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WORK TITLE: Cut to the Bone
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://www.alexcaanauthor.com/
CITY: England
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1976, in Manchester, England.
EDUCATION:Earned M.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author; also works in information systems security and terrorism studies.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Information systems security specialist Alex Caan made his debut as a novelist with Cut to the Bone: A Thriller. The novel tells the story of the investigation into the disappearance of popular vlogger Ruby Day, and of the high-stakes world of Internet entertainment in which she is involved. “What starts off as a missing person’s case,” the author explained in his Crime Thriller Girl website interview, “soon escalates into a creepy hunt for a kidnapper, as videos are anonymously uploaded of Ruby pleading for her life.” Looking into Ruby disappearance are detective investigator Kate Riley, an American transplant to England, and detective sergeant Zain Harris. The investigators “probe every area of Ruby’s life,” wrote a Publishers Weekly reviewer, “exploring both her private and online personas.”
Caan has stated that he based his two principal investigators on his own life and on his friends and family. “Zain is the idealised version of me, how I would want to look and behave,” Caan told Farhana Shaikh on the Asian Writer website. “He has a half-Indian, half-Turkish mother, allowing me to incorporate my love of Bollywood and Istanbul and Rumi into one character. His father is in the British army, and I wanted Zain to feel displaced and as though someone cut his strings.” “Kate was an amalgamation of Scully from the X Files, Xena Warrior Princess and all the really strong women I grew up around in my family and extended community,” Caan continued in his interview with Shaikh. “She’s tough, smart, in control, and she acts with subtlety and intelligence.” “My reality especially as a teenager was dire,” Caan said in a Crime Thriller Girl website interview. “I think it’s why I connected with the character of Ruby so much, that sense of alienation and being an outsider, which I think both Kate Riley and Zain Harris also share. And when you’re growing up in a deprived inner-city area, and having a tough time, the American Dream is just so big and brash and seductive. The TV, films and especially the novels. Everything just seemed so exciting, even the grittiest thrillers had a touch of glamour. Plus the country was always so different depending where you were.”
It turns out that Ruby is a much more complicated person than her sunny, bubbly YouTube persona would lead one to believe. “Ruby’s story is heartbreakingly compelling,” stated a Crime Girl Thriller website reviewer. “Bullied at school, Ruby turned to vlogging as a way to overcome her demons and help others. When her subscribers grew, she was catapulted into the spotlight, and with that came loyal fans, but also hangers on, and those looking to exploit her for profit.” Some of the latter appear to have plans for Ruby’s future, and they are not above putting their star at risk for their own benefit. “The two detectives turn first, at Ruby’s parents’ insistence,” said a Kirkus Reviews contributor, “to Dan Grant, a gamer who has his own YouTube video empire and is Ruby’s creepily possessive boyfriend.” Soon videos begin to surface that appear to show Ruby pleading for her life and fleeing through an unknown forest. “Cut to the Bone exposes the far reaching tentacles of politics and corruption. Ultimately it is a book about vlogging, but it is also much more than that. It is a very powerful read about a world we should all be more wary and aware of. It is a book exposing a world so far removed from the everyday for most of us, that we choose to close our eyes to it,” concluded Margaret Madden in Writing.ie. “Cut to the Bone is a great read.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 2017, review of Cut to the Bone: A Thriller.
Publishers Weekly, January 30, 2017, review of Cut to the Bone, p. 181.
ONLINE
Alex Caan Website, https://www.alexcaanauthor.com (November 1, 2017), author profile.
Asian Writer, http://theasianwriter.co.uk/ (March 6, 2017), Farhana Shaikh, author interview.
Crime Thriller Girl, https://crimethrillergirl.com/ (July 14, 2016), author interview; July 19, 2016, review of Cut to the Bone.
LBA, http://www.lbabooks.com/ (November 1, 2017), author profile.
Writing.ie, https://www.writing.ie/ (November 1, 2017), Margaret Madden, review of Cut to the Bone.
