Review – Cuts Like a Knife

M.K. Gilroy, 30-year veteran of the publishing industry, uses years of experience and writing skill to craft this accomplished debut suspense—Cuts like a Knife. He draws readers into a tale of mystery, romance and intrigue with a dash of humor rarely seen in introductory books. Well done characterizations served up with fast-moving schemes keep readers involved. 

Readers first meet Chicago’s Kristen Conner, a bright and sassy detective who loves her family, coaches her niece’s soccer team, loves her mom and makes time to attend church on Sunday. It’s a routine of normalcy that adds sanity to a life that otherwise revolves around homicide, bad guys and chaos whether petty punks, thieves, murderers, even serial killers. 

Especially a serial killer that had just moved to Chicago from California ready to end his “self-imposed limbo” from six months of tortured self-restraint, something he would never get used to. Still he knew his season of self-discipline would soon end when his “signature artistry” would announce his arrival. For today, he was content to sit “…at the precipice of his next great work…” because “tomorrow was April Fool’s Day.”

Gilroy’s debut suspense holds readers in a page-turning grip as Detective Kristen Connor tracks down a killer bent on revenge seemingly without cause. Or was there? Join the chase to find out why someone is determined to teach selected victims what “exsanguination” means. The chase is realistic; the characterizations well-done, the plot gripping, from the pen of a debut novelist readers need to keep their eyes on.

Sprinklings of humor and romance add a touching contrast to the otherwise harsh backdrop of action and suspense.  “Project Vigilance,” a program designed to track terrorist activity, the FBI and the US Army, as well as a group of Chicago detectives with conflicting jurisdictions adds a good measure of conflict and intrigue.

Gilroy has launched dozens of authors as a veteran of the publishing industry. Those experiences helped him to craft this first-person, character-driven mystery with a bit of humor and theology wrapped around a delightful new detective protagonist—Detective Kristen Conner.