The Cutting

May 11, 2009
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.

Ladies and gentlemen, when you listen to THE CUTTING by debut novelist Jonathan Hayman, be prepared to be taken on a fast ride. Homicide Detective Michael McCabe's substantial personal baggage is ably juggled by narrator Jonathan Davis as a twisted plot of sex and violence unfolds against the backdrop of the bucolic Maine countryside. Pretty, athletic, young blondes are being found with their chests opened and their hearts surgically removed. Is it sick fun for the perp, or is there something more going on? Davis knows when to tap the brakes and when to hit the gas as the grisly story unfolds with nerve-jangling effectiveness. R.O. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine