Book Review: The Cutting Room

THE CUTTING ROOM | Ashley Dyer
(Carver & Lake #2)
06.18.2019 | William Morrow
Rating: 4/5 stars

Detectives Ruth Lake and Greg Carver are back on the case! This time around the duo is faced with a serial killer fixated on turning his victim’s body parts into macabre works of art, which he then features on Instagram. When a local television celebrity falls victim to this killer, dubbed the Ferryman, all eyes are on the case and not everyone is against what he is producing.

The Ferryman quickly gains a massive following, as he uses social media to stir interest and terror in the public. Lake and Carver must work against the clock to find out not only the motive behind the Ferryman’s killings, but also predict when and where he will strike next. The pair is back on another breakneck hunt for a killer gifted in the art of elusivity.

Ashley Dyer is back with THE CUTTING ROOM, the second installment to her fascinating Carver and Lake series. These books focus on detectives Ruth Lake and Greg Carver as they work through cases that not only put their investigating skills to the test, but also challenge them individually. In book one, SPLINTER IN THE BLOOD, Greg Carver had his personal life thrown into turmoil by the killer the pair was hunting. This time around Ruth Lake has a personal stake in the killer’s game. I love how these personal connections to the killer and the case raise the bar for connecting to our main characters. Whenever the reader can feel emotional in regards to a character, they become more solidly invested in the book. This is exactly what Dyer banks on and succeeds with utilizing to draw the reader in Carver and Lake’s world.

I absolutely fangirled over how Dyer came up with a mesmerizing and unique serial killer in SPLINTER IN THE BLOOD. She’s back at it again with the Ferryman! This killer is narcissistic, meticulous, and downright cringeworthy with the creations he makes. I loved that the method behind the Ferryman’s madness included him striving for Instagram followers. Sometimes when authors choose to throw in social media it can be cheesy or feel out of place, but Dyer avoids those issues. The fact that she then takes the Ferryman’s social media presence and incorporates it further into the case’s progression.

I highly recommend reading these books in order, as THE CUTTING ROOM draws on events that happened in SPLINTER IN THE BLOOD. You could certainly read this book as a standalone, but I do think some pieces would be less impactful and leave the reader with more questions than answers if read out of order. The series is still just forming, so why not start with book one! 

What to know more about SPLINTER IN THE BLOOD? Check out my review here!

This book is available to buy from: Amazon | Book Depository

Disclosure: Thank you to William Morrow and TLC Book Tours for sending me a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Disclosure: What Jess Reads is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This in no way influences my opinion of the above book.