Alex Caan has spent over a decade working in Information Systems Security for a number of government organisations, and is currently specialising in Terrorism Studies. A lifetime passion for writing was sparked by the encouraging words of an English Teacher in school, and eventually led to Alex successfully completing an MA in Creative Writing, and write Cut to the Bone. The sequel, First To Die, will be released in Spring 2018
Alex Caan
March 6, 2017Farhana Shaikh
Q. Tell us about your journey into writing crime fiction?
Firstly can I just say thank you so much for this, it’s a big step being featured in TAW. So my writing journey has been an interesting one, I’ve written for years with various levels of success. My true passion though has always been crime. I think within the framework of a crime novel you can literally cover the entire span of humanity, and talk about anything. I wrote a crime novel set in the Asian community, dealing with the murder of a British soldier in a segregated part of Northern England, a few years ago, but it didn’t sell to publishers despite my lovely agent’s best efforts. I think in some ways I was limiting myself, writing what I thought people would expect from an Asian crime writer. My agent and his in-house editor then gave me free rein, told me to write the book I really wanted to. And so I did just that, took off every hat I had and wrote the book that was speaking to me. And so Cut To The Bone happened, and thank God it’s been an absolute joyride ever since Bonnier bought it.
Q. I haven’t stopped hearing about this book. Have you been pleasantly surprised by how well it’s been received?
That’s because I keep tweeting you about it. Lol. No but seriously, there is a whole team from my agent to my publisher that gets behind a book and makes it really work. I have imposter syndrome so think I’m rubbish, so yes it’s been a shock that anyone liked it! But I am really grateful people have. And the chart success thank God has just been the icing on the cake! (And everyone knows how much I love cake…)
I don’t read a lot of crime fiction but found Cut to the Bonequite absorbing and really relevant to how we live now. Was it a case of just landing on a good idea and running with it quickly or was there a period of reflection?
Thank you, really appreciate your kind words. Honestly I was in panic mode. My first crime novel hadn’t sold, and I needed to write to stop myself from falling into despair. The idea of vloggers was really in my blood at the time. I knew kids that no longer dreamed of being astronauts or movie stars, they wanted to be online superstars! It’s shocking, and I was fascinated how these people, a lot of them without a talent in the traditional sense, were so popular. And then I read articles about how some of the Youtubers were abusing their power, and their fans, and it all came together. I had to write about the darkness that the frothy smiles and pranks were concealing.
Q. As a big fan of social media I found the plot quite disturbing. What were you trying to say about how openly the younger generation especially seem to play out their lives so publicly on these platforms?
I tried to keep the cyberpsychology at bay, but I read so much about how young people who are streetsmart in their real lives, are so naïve online. They leave themselves open to all sorts of dangers, friending strangers and tweeting out really personal stuff. And online bullying is just horrendous. At least I could leave school and go home to avoid my bullies. Now? They whatsapp you and post stuff about you online. Makes me angry and sad and worried. It’s why I was so passionate about writing this novel.
Q. Where did the inspiration for your detective duo, Kate and Zain come from? Was the idea to have both of them part of your earlier drafts or did that come later during the revision process?
They came first. Zain is the idealised version of me, how I would want to look and behave. He has a half-Indian, half-Turkish mother, allowing me to incorporate my love of Bollywood and Istanbul and Rumi into one character. His father is in the British army, and I wanted Zain to feel displaced and as though someone cut his strings. It’s something we all feel at times. Although I enjoy doing horrible things to him. I need a therapist! Lol. Kate was an amalgamation of Scully from the X Files, Xena Warrior Princess and all the really strong women I grew up around in my family and extended community. She’s tough, smart, in control, and she acts with subtlety and intelligence. Which I rarely do!
There are plenty of times when we think we know what’s going on, only to realise that we’re nowhere near to knowing the real truth. Was it a difficult task to keep on top of the plot twists and how did you manage that balance between writing something that was really gripping but also satisfied us by the time the story concludes?
Oh wow thank you! You really are being too kind, but I appreciate the positive response. You know how much I respect your opinion so it means a lot! I basically came up with Kate and Zain, then the idea about the vloggers and then I wrote a plot outline of about four pages. That had all my twists in it, and then I started writing. So by that time I knew where the surprises were. Although, a few turned up during the writing process which was very weird.
