Book Review: Cut to the Bone

Murder investigator and anthropologist turned author Ellison Cooper puts her knowledge of neuroscience and psychopathy to good use in Cut to the Bone, the latest instalment featuring FBI Senior Special Agent Sayer Altair. Thus what starts off as a high-profile kidnapping of 24 high schoolers from a STEM fair in Washington D.C. swiftly transforms into a Dan Brown-like conspiracy thriller abound with symbols and hidden meanings, leaving Altair to navigate a tangled web of misinformation, dead ends, and red herrings to uncover the truth. Although the ending isn't hard to guess, Cooper crafts a gripping tale, dropping crucial reveals at opportune moments, turning it into a tense game of cat and mouse. It's unfortunate, then, the book doesn't reveal much about Altair or her equations with her coterie of loyal colleagues, leaving the characters underdeveloped and uninteresting.