Book Review
January Justice by Athol Dickson
Book 1: The Malcolm Cutter Memoirs Series
Publisher: Author Author Inc.
Publication Date: November 30, 2012
Format: eBook - 307 pages / Kindle - 701 KB
ISBN: 098543029X
ASIN: B00AGAW6EC
Genre: Murder Mystery / Suspense / Thriller
BUY THE BOOK: January Justice
BUY THE SERIES: The Malcolm Cutter Memoirs
Book 1: January Justice
Book 2: Free Fall In February - publication later in 2013
Book 3: A March Murder - publication later in 2013
Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the author / publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review and participation in a virtual book tour event hosted by Partners In Crime Tours.
Book Description:
Kill Cutter!
Reeling from his wife's unsolved murder, Malcolm Cutter is just going through the motions as a chauffeur and bodyguard for Hollywood's rich and famous. Then a pair of Guatemalan tough guys offer him a job. It's an open question whether they're patriotic revolutionaries or vicious terrorists. Either way, Cutter doesn't much care until he gets a bomb through his window, a gangland beating on the streets of L.A., and three bullets in the chest. Now there's another murder on Cutter's mind. His own.
Book Excerpt:
ONE OF THE STRANGEST THINGS ABOUT THE CITY was the sudden way it disappeared around the edges. One minute you were down on Sunset Boulevard surrounded by glass and concrete, and the next thing you knew you were up on Mulholland Drive, alone in the rough country. From a high window or a rooftop almost anywhere in Los Angeles you could see the mountains, and there was always something ravenous up there looking down.
I was up among the hungry creatures, standing at the edge of a cliff, with Hollywood and Santa Monica far below me in the distance. One step forward and I would be in midair. I was looking down and wondering if Haley had considered how suddenly you could go from city to wilderness. Then I wondered if it was a distinction without a difference, if the city might be the wilderness and the wilderness the city, and maybe Los Angeles’s edges seemed to disappear so suddenly because there really was no separation between sidewalks and mountain paths, buildings and boulders. Up in the mountains or down in the city, either way the carnivores were in control.
I imagined Haley, out of her mind, running full speed off the cliff. I wondered what it had been like, that final second or two before she hit. Had she realized what was happening? Did she recognize the city lights below for what they were, or did she really think she was flying toward the stars? And did she think of me?
Stepping closer to the edge, I slid the toes of my shoes into the air. I looked down two hundred feet, toward the spot where she had broken on the rocks. I stood one inch from eternity and tried to imagine life without her. I could not summon up a single reason why I shouldn’t take that final step, except for one. I thought about the kind of animal who would drive someone to do what my wife had done. Predators like that were everywhere. I should know. I had trained for half my life to be one of them. I was hungry, looking down on the city. If I was going to live, the hunger would have to be enough, for now. But I would sink my teeth into him, sooner or later. I would do that for Haley, and for myself, and then maybe it would be my turn to see if I could fly.
I stepped back from the edge.
I was up among the hungry creatures, standing at the edge of a cliff, with Hollywood and Santa Monica far below me in the distance. One step forward and I would be in midair. I was looking down and wondering if Haley had considered how suddenly you could go from city to wilderness. Then I wondered if it was a distinction without a difference, if the city might be the wilderness and the wilderness the city, and maybe Los Angeles’s edges seemed to disappear so suddenly because there really was no separation between sidewalks and mountain paths, buildings and boulders. Up in the mountains or down in the city, either way the carnivores were in control.
I imagined Haley, out of her mind, running full speed off the cliff. I wondered what it had been like, that final second or two before she hit. Had she realized what was happening? Did she recognize the city lights below for what they were, or did she really think she was flying toward the stars? And did she think of me?