Q. What was the most challenging part of the publishing process?
Thank God I think the publishing process has been amazing, I’ve been very fortunate. The most challenging part was what happens as you approach release, or after publication. I am quite shy naturally, so having to meet people and talk about my book was really difficult for me. Luckily, I made so many friends in the crime writing community from bloggers to authors that it turned from a worry to an absolute pleasure. I now also have my first live panel on the 22nd March, so here’s hoping I can start doing actual events. It’s been wonderful meeting people who love the book, I am never not humbled by people giving up their time for me.
Q. There’s lots going on symbolically around the victim who is seemingly open to sharing her life online, to the secrets that unfold as we read. What’s your biggest secret and are you good at keeping them?
My biggest secret is that I…well I think I’ll keep it to myself for now. Although you know most of them! Lol. And yes I am. Friends trust me with their most intimate secrets. So do people I don’t know very well. I must give out vibes or something, but yes I honour people’s privacy. Unless I need it for a plot device, in which case…
Q. I had to step away from the book more than once, to process it all and then come back. Tell us more about the writing process.
Wow, I’m really glad you said that. I wanted to make people think about some really serious issues, really using this novel as a platform as well as entertaining them. It’s so difficult to do, so I think I was writing a really dense and serious book at times, so had to keep pulling it back to keep trying to make it a page turner. I love John Le Carre and Graham Greene, and A Suitable Boy is my favourite novel. So they were always clashing in my head, while I tried to find my own voice. But honestly, as a process, it’s very simple. I had to just sit and write the words, and then I had to edit and re-edit like crazy.
I’m assuming there’s another book to follow. What can you tell us about the next book in the series and how far have you got in terms of writing it?
I am currently a bit broken and burned by finishing book two. Well the first version that has just gone to my publishers. It’s called First To Die, and I can’t believe how difficult it was to do! Everyone says the second book is in a series is always the most difficult, and Val McDermid told me at Harrogate I should write my second novel before I sold my first one. I was like, erm yeah horse has sort of bolted and run the Grand National with that one, as book one was about to be released as an ebook. Anyway, so I’m just waiting for my edits now for First To Die, and hopefully it will be out in November. It’s bringing back Kate and Zain again, and is even pacier than book one. It starts with Zain on duty during the night of the Anonymous protests in London, torn obviously between wanting to be part of Anonymous and having to be a police officer instead, and thinking how everyone wearing a cloak and mask would make it really difficult to find a murderer in the crowd…and in the morning Kate discovers a body, and then it all kicks off.
Q. What have you been reading lately and what would you recommend our readers pick up, if they haven’t already?
Streets of Darkness by A A Dhand
The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown by Vaseem Khan
Sofia Khan is Not Obliged by Ayisha Malik
A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee
Eyes Like Mine by Sheena Kamal
Alex Caan was born in Manchester, and has spent over a decade working in Information Systems Security for a number of government organisations, and is currently specialising in Terrorism Studies. A lifetime passion for writing was sparked by the encouraging words of an English Teacher in school, and eventually led to Alex successfully completing an MA in Creative Writing, and write Cut to the Bone.
Alex Caan
UK flag
Alex Caan is a specialist in terrorism studies who has worked for a number of government organizations. Cut to the Bone is his first novel. He lives in England.
Series
DCI Kate Riley and Zain Harris
1. Cut to the Bone (2016)
2. First to Die (2018)
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Alex Caan was born in Manchester, has spent over a decade working in information systems security for a number of government organisations, and is currently specialising in terrorism studies. A lifetime passion for writing was sparked by the encouraging words of an English teacher in school, and eventually led to Alex successfully completing an MA in Creative Writing and writing Cut to the Bone.
CTG in conversation with Alex Caan: author of CUT TO THE BONE
July 14, 2016
Cut to the Bone
Today I’m super excited to be hosting a stop on the CUT TO THE BONE Blog Tour. The lovely Alex Caan has joined me on the CTG blog to chat about all things writing, reading and to tell me what it’s really like being a debut author.
