cover image The Cutting Hours

The Cutting Hours

Julia Grice. Forge, $20.95 (300pp) ISBN 978-0-312-09702-8

After a lethargic start, this mystery thriller by the author of Jagged Light uncoils as a raw and potent story. Shay Wyoming is an up-and-coming sculptor raising two children in suburban Detroit. Her 16-year-old daughter Kelly, resentful of her parents' divorce, turns rebellious and encourages the attentions of Mickey McGee, an artistically talented but psychopathic adolescent with a brutal past and a nightmarish agenda for revenge. Mickey begins to terrorize the Wyomings, leaving obscene examples of his artwork and wreaking physical and emotional havoc. The police, like many of the one-dimensional supporting cast, seem strangely unfeeling and inept. While Shay is out with her beau, a teacher of Mickey's named Ben, Mickey breaks into the house, dragging Kelly along on a killing spree. With Ben's reluctant help, Shay follows an increasingly bloody trail in a singleminded search for her daughter. Despite some meaningless plot diversions, Grice leads her narrative to a chilling and believable climax. (Dec.)