It's a lot darker than Rough Treatment. The streets of Nottingham are gritty, full of disaffected, frequently violent youth, but that's just the backdrop. The police work involves tracking down the person or persons who are carving up the staff of a local hospital, and a handsome but sociopathic rapist doctor.The personal stuff involves Resnick's ex-wife Elaine who keeps turning up in a more and more disturbed state, the further exploration of Resnick's Polish background, and his temporary rescue of Ed Silver, an alcoholic alto sax player who is raising a ruckus at a homeless shelter. The relationship with Silver provides a lighter note compared to the complications and mixed emotions Resnick has in dealing with Elaine.I really enjoy Harvey's narrative shifts - the movement between the policing and the personal, and the way he keeps letting us have little glimpses that flesh out his characters. The pervasive music and the frequent sandwich breaks are a bonus.
This is my second read through of the John Harvey Charlie Resnick series. In CUTTING EDGE it seems that doctors and nurses are safe enough if they stay in the hospital, but when they leave the curing corridors a scalpel wielding maniac is on the loose. The question is are the patients safe IN the halls of healing or are their maniacs with scalpels in there as well.You can't go wrong with Resnick and the background music of jazz and the blues which echo the human condition in all it's sorry state.
What do You think about Cutting Edge (1992)?
This was a very hard book for me to read. After my own experiences in surgery, the notion of anesthesia-gone-wrong is incredibly frightening. (As it is to anyone, I'm sure, but for me the idea just pushes an extra-sensitive trigger). Even though I focused particularly on this aspect of the book, Harvey keeps it as only a detail in a great and deep novel about human nature, that just happens to involve a botched surgery. I would highly recommend it.
—Grace
