The Cutting (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Hayman's clichéd debut introduces Det. Sgt. Michael McCabe of the Portland, Maine, PD. A former NYPD detective, McCabe relocated to raise his 13-year-old daughter in a supposedly safer place and to escape a nasty divorce. When a young woman disappears soon after the body of a 16-year-old girl turns up in a scrap yard with her heart neatly cut out, McCabe fears a serial killer is on the loose. McCabe's investigation leads him and his partner, Det. Maggie Savage, to a prominent cardiac surgeon specializing in transplants. Racing against the clock even as he uncovers more victims, McCabe is determined to find the killer and rescue the missing woman before time runs out. Hayman treads the well-worn path of troubled cop vs. serial killer without injecting new life into either the hero or the villain. Even thriller fans unfamiliar with the predecessors from whom Hayman borrows will figure out the mystery long before McCabe. (July)
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From Booklist

When a missing 16-year-old is found with her nude body showing signs of torture and her heart removed with surgical precision while she was still alive, the violence of the crime has Portland, Maine, detective sergeant Mike McCabe recalling his days with the NYPD. The case takes on greater urgency with the abduction of another women and the discovery of other similar victims, all young, blond, and athletic. While local cardiac surgeon Philip Spencer assures McCabe that such hearts would not be viable transplant organs, the doctor’s lying and arrogance make him a prime suspect. As McCabe and partner Maggie Savage work tirelessly on the case, a French medical assistant and a former Miami reporter provide breakthrough information, and Spencer’s close friends from medical school come under scrutiny. First-novelist Hayman ratchets up the tension in this engrossing account of a deviously motivated psychopathic serial killer; if some aspects of the crimes strain credulity, it hardly matters, given the thrill of the ride. --Michele Leber

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books (June 23, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031253129X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312531294
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #403,125 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very thrilling, July 18, 2009

By	www.bookshipper.blogspot.com/ "www.bookshippe... (Montreal, Quebec) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Although I seem to have stayed a little from my love of thrillers (this was mainly due to the fact that I wasn't finding many good ones) I have to say that I am happy, happy to have discovered The Cutting. This book is absolutely thrilling (yes, pun intended).

Our main character Mike McCabe was a NYPD cop - he has seen it all and frankly, he is tired of it, add to this the fact that his personal life is a mess considering his wife has just walked out on him and their daughter, he decides to needs to move to a quieter and more civilized place - he thinks he has found this in Portland, Maine (which always makes me think of Stephen King-land!!).

However, the horror seems to have found him again. A victim is found murdered, with their hearts surgically (and professionally done?) and now, a young woman is missing - McCabe knows that he is in a time crunch to find her - before this maniac removes her heart and leaves her for dead. Of course, as Murphy's Law would have it, this is also the time where McCabe's "former" wife re-enters his life and demands custody of their daughter.

There is alot going on in this novel and all of it is compulsively readable. I like that McCabe has lots of personal problems going on, while he is trying to deal with a maniac, it made him very down to earth and human to me - I hate it when I read a story about a detective that seems to walk on water somehow. This is a flawed man trying to find a maniac and the lines can get a little blurry at times - great stuff!

The descriptions of the murders and the details of the condition of the victims is just enough to make me engrossed in the storyline without being totally grossed out. The author is very good at pushing his story along at a good pace without rushing it too much or without slowing it down too much with useless details.

I loved the way the author mingles his main character's life as center stage AT THE SAME time as the murder story.

This book is one of those books that I had a hard time putting down and kept saying "one more page".

I loved it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I couldn't put it down!, August 25, 2009

By	I.S. (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

I thoroughly enjoyed The Cutting, and couldn't put it down till I had devoured every page. Towards the end, I was so spooked that after work I had to sit in the park and finish reading the book, because my boyfriend wasn't home and I was too scared to come home to an empty house! Now that's the mark of a good thriller! I can't wait for Hayman's next...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Master of the Thriller, July 18, 2009

By	John J. Pierce - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Chances are you've never heard of James Hayman before, but you're going to hear a lot more about him.

THE CUTTING is a first novel, but it doesn't read like an apprentice effort. Hayman's getting a late start as a fiction writer, but he's right up there with his idol Michael Connelly as a master of the police suspense thriller. Michael McCabe, is a cop who's left New York for a new job in Portland, Maine -- not exactly known as a high crime city. Only a young girl has turned up murdered, and another has disappeared -- and if he's right about the motive involved, that second girl has only a week to live. It doesn't help that the local powers-that-be are getting on his case as he works the case. As if that weren't enough, he has personal crises to deal with -- including his ex-wife who wants to get back into his daughter's life after ignoring her for years (McCabe has another woman in his life -- two, if you count his partner on the case.). But while mastering all the ins-and-outs of the police procedural, Hayman adds some delicious variations of his own -- a vital clue to the mystery lies in movie lore.

Your next step: order THE CUTTING here, or run (do not walk) to your book store.

--John J. Pierce