Kisscut by
Karin Slaughter
pbk out February 03
(Century)
at £9.99
This is the second novel by a young woman from Georgia (the US one), the
first being Blindsighted, also about sexual abuse, which is enthusiastically
praised on the covers and prelims. of this proof copy sent for review. In
fact, there seems to be quite a bit of hype applied, with two pages of glowing
reviews from the Press, a message from the author and the forecast that Ms
Slaughter is going to be another Patricia Cornwell or Kathy Reichs.
She is certainly a very competent writer, with a typical American punchy
strength and she deals with the rather nasty material of her plot in a
forthright manner.
The central figure is Sara Linton, a small-town paediatrician, who strangely
seems a trained pathologist and acts as the coroner. She is divorced from
Jeffrey, the town's police chief, but they still fancy each other and begin
courting again. This is interrupted by Jeffrey having to shoot dead a fourteen
year old girl, who is threatening to shoot her former boy-friend – this sure is
an American book! The girl had been trying to flush the dismembered body
of a baby down the toilet – when Sara does the autopsy on the girl, she finds
that the baby could not have been hers, for she has suffered from gross
genital mutilation and has been sewn up.
Although the hype says that the author will be making Patricia Cornwell
look anxiously over her shoulder, I doubt this will be on the grounds of
forensic accuracy, for Sara is able to diagnose on an X-ray 'bruising
consistent with a hard push or shove moving posteriorly' and also a previous
rape from an X-ray of the pelvis. I think Miss Cornwell can stop worrying.
However, there's no doubt that this is a strong, fast-moving story, full of
'human interest' and that the subject of child sexual abuse will grip many
readers.
There's nothing wrong with the book apart from the usual pathological
howlers, but I just wonder if we keep needing a diet of sadness and cruelty
in our leisure reading. According to our great leader, Tony Blair, this year is
going to be miserable anyway, so why make it even more depressing?
Perhaps it's little wonder that Agatha Christie and P.G.Wodehouse continue
to sell like there's no tomorrow – because maybe there isn't.
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