Welcome, Alex!
I always read about writers knowing from a young age they wanted write. What do you think? And when did you decide to do it professionally?
For me I think it was about 8 I remember starting to write stories and wanting to be a writer. I think I saw Roald Dahl in his shed on Blue Peter (I know the glamour of my youth!) sharpening his pencils and writing his stories, and that made me realise it could actually be a career. Like so many though I didn’t have the confidence to pursue it, until I hit thirty and decided if I wanted to pursue my dreams it was now or never. So I joined writing groups, did short courses and eventually an MA. But from trying to make this my profession to the publication of ‘Cut to the Bone’ I think it’s taken me a decade of hard graft.
CTG pauses a moment, adds up years: thirty plus a decade … then says [in shock] there is no way you’re fourty!!!!
But, seriously, I’ve talked to quite a lot of authors who’ve said it’s taken them about ten years of ‘apprenticeship’ before getting published. So, you did an MA (like me). How did you find it?
Ha, thank you I think! Mine was a general MA and I spent most of it trying to write the next great Booker winner style novel. Only towards the end, when I had to submit a novel for my dissertation did I have the confidence to write something I really wanted to. I think I learnt a lot about how to cope with criticism, and constructive criticism. And I knew nothing about the business of publishing, how to approach agents and how the process works. The MA helped greatly with that.
Yes, that’s a really great point – I found it gave me a much better understanding of the world of publishing too. And the ‘writing what you want’ thing you mention is key, I think, it’s easier to find your own voice that way perhaps.
America. Why?
My reality especially as a teenager was dire. I think it’s why I connected with the character of Ruby so much, that sense of alienation and being an outsider, which I think both Kate Riley and Zain Harris also share. And when you’re growing up in a deprived inner-city area, and having a tough time, the American Dream is just so big and brash and seductive. The TV, films and especially the novels. Everything just seemed so exciting, even the grittiest thrillers had a touch of glamour. Plus the country was always so different depending where you were, so New York was different from LA, and both different from Texas and Boston. However, I’ve never been and I thought my novel would read as a poor pastiche if I tried to fake it. Instead-I transported Kate Riley from her New England/Washington past to London. That will give me I hope the vehicle to tell stories about America as her past comes back more strongly in future novels. And once I’ve been!
Oh yes, you absolutely must go! I can’t wait to discover more about Kate Riley’s past. And I get what you mean about the gritty but glamorous US-set films and TV shows. I’ve spent a lot of time in the States, and have family out there, so I’m more confident writing about the locations and such, although I do spend a lot of time checking my facts are correct – and getting my Step Mom to say things ‘in Amercian’ for me to ensure I’m getting the phrasing right!
What’s the weirdest research you did?
I ended up wandering around the South Downs late at night while on a work trip to Winchester once. And I think I spent about four days watching YouTube vlogs non-stop. I was by the end of it an honorary teenager, and my world-view was all over the place. But none of this is as exciting as your stint as a bounty hunter!!
An ‘honorary teenager’ – brilliant! But from what you’ve said, you wanted to experience some of what your characters do in order to write about it, and I guess that’s the same with me and the bounty hunting!
Who would you use your taser on?
So far everyone’s been lovely…so far…but I might borrow it if I start meeting writers who act like erm not very nice people (am determined not to swear).
Ha ha! Yes, you’re very welcome to borrow it, so long as you promise to give it back! In return, what advice can you give me as someone approaching publication as a debut?
So advice for you as a debut. I think you’re already leagues ahead of so many writers, the most difficult part for me was breaking into the crime world. Everyone seems to know everyone, and I was terrified. Thank you for your advice by the way, it really helped. So I think you’ve done all of that, and people have so much respect for you already, and I really feel like your novel has a buzz around it. It will really hit the ground running. What I would say, and what I’m failing to do fully, is enjoy it. The nerves make it difficult, the idea that people you have no control over will review it, how much it sells, Tv deals etc etc. Try and ignore all that if you can. And practice your ‘I didn’t win the oscar face’ if you get a questionable review. I have to remember how subjective reading is, and not to take it personally. If someone’s bought the novel and spent the time to read it, they are entitled to feel any way they want to about it.
