Cut & Run by Abigail Roux, Madeleine Urban Series: Cut & Run #1
Published by Dreamspinner Press on September 1st 2008
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 372
Format: eBook
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"Cut & Run Series: Book One" A series of murders in New York City has stymied the police and FBI alike, and they suspect the culprit is a single killer sending an indecipherable message. But when the two federal agents assigned to the investigation are taken out, the FBI takes a more personal interest in the case. Special Agent Ty Grady is pulled out of undercover work after his case blows up in his face. He's cocky, abrasive, and indisputably the best at what he does. But when he's paired with Special Agent Zane Garrett, it's hate at first sight. Garrett is the perfect image of an agent: serious, sober, and focused, which makes their partnership a classic cliche: total opposites, good cop-bad cop, the odd couple. They both know immediately that their partnership will pose more of an obstacle than the lack of evidence left by the murderer. Practically before their special assignment starts, the murderer strikes again this time at them. Now on the run, trying to track down a man who has focused on killing his pursuers, Grady and Garrett will have to figure out how to work together before they become two more notches in the murderer's knife.
This book was awkward for me. A little hit and miss – parts I liked and parts I just didn’t. Maybe that’s what comes from having two different authors working on a book together. There was a lot of head-hopping. A lot. Multiple times within paragraphs, even. If one of the partners said or did something, we’d jump over to the other to get their reaction, then back to the first one again. It was extremely jarring. The serial killer case itself was fairly standard, the murderer clear from the beginning. That was another part of the POV issue that bothered me. There were random insights into the mind of the killer, other cops, and once from a murder victim. But they were just sort of stuck into the story, and didn’t make a lot of sense.
Ty and Zane start out like every buddy-cop-movie duo, but with more flirting. “Zane rolled his eyes. ‘At least I think with my head and not my ass.’ he muttered as he buttoned his jeans and zipped up. ‘Your ass is more fun to look at.’ Ty shot back from under the pillow.” “‘And how exactly am I showing off my ass? ‘You’re breathing.’ There’s a lot of dialogue like that. And these guys spend a lot of time burying their heads in pillows and throwing pillows at each other. They’re the only two people who didn’t realize what was going on and wouldn’t recognize these things as flirting. And these two get injured, seriously injured, more than any other cops I’ve ever seen, read about, or met in real life. And because there are random reasons they can’t go to the hospital, they’re constantly having to tend to each other. It involves a lot of shirtlessness and salve-rubbing. I get that they need to prove how tough they are, but it really stretched credibility. You can’t just convince a paramedic to set your multiple fractures on the scene so you can leave, stealing a bottle of Oxy on your way out of the ambulance. You just can’t.
Also, are these guys gay? Are they bi? I’m not really sure. They’re clearly together by the end of the book, which I suppose is all that matters, but Ty specifically says that he’s had sex with both men and women in the past, and actually has sex with a woman in this book before he and Zane get together. And Zane is a widower. He never says anything about his past experiences beyond mentioning his wife, though, so I don’t know how he identifies. I suppose it doesn’t matter, I just realized that by the end of the book, we didn’t really know.
I think I’ll read at least the next in the series. I liked Ty and Zane individually, and I’d like to see how they interact now that they’re an official couple. I also want to know if they’re going to continue being partners in the FBI. I know that eventually Madeleine Urban retired, and Abigail Roux took over completely, so maybe having only one author will help.
