kind of intrigue going on with a Hong Kong pharmacy company and its owners, the Kwan family. And you know the real amazing thing? All this stuff ties together and makes perfect sense by the novel's conclusion. Slade truly is a master.

Cutthroat is the third in Michal Slade's Special X series and, like a battlefield general or a grandmaster chess player, he has moved all his pieces into position to strike at the readers psyche' and leave them gasping in awe at the end.

Special X, the external arm of the RCMP, takes on a globe hopping psycho and may be biting off more than they can chew. From Custer's last stand to present day Hong Kong, Robert DeClercq and Zinc Chandler must face down a multinational maniac and unravel historic horrors in this fabulously twisted novel.

You will be shocked, you will be thrilled, your mind will reel from the horror, and when it's all over you will beg for more. Michael Slade's Cutthroat fires on all cylinders and will keep you reading late into the night.

I made the mistake of reading all of Slade's "Special X" novels out of order! For some reason, I thought "Ripper" was first. So in going back to read all the novels, I have found that Slade is a crafty writer, usually full of surprises and tons of research. Unfortunately, "Cutthroat" doesn't have that many surprises and the research is so wide-range that it weighs this book down. We not only go back to the time of Custer and his last stand, but we also get tons of information on evolution (Darwin even appears briefly), and the legendary Sasquatch and/or "Bigfoot" and even the Yeti. Although the research does tie into the main plot of the story, it becomes burdensome after a while. The main problem is the story itself is not up to the usual standards Slade sets himself. Someone named Cutthroat is killing judges. DeClerq teams up with Zinc Chandler, and Carol Tate of the FBI, to try and tie all the loose ends together. There's typical gore and bloodshed, but it's not as intense a thriller as "Ripper", "Primal Scream" or "Hangman." The ending is a complete question mark, and I have to go back to read the next book, "Ripper", to see if Slade resolved it. (I don't remember, but since I read "Ripper" first, I may not have paid attention?). Another tricky clue from Mr. Slade. Notice how he always starts his chapters and their sub-chapters with the date, location and time. That's key in this book, in one section that may remind you of a certain episode of the t.v. series, "Dallas." Pretty sneaky of Mr. Slade; whether it works or not, I can't quite figure out yet. I am looking forward to the next Slade "Special X" adventure to find out what happens to Zinc, Nick and all the other colorful characters.