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CUTTING BLADES
by Victoria Blake
Orion, March 2005
336 pages
12.99GBP
ISBN: 0752860585


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

OK, I'm not quite sure where to start with this review. . . I had very mixed feelings about Victoria Blake's first book BLOODLESS SHADOW, and this second one is in many ways more of the same. I didn't connect with many of the characters, the set-up didn't always convince me, and the main investigation is often so far back in the mix that you need binoculars to find it. But I couldn't stop reading.

CUTTING BLADES is the second book to feature private investigator Sam Falconer, who lives in London, but seems to spend a lot of her time in Oxford. And she must have the most fouled-up private life in the genre (and yes, we all know that's saying something!)

Sam's a former international judo champion whose golden career was cut short by injury. She's never quite got over the trauma of seeing her sporting dreams ended, but has set up her own business, aided and abetted in her investigations by Alan, a gay ex-policeman.

She's asked by a friend of her Oxford don brother Mark to track down Harry Cameron, a brilliant young rower who has disappeared during the trials for the annual Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge. It turns out that Harry has a family almost as weird as Sam's. And there's also antiques dealer Jackie, who ensures that Sam and Alan really earn their money for keeping her safe from some thugs who are on her tail.

And that's where readers' mileage will vary with this book. Huge chunks of it are taken up with Sam's angst over her ex-SAS father, who, she was told, was killed in action, but who turns out to be very much alive. When CUTTING BLADES opens, he's stalking her -- and is also in possession of some very dangerous secrets.

As the book progresses Sam, who has reluctantly agreed to see a shrink, makes a stack more discoveries about her seriously screwed-up family. One thing's for sure . . . there are plenty of loose ends left untied for another episode.

So . . . I'm still not sure what I think of this book. My view on Sam tends towards the no doubt faintly uncharitable 'oh for heaven's sake, pull yourself together and stop whining!' Technically there are some glitches, including a handful of glaring point of view errors which I hope were ironed out before the final version of the book. But what Blake does possess is that enviable ability to keep a reader turning the pages -- I read CUTTING BLADES in one sitting.

Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, March 2005

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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