Stepping closer to the edge, I slid the toes of my shoes into the air. I looked down two hundred feet, toward the spot where she had broken on the rocks. I stood one inch from eternity and tried to imagine life without her. I could not summon up a single reason why I shouldn’t take that final step, except for one. I thought about the kind of animal who would drive someone to do what my wife had done. Predators like that were everywhere. I should know. I had trained for half my life to be one of them. I was hungry, looking down on the city. If I was going to live, the hunger would have to be enough, for now. But I would sink my teeth into him, sooner or later. I would do that for Haley, and for myself, and then maybe it would be my turn to see if I could fly.
I stepped back from the edge.
My Book Review:
January Justice is a thrilling murder mystery that captivates the reader's attention from the start. In the first book of The Malcolm Cutter Memoirs series, author Athol Dickson weaves a suspenseful tale told in the first person narrative that follows Malcolm Cutter on his dangerous adventures to find his wife's murderer.
Widower Malcolm Cutter is released after spending seven months in a mental institution suffering from a major breakdown after the murder of his actress wife Haley. Malcolm and Haley were given a cocktail of drugs hidden in their food, which caused Haley to jump off a cliff due to an LSD overdose, leaving Malcolm to recover from a drug induced madness. Malcolm had been Haley's driver and bodyguard, and because of his tarnished past few people knew about their marriage. As a former U.S. marine, he had been involved in an insurgency in Guatemala and military duty in the Balkans, and had been dishonorably discharged because of an incident in Afghanistan. Upon his release from the mental institution, Malcolm is hired by a Guatemalan politician to investigate the kidnapping of a Dona Elena Montes and the murder of her first husband Toledo. While investigating the kidnapping case, Malcolm's past comes back to haunt him as some dangerous people try several times to kill him. Malcolm starts to think that this case is related to his wife's unsolved murder. Will Malcolm solve the kidnapping case and find his wife's murderer, or will he find himself on the cusp of getting himself killed?
January Justice is a fast paced gripping mystery thriller that is action packed and full of enough drama, danger and suspenseful twists and turns that keeps the reader guessing what will happen next. Author Athol Dickson is masterful in building a storyline that provides the reader with flashbacks, clues and details along the way that ultimately fit like puzzle pieces as the story unfolds. This complex story has interconnected subplots that are interwoven in an intriguing and entertaining narrative that builds with intensity and has a number of possible suspects and outcomes that keeps the reader engaged until the surprising conclusion.
The reader follows Malcolm Cutter as he deals with his wife's death, re-cooperates from a near death experience, and tries to get his life back together, all the while investigating a deep international plot to clear a terrorist organization of wrong-doing that puts his life back into danger.
With an intriguing cast of characters that range from the Hollywood movie industry to international bad guys; witty dialogue and dramatic interactions; and a riveting storyline that has murder, mystery, issues involving contemporary Guatemalan unrest, and a touch of romance thrown into the mix; January Justice is a compelling and entertaining murder mystery story that is a pure adrenaline rush!
January Justice is the first book in The Malcolm Cutter Memoirs series.
RATING: 4 STARS ****
About The Author
Athol Dickson's mystery, suspense, and literary novels have won three Christy Awards and an Audie Award. Suspense fans who enjoyed Athol's They Shall See God will love his latest novel, January Justice, the first installment in a new mystery series called The Malcolm Cutter Memoirs. The second and third novels in the series, Free Fall in February, and A March Murder, are coming in 2013.
Critics have favorably compared Athol's work to such diverse authors as Octavia Butler (Publisher's Weekly), Hermann Hesse (The New York Journal of Books) and Flannery O'Connor (The New York Times). Athol lives with his wife in southern California. Please visit his website at www.AtholDickson.com, and like his Facebook fan page.
Praise for Athol Dickson's novels:
"Atmospheric, well-paced and powerfully imagined . . . a highly entertaining nail-biter." (Publishers Weekly)
". . . richly imagined . . . lyrically written . . . artfully constructed." (Bookwire)
". . . well-written . . . intelligent . . . suspenseful . . . engrossing." (Library Journal)
". . . elegant prose . . . very well written." (The New York Review of Books )
AUTHOR WEBSITE
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