THE CUTTING PLACE (2020)

The Cutting Place (Maeve Kerrigan #9)
My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

I discovered Jane Casey in 2014 when I read The Burning, the first in the Maeve Kerrigan series. If you're a fan of UK-based mysteries and thrillers (think Tana French), you have nine new books featuring Detective Constable now Detective Sergeant Maeve Kerrigan to look forward to.

An interesting story line, well-drawn characters, and good writing draws the reader in for the ride in this intense police procedural/psychological thriller. The Cutting Place goes on sale on September 3, 2020.

 

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THE STORY: Pieces of a body are found along the Thames. The London police go to work attempting to determine the identity using DNA. The body is that of a journalist who appears to have been working on a piece about criminal activities at a elite Men's Club that could explode in the media. DS Kerrigan vows to follow up on the young woman's investigation. Unfortunately all this leads to more tension with her partner, DI Josh Derwent when his son becomes a suspect.

Told in the first person by DS Maeve Kerrigan, the story is interspersed with vaguely remembered events concerning an unnamed person beginning two years earlier.

Things get more uncomfortable as the story progresses and a parallel element involving Maeve and her boyfriend is disturbing.

FIRST LINE: "For a few moments, it was the quietest place in London."

WHAT I THOUGHT: Maeve is a smart woman but she shares the problems all women encounter in the world. It makes her really relatable as well as vulnerable.  And even though violence happens, the reader can feel safe in this author's hands.

 

Although there are lots of British terms that may not be unfamiliar, most are explained or can be googled. Actually that's part of the fun!

Finally there's something that ends every chapter that forces the reader to turn the page and stay up beyond bedtime.

 

BOTTOM LINE: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED but you really should start at the beginning!

Disclaimer: A copy of The Cutting Place was provided to me by HarperCollins/Net Galley for an honest review.

Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins (September 3, 2020)
ISBN-10: 0008149089
ISBN-13: 978-0008149086

THE AUTHOR: Jane Casey is an Irish-born author of crime novels. She was born in Dublin in 1977 and grew up in Castleknock, 8 km (5 mi) west of the center of Dublin. She studied English at Jesus College, Oxford.