I finished reading A Cutting Edge last week or the week before and am just now getting to the review.
The Cutting Edge has a double meaning - a hair cutting place and the fact that Skye's shears are razor sharp and could easily cut through skin and veins if she so choose to do so.
Skye Summers is a hairdresser and has been for many years. Over the years, she has grown to dislike her job since she has to put up with the crazy women, and men, who sit in her chair, rambling on and on and driving her insane. She starts fantasizing about killing her clients and how she could get away with it. Enter the "Mass Avenger" unbeknowest to Skye, who happens to be a new client one Wednesday evening (the evening reserved for the men of the town). The Mass Avenger also has a double entendre (the killings are occurring in Massachusetts as the story is set in a small town in Massachusetts and he is avenging all the masses).
As I read further and further, I almost hoped that Skye would eventually knock off one of her clients or her husband's ex-girlfriend who is the mother of his child and uses the child for stupid stuff - trying to cause problems in the marriage (I dealt with a few of the issues similar to what Skye dealt with when my husband and I were first married, whereby his ex-wife would use their daughter who was 5 at the time to call our house and ask for money - stupid stuff). Skye was only a fantasizer but the Mass Avenger was real. Skye becomes the fascination of the Mass Avenger who feels a kinship with her but she doesn't realize this until the end. Skye does quit her job and states that "a serial killer saved my life" when it is all said and done.
As I read through the story and several new male characters were introduced, I kept thinking I knew who the killer was but it turned out I was wrong. For a fun look into a stylist's perspective of the daily doldrums of this type of profession, check out Darcia Helle's The Cutting Edge.
You can find out more about Darcia and her books here. I look forward to seeing more from Darcia.
2 comments:
Thanks for the great review, Elysabeth! I'm glad the book kept you entertained!
As for the ex & stepchild situation, it's sad when parents use their children to hurt one another. I had a similar situation that you described with my stepson's mother when he was young. That's probably who I based Diane, Skye's husband's ex, on! (But we'll keep that to ourselves!)
Darcia, it seems that a lot more parents (ex-whatevers) do it than we would like to believe. What was the biggest thing with my husband's ex is that their divorce agreement specifically stated that they could not harrass each other for money - at any time and yet she continued to do it - I called the police and they said I could have her arrested and that it was considered the same thing as an obscene phone call except I knew who was calling so I was in my right to have her arrested for the harrassment and violating her divorce agreement.
It stopped shortly after I told her I would have her arrested - but needless to say there are so many ruthless people in the world that we can't help but know things like this are happening daily. Good job on the story - E :)
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