Bone Rattle (Aliss Cutter Book 3)

Marc Cameron

Kensington Pub

April 27th, 2021

Bone Rattle by Marc Cameron is a bone-chilling read. It is very descriptive, shocking, suspenseful, and action-packed.  Readers have the unsettling feeling that they are tracking and finding fugitives alongside the Marshals. 

The novel opens with the discovery of a skeleton and a bone rattle found in a mine. The bad guy is head of the mining company and has dealings with two mob brothers. Cutter’s team is asked to protect those brothers who are on trial. The trial is almost immediately derailed when the prosecuting attorney is murdered. Now the Marshals are trying to find a witness with whom the attorney was supposed to be meeting, and Cutter enlists the help of a freelance journalist who has information. They must find the witness before a killer on the loose succeeds in silencing the witness, Cutter, and the journalist.

“Regarding the journalist I wanted to show how over the course of a career Marshals work closely with civilians. Sometimes there is an intimacy because of the shared psychological aspects.  But there is no physical relationship between Cutter and the journalist, Lori Maycomb. She is inspired by a great deal of people who are good honest journalists as well as my wife.  She has her own demons, an alcoholic problem that she admits too. I have a family member who is struggling with addiction.  Some of what Lori says I took from this family member.  She strives to do what is right. But I have also had to deal with journalists as a Chief. There are always those who want to spin up the danger, while others want to spin the militaristic look of law enforcement.  I did not like that some of my words would be edited and came out as sound bites.”

Besides journalists the book also references politicians. “The Marshals Service would be the perfect job if not for the prisoners and politics.”  People become US Marshals to hunt fugitives and study people.  The mundane part is to sit in court or haul prisoners back and forth.  The challenging part of the job is finding the violent people.  There is politics because the boss of each district is appointed by the US President.  Every time there is a new administration there is a new boss.”

What makes these series of books interesting is how Cameron intertwines within the story the actual duties of a US Marshal. In this book he explains how they track the bad guys.  His protagonist, Arliss Cutter, will need all these skills to hunt a serial killer, another plotline, who likes to decapitate female torsos and leave them without a head, hands, or feet. This plotline as well as some personal background will be resolved in the next book.

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