*blushes* *goes off to practice I didn’t win the oscar face* *returns* – thank you, that’s great advice. I do hope you get to enjoy the experience. Your debut, CUT TO THE BONE, is a fantastic novel.
Speaking of which, can you summarise your novel for readers in a paragraph?
Cut to the Bone is about Ruby Day, a vlogger with millions of fans who goes missing. An elite new unit of the Met are called in under questionable circumstances to investigate, led by Kate Riley, Zain Harris and the rest if her team. What starts of as a misisng person’s case soon escalates into a creepy hunt for a kidnapper, as videos are anonymously uploaded of Ruby pleading for her life. And the kinapper has issued a threat that she won’t be the only one.
It’s a great read, folks. Be sure to watch out for my review next week.
And finally, I don’t believe I swear more than you. Are you sure you counted all bad words? Anyway, my next novel I am determined to swear less. What’s your resolution?
Ha! I think you swear more on the page and less in real life perhaps. I’m the other way around – I edit my sweariness on the page, but in real life I am a pottymouth. Perhaps my resolution should be to even the two out a little more!
And, sadly, that’s all we have time for.
A huge thank you to the wonderfully talented Alex Caan. To keep up with all his news, follow him on Twitter @alexcaanwriter
A bigger thank you to you though for letting me part of the iconic CTG blog, and I can’t wait to read Deep Down Dead (not that this is a MASSIVE hint to get me a proof copy or anything…)
Cut to the Bone
264.5 (Jan. 30, 2017): p181.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Cut to the Bone
Alex Caan. Skyhorse, $25.99 (436p) ISBN 9781-5107-1943-9
A missing-persons case drives British author Caan's fast-paced debut. When 'Ruby Day, video blogger, role model, and favorite of millions of teenage girls, disappears, Ruby's parents, who live in London, immediately inform the authorities, fearful of foul play. Det. Chief Insp. Kate Riley and her second in command, Det. Sgt. Zain Harris, think it more likely that Ruby ran away from home. Then Ruby's father receives a video on his phone that shows Ruby running through some woods, pleading for help, and it's clear that someone has abducted her. Kate and Zain and their team probe every area of Ruby's life, exploring both her private and online personas. They eventually unearth political, business, and police shenanigans, which may or may not be related to Ruby's disappearance, plus a series of online social interactions, some of which expose their participants to grave danger. Readers will want to see more of Kate and Zain, both of whom have traumatic pasts that affect their present private lives and job performances. (Mar.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Cut to the Bone." Publishers Weekly, 30 Jan. 2017, p. 181. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA480195180&it=r&asid=e9a4a00e7c742aa08e784e61fdb9e261. Accessed 8 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A480195180
Caan, Alex: CUT TO THE BONE
(Jan. 1, 2017):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Caan, Alex CUT TO THE BONE Skyhorse Publishing (Adult Fiction) $25.99 3, 7 ISBN: 978-1-5107-1943-9
The disappearance of a popular young vlogger becomes more sinister when threatening videos of her surface online.Ruby Day, a fresh, wholesome face in the world of YouTube video stars, made upbeat segments that attracted millions of followers--until one afternoon she told her parents she was going for a walk and never returned. DCI Kate Riley, an American transplant to London, and DS Zain Harris are called in. There's some question as to how quickly the police can respond to a missing persons report until Riley and Harris realize the request came from the new police crime commissioner, Justin Hope, the man in charge of policing in London. The two detectives turn first, at Ruby's parents' insistence, to Dan Grant, a gamer who has his own YouTube video empire and is Ruby's creepily possessive boyfriend. It's not long after attention is focused on Dan that videos crop up of Ruby being held, obviously against her will, at an undisclosed location. It's clear that Caan (this is his American debut) might be trying to juggle too many balls at once when the investigation balloons into not just trying to track down Ruby (no spoilers, but things don't look great for our missing vlogger, judging from the videos), but also tracing the advertisers, lawyers, and the company involved in producing shows like Ruby's and Dan's. Things start to sound a little far-fetched when Riley and Harris start talking about connections to mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo. And as for the investigators, they're a bit too baggage-heavy to be believable; Harris has quick fists that belie a wounded soul beneath while Riley struggles to care for her dementia-riddled mother. An intriguing concept that sadly boils down to motives that are as predictable and mundane as too many of the so-called twists.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Caan, Alex: CUT TO THE BONE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Jan. 2017. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA475357449&it=r&asid=97be005e2d0490a630068a168000665d. Accessed 8 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A475357449
Cut to the Bone by Alex Caan
w-ie-small
Article by swirlandthread ©.
