Reviews for The Deepest Cut

The average rating for The Deepest Cut based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-05-31 00:00:00 Martin Diez I wish there were about 20 books already written in this series so I could just keep on reading! I love Nan Vining, female detective, and her partner Jim Kissick (also her love interest). We find out from the start that a couple of years ago Nan was ambushed and stabbed, left for dead. She actually flatlined for two minutes before being revived. Her attacker was never found. She has a daughter, Emily, and is divorced, her husband having left her for his hair stylist. The two of them are married. She, in the meantime got cozy with Kissick but broke things off. When the story opens, she and Kissick have just gotten back together. They are called to the scene of a homicide and what looks to be a gangland style execution. However, there is a tag spray painted next to the body reading China Dog 187. The California Penal Code for murder is 187. Death to China Dog? They have no idea who it refers to, if anybody, or why their dead guy would be spray painting something like that. According to his gang tattoos, his gang affiliation had been with the Latin Kings. They weren't at war with any known Chinese gangs so what did the tag mean exactly. As Nan looks closely at the tag she realizes the writing is familiar. She's seen it before, written on a card her attacker sent her, along with a pearl necklace, when she'd been forced to shoot a rock star in a high profile case. When she suggests there's a connection between her case and the one they're currently investigating, her co-workers think she's crazy or overworked so she quickly drops it. Maybe she is seeing something that isn't there. As Nan begins digging into the corpses' s background and known associations, she's called into her supervisor' s office. Kissick is there as well. It turns out they have a new lead on Nan' s attack so Kissick is going to look into it leaving Nan in charge of their current case. One thing I've enjoyed about these books is that there are really two stories running simultaneously. Nan has a case to solve but lurking in the background is her own personal hell, made worse by the fact her attacker is still out there. And there are things Nan knows about him that she hasn't revealed to anyone, not even her lover. In spite of the fact she and Kissick love each other, she's put off telling him about the facts she's gathered on her own. Nor has she told him the things she did to obtain her information. She knows it's time to come clean but when she does finally tell him It could cost her not only her job but her relationship with him as well. There's also Nan' s relationship with her daughter. Emily has been through a lot since her mom was attacked. She's gone through things no child her age should have to go through. Nan realizes she's been leaning too much on her daughter while trying to recover so for both their sakes she needs to find the man who tried to kill her, stop him from hurting anyone else, and give them both the closure they need in order to move on with their lives. The author does a wonderful job of weaving the two stories together without getting her readers confused about what is going on. I like that Nan is both tough and vulnerable at the same time. She's a hard-nosed cop but also a woman who's been through a terrible ordeal and survived. She has the scars inside and out to prove it. Kissick is her partner and her lover and sometimes he has trouble separating the two. It makes for a lot of tension between them at times which keeps things interesting. While Nan would prefer to keep their private lives private, Kissick doesn't care who finds out they're involved. This one certainly kept me turning the pages and there was a major twist at the end I didn't see coming. The author just gets better with every new book. Definitely worth reading!

Review # 2 was written on 2013-01-10 00:00:00 Robert Van Horn I thought that the previous books in the series were good, but this installment was just silly. I didn't understand how Nan Vining, the main character, could be so insightful and dopey at the same time. Also, I felt that the author used tired metaphors and a uninspired writing style. I was impatient with the historical/touristy descriptions of the area, which seemed more expository and got in the way of the plot.