Cut To The Bone Review

Author: Ellison Cooper
Series: Agent Sayer Altair #3
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Release Date: July 14, 2020
Purchase Link: Amazon

My Rating: 4 Intriguing Hearts

*Thank you to Minotaur Books for an arc of this book via Netgalley. A special thanks to Senior Marketing Mgr. Joseph Brosnan for giving me a heads up on this book.



A bus full of high school students has disappeared from Washington D.C. and FBI neuroscientist Sayer Altair must hunt down the culprit who has a link to her own past.
(Synopsis & Author Bio following review)

Review:
FBI Agent Sayer Altair is finally moving forward after the death of her fiance, navigating office politics while rebuilding her career one day at a time. As a member of the Critical Incidence Response Group, she gets the call when a teenage girl's body is found at the base of the Einstein Memorial with an ax in her hand and a circle of nine baboon figurines surrounding her.  A police officer that interrupted the ritualistic killer is dead.  As the investigation kicks into gear, Agent Altair discovers that twenty-four STEM high school students are missing along with their bus driver & adult chaperone.  Is this girl one of the missing?  The race for answers and to find the students before more are killed becomes top priority.

Cut To The Bone is a twisted suspense thriller, the third book in the Agent Sayer Altair series.  The author's skillful inclusion of backstory allows readers to jump into the series at this point without major missing pieces.  Having said that, there's no doubt readers will benefit from the character development in the first two books.  The story unfolds at a steady pace through a tangled web of conspiracy, dead-ends, and red herrings.  Someone seems to be throwing up roadblocks to impede the investigation frustrating investigators.  Altair is a smart, tenacious fully fleshed character with a high sense of morality.  When shades of her past arise intertwining into the already complicated case, it becomes personal.  I enjoyed the ancient Egyptian mythology incorporated into the story as its as intriguing as the diverse cast of characters.  Series readers will recognize and enjoy some past characters that step up in this book.  A fast-paced plot that twists and turns, unique characters, and engaging writing means an intriguing read for fans of police procedurals and suspense thrillers.  Highly Recommended!

My Rating: 4 Intriguing Hearts

Cross My Heart . . . xxx

♥Sandra♥

Synopsis:

After grieving the death of her fiancé and almost losing her job, Agent Sayer Altair is finally starting to rebuild her life. Her research into the minds of psychopaths is breaking new ground and her strange little family is thriving. But Sayer’s newfound happiness is threatened when she is called in to investigate a girl’s body left inside a circle of animal figurines below a cryptic message written in blood. When they discover that the dead girl is one of twenty-four missing high school students, Sayer quickly realizes that nothing in this case is what it seems.

As the investigation draws her in to a tangled web of fake identities and false leads, the trail soon begins to point directly to her own life. Now, Sayer must confront her painful past to uncover her connection to the deranged killer if she hopes to save the missing teens and protect everything that she loves.

Ellison Cooper has a Ph.D. in anthropology from UCLA, with a background in archaeology, cultural neuroscience, ancient religion, colonialism, and human rights. She has conducted fieldwork in Central America, West Africa, Micronesia, and Western Europe. She has worked as a murder investigator in Washington DC, and is a certified K9 Search and Rescue Federal Disaster Worker. She now lives in the Bay Area with her husband and son.