Cut to the bone by Roz Watkins (Review by Jasmin Webb)

Rating: 3/5

Cut to the Bone is the third book in the DI Meg Dalton series. When an Internet famous teen goes missing, Meg is called to her place of work to investigate. Violet has moved to the small town and works as a cleaner in the abattoir. This small town seems to have a log of secrets and one of which is the pale child, if you let her see your face you will die. Meg doesn’t know how Violet’s disappearance is linked to the pale child and the town, but she is certain something is going on….

First time reading a book by Roz Watkins and I was pleasantly surprised. The writing is so descriptive it brings the reader in! I will say as s vegetarian myself a book centered around an abattoir, especially a pig farm, I found it at times a big gruesome. Give me murders and assaults over animal cruelty any day of the week. As Roz Watkins is so talented with her descriptions very little was left to the imagination but for the purposes of the story line I found it an interesting topic. Be warned if you don’t like to read about animal cruelty this book isn’t for you.

The character of Meg was interesting. Without knowing her back story, there was a lot to infer about her circumstances. Although it wasn’t hard to follow. There were several side stories that mention of Megs guilt around her sister’s death, her good for nothing father, and what seems to be an extremely messy love life. However prior knowledge of these topics isn’t required to get stuck into this book. As bits and pieces are mentioned and we get a good image of Meg’s life.

Meg as our leading lady is a force to be reckoned with. She knows when she’s right and is willing to stick to her gut even when everything and everyone is telling her she shouldn’t. As a detective I really loved Meg however her personal life seems to be a hot mess. I am glad we get to see the two sides to her character as it builds a much better picture of who she is.

The case itself is fascinating minus the talk of dead pigs. With Violet going missing from the start and obvious signs pointing to the justice for animals group the case would seem cut and dry. However, from reading the prose we know this not to be true. The structure of the text goes from present day then back to 1999 where we meet Bec. Bec’s story is crucial to solving the case; only problem is only the reader knows this for a while anyway. We get to quickly realise that it’s very unlikely this has anything to do with the animal rights people.

Roz Watkins is great at keeping the reader hooked, especially with the past chapters I found myself screaming “no don’t end the chapter there”, but of course everything does eventually get answered. The prose had me completely confused with who the kidnapper was. Then I was convinced there must be a ghost child because so many have seen it, I went from a firm believer there’s no such thing as ghost to yes it’s definitely a ghost and yes I have one in my house. That is how good the writing was.

Would I recommend this book?

Crime series are always hit and miss and normally based around whether or not you like the detective. I liked the character of DI Meg and found her fascinating therefore I would recommend the book. I would just warn you again about some of the descriptions of animal cruelty can get a bit intense. Although our leading lady is a fellow vegetarian whoop!

The story line is great and complex there are quite a few side characters, and they are all important to the plot. I never remembered who was related to who but luckily, we are reminded a lot of the time. I also enjoyed how on edge I was throughout the entire book asking who did it and why? When I got my answer my jaw dropped!!! I haven’t read book 1 and 2 but I will at some time however this book worked fine as a standalone.

I rate cut the bone 3/5 stars, I love crime thrillers it’s my genre of choice I have red hundreds and although this is a good I’m just not keen on animal cruelty and even though fiction it is still made me quite uncomfortable, hopefully book 4 will be less animals more people!!!

Thank you to The Girly Book Club, Roz Watkins and HQ publishers for an advanced paperback copy of cut to the bone in exchange for my fair and honest review.