I wrote earlier about Portland resident James Hayman's debut thriller The Cutting. I finished reading it more than a few days ago, but as I usually do when I offer my opinion about a book, I like to take some time to mull it over before doing so. That's because: I read a lot of books, sometimes three or four at a time because of my work and all, and that is complicated by the fact that I am getting to that place where I don't remember what sparkling piece of wit I just a split-second ago thought to add to a conversation, or what I went into the kitchen to get, etc. Therefore, I find it useful to wait, and, if after a few days I can still recall (without looking at my notes) powerful passages or characterizations, then to me the book is a Big Go.
I'm happy to report that The Cutting, soon to be released and set in Portland, is a Big Go. A fun read, it's suspenseful, intelligent and smooth, everything a good thriller should be. Detective Michael McCabe is a likable and intriguing character, a former big-time NYC cop, a divorced, doting father of a 13-year-old daughter. He tracks down the killer with passion and precision. I'm happy that Hayman is working on a second McCabe book, because once you meet McCabe, you'll want to read about him again.
Other characters are well-drawn, too, from the other cops to the criminals. You'll love McCabe's daughter, delight in the depiction of his icy ex-wife, and you'll like his partner and the guys at the police station. I'm not so sure about McCabe's girlfriend, though. (But, oh well, I could never understand the attraction one of my beloved male friends had to his various girlfriends over the years, either. No names mentioned.)
The setting – need it be said – is superb, and Hayman gets Portland right on the money. It was refreshing to read about my fair city in a way that shows its true spirit and ambience, for better or worse. Portland and its environs become characters themselves, thanks to Hayman's acuity – not bad for a transplant! A friend of mine, Gina, who lived in Portland for a number of years, but has since, unfortunately, had to move elsewhere, read the book's first chapter online and e-mailed me that she "read the chapter from The Cutting, and the running trail (on the Western Prom) is so familiar I could see myself there. Eeeesch. Liked it a lot." And, I might add, Gina has a Ph.D. in criminology! She'll love the book, because Hayman truly has done his procedural homework.
Hayman has a hit.
He has these Maine readings/signings scheduled: Longfellow Books in Monument Square in Portland at 7 p.m. June 25; The Fertile Mind Bookship in Belfast at 6:30 p.m. on the 26th; at Bookstacks in Bucksport at 1 p.m. on the 27th; at Borders in Bangor at 2 p.m. on the 28th; at Borders in South Portland at 7 p.m. on the 29th; at The Owl and Turtle Bookshop in Camden at 5 p.m. July 17; and at Maine Coast Bookshop at 12:30 p.m. July 21.
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