Posted in Crime/Thriller.
‘Ruby thinks she will die.
She hopes she will die.
Death seems like an end, like peace.
Cessation of pain, no more fear.
The walls are coming in. The darkness has icy fingers. Her skin is on fire.
She want’s her mother.
She can’t breathe.’
Cut to The Bone is the debut novel from Alex Caan. It is a psychological thriller published by Twenty7, an imprint of Bonnier Zaffre Publishing.
I received my copy from Bonnier Zaffre and NetGalley in return for my honest review.
‘Ruby is a vlogger, a rising star of YouTube and a heroine to millions of teenage girls. And she’s missing. She’s an adult – nothing to worry about, surely? Until the video’s uploaded. Ruby, in the dirt and pleading for her life.
Who better to head up the investigation than the Met’s rising star, Detective Inspector Kate Riley? She’s leading a shiny new team, high-powered, mostly female and with the best resources money can buy. It’s time for them to prove what they can do. Alongside her, Detective Superintendent Zain Harris – poster boy for multiracial policing and the team’s newest member – has his own unique contribution to make. But can Kate wholly trust him and when he’s around, can she trust herself?
Ruby’s millions of fans are hysterical about what may have happened to her. The press is having a field day and as the investigation hurtles out of control in the glare of publicity, it becomes clear that the world of YouTube vloggers and social media is much, much darker than anyone could have imagined in their worst nightmares.
And the videos keep coming……’
Cut to the Bone gives the reader a great insight into the world of vlogging.
A vlogger is a person who posts videos of themselves online discussing anything from nails to baking and any subject in between. With an audience that is primarily made up of young people from tweens to twenties and beyond, the exposure for a vlogger is huge. But unfortunately, this exposure also attracts the wrong attention. There is an an underbelly of seediness and prospective violence to this side of the internet. Alex Caan deals with this aspect of the vlogging industry in Cut to the Bone, as we see it from the frightening experience of one vlogger, Ruby Day.
Ruby, a young girl, vlogs about her own personal experiences. A girl who gives to her subscribers herself and what her experiences in life have been. The internet public love her. She talks to them as though in the room with them and as a result she draws the attention of the bigger organisations. Ruby is gold. Advertising with Ruby draws in big bucks for companies.
Until one day, Ruby goes out for a walk and never comes home….
Ruby disappears….
‘Missing people were like a knife edge. Most come home, unharmed: blunt. Some didn’t, which cut to the bone. What was this going to be? Ruby Day. Who are you? Where are you? Why have you gone?’
It is the job of DI Kate Riley to lead the investigation into Ruby’s disappearance. Kate is a cop with plenty of experience behind her, having worked in the American police force. She is hiding something about her own life that she is very frightened of exposing.
Her sidekick on this job is DS Zain Harris. Zain is ex anti-terrorism and is carrying his own secret that could undermine his current position in the police force.
Between them, they uncover an underworld of corruption and violence that climbs right through all echelons of society.
In their search for Ruby, they interview and check up on Ruby’s friends. They quickly discover that a vlogger’s friends are wide and varied. Most are online. Most idolise Ruby. They are lonely, isolated young people who connect with Ruby on a virtual level, making it difficult for Riley and Harris to pin point the reason for Ruby’s disappearance.
