Cutting Edge

Rating:
Summary: A timeless classic crime thriller
Review: Police Officer Charlie Resnick is assigned to investigate a series of vicious assaults on the staff of the large English hospital. The culprit is a pro with a surgeons scalpel as he carves his victims in such a manner as to end their medical careers. Tim Fletcher is the first victim, but others quickly follow.

Charlie soon realizes that the slasher is not only good with the knife, he understands the inner psyche of his victims and their families. A desperate Charlie concludes that only a medical person could do the professional incisions of the attacks and only a medical person could so understand where to place the maiming so as to destroy the victim both physically and mentally. Charlie knows he must stop this serial slasher before the body count requires astronomical numbers to keep track.

If not consistently the best, the Charlie Resnick British police procedurals are one of the top five series on the market today. CUTTING EDGE is a reprint of a classy novel first released in 1991. The who-done-it and the police elements are well written and fun to read on their own account. However, what makes this novel and the eight tales worth reading is John Harvey's insight into the personal lives of his characters to the point that the reader feels good about being a peeping Harriet.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Solid Series Rebound
Review: The third of the Charlie Resnick procedurals, this one brings the quality back up after the somewhat disappointing Rough Treatment. This may be because the stakes are raised back to the level of the first book Lonely Hearts. In this one, someone is slicing up hospital workers, and the motivation is a rather interesting one. There's also a side plot involving a man who won't take no for an answer. There's the usual business with some delving into the messed-up private lives of the police, Charlie takes in a wino jazz saxophonist, and has his ex-wife turn up again. Whets the appetite for Off Minor.