‘When you’re lonely and reaching out, you sometimes don’t know what’s reaching back until it’s too late. Young adults just want to be liked, be normal.’
There is a very anti-social element to the world of vlogging and Alex Caan depicts this very well throughout the book. But what he also depicts just as well, is the similarity of this to the life of a detective. Riley and Harris, both live very anti social lives for very different reasons, but the parallel association is not lost on the reader.
Cut to the Bone exposes the far reaching tentacles of politics and corruption. Ultimately it is a book about vlogging, but it is also much more than that. It is a very powerful read about a world we should all be more wary and aware of. It is a book exposing a world so far removed from the everyday for most of us, that we choose to close our eyes to it.
Cut to the Bone is a great read. It is full of psychological suspense that will keep the reader enthralled right to the end. The finger of suspicion keeps moving and the reader is kept guessing. All the ingredients of a bestseller and I suspect a great career in writing for Alex Caan.
BUY IT……and let me know what you think!!!
Meet the Author:
Alex Caan was born in Manchester, has spent over a decade working in information systems security for a number of government organisations, and is currently specialising in terrorism studies. A lifetime passion for writing was sparked by the encouraging words of an English teacher in school, and eventually led to Alex successfully completing an MA in Creative Writing and writing Cut to the Bone.
CTG Reviews: CUT TO THE BONE by Alex Caan
July 19, 2016
Cut to the Bone
What the blurb says: “Ruby is a vlogger, a rising star of YouTube and a heroine to millions of teenage girls. And she’s missing. She’s an adult – nothing to worry about, surely? Until the video’s uploaded. Ruby, in the dirt and pleading for her life.
Who better to head up the investigation than the Met’s rising star, Detective Inspector Kate Riley? She’s leading a shiny new team, high-powered, mostly female and with the best resources money can buy. It’s time for them to prove what they can do. Alongside her, Detective Sergeant Zain Harris – poster boy for multiracial policing and the team’s newest member – has his own unique contribution to make. But can Kate wholly trust him and when he’s around, can she trust herself?
Ruby’s millions of fans are hysterical about what may have happened to her. The press is having a field day and as the investigation hurtles out of control in the glare of publicity, it becomes clear that the world of YouTube vloggers and social media is much, much darker than anyone could have imagined in their worst nightmares.
And the videos keep coming . . .”
CUT TO THE BONE is the latest debut coming out of Bonnier’s Twenty7 Books imprint, and it’s an outstanding edition to their line-up. Utterly contemporary, with a rapid pace and nail-biting tension from the get-go, it’s a super-twisty police procedural that kept me guessing right until the end.
The story starts with the disappearance of superstar vlogger, Ruby Day. This is a novel hot on technology – it’s bang up to date – but the human element is strong too, and Ruby’s story is heartbreakingly compelling. Bullied at school, Ruby turned to vlogging as a way to overcome her demons and help others. When her subscribers grew, she was catapulted into the spotlight, and with that came loyal fans, but also hangers on, and those looking to exploit her for profit. When she goes missing, DI Riley and DS Harris have a number of possible suspects who each has a stake in Ruby, but who would profit most from her disappearance? As the investigation cranks up, and more videos of Ruby in distress are released, it becomes clear that beneath the surface of Ruby’s business relationships and personal relationships there are darker, and seedier, motives than any of them could have possibly imagined.
The two main characters – DI Kate Riley and DS Zain Harris – make for an interesting pairing. Both damaged by the events in their past, they’re equally suspicious of others and find it difficult to trust people. They’re also both exceptional at what they do, and determined to get to the truth, and for justice to prevail (even if Zain’s version of justice may be a little more ‘hands on’ at times). Their origins – finding out why Kate Riley had to leave America and start over in the UK, and why Zain Harris is struggling to fit into his new role as a DS in Riley’s team – are fresh and original, and really made me want to spend time with them.
CUT TO THE BONE is perfect for readers who like their police procedurals fast paced, twisty-turny, and served with a side order of grit. I loved it, and can’t wait to read the next in the series