Cutter and Bone by Newton Thornburg

Two despicable characters concoct an unsophisticated get rich quick scheme that does not go according to plan.

The body of a young woman discovered in a trash can appears in the headlines and seems to jar Richard Bone’s memory from the previous night.  After abandoning his car, he made the long walk home and saw a man toss something in a dumpster and race off.  Regrettably, he shares his gut feelings with his friend, Alex Cutter, who is convinced the killer is a wealthy and well known businessman.  And so the trouble begins.

Alex Cutter is a Vietnam veteran that lost not only his innocence, but some limbs as well and approaches each day with a death wish.  While he doesn’t dwell on his physical injuries, his anger and cynicism erupt towards anyone within shouting distance, even his young child and live in girlfriend.  I’d avoid eye contact with this guy.

Cutter’s houseguest, Richard Bone is nothing more than a ne’er-do-well.  He barely gets by as a part time gigolo and relies on others for support.  Suffering the same ennui millions do, he nonetheless abandoned his wife and two daughters and a potential career and never looked back.  The concern he shows towards Cutter’s girlfriend and baby is almost too much to take in its extreme hypocrisy.

Maureen “Mo”, Cutter’s girlfriend is a sad woman who self medicates daily and seems to only go through the motions of caring for her young son.  Her cynicism seeps from her very pores as she slogs through each day expecting and getting nothing to change her life.

Quotes:

Anyway I don’t figure I’m sick.  I figure I’m well, one of the few.  I figure I see life whole and honest, exactly as it is.  And the only normal healthy response is what I have, this despair.

And I have this terrible feeling sometimes that we’re not all that exceptional, that almost everyone I know, and others I watch in public, the families, I mean, that they’re just people who live together, you know?  And don’t give a dam about each other.

Perhaps Mr. Thornburg and I could discuss how our religious beliefs evolved as we grew and met with an unkind world.  Of course, I’d love to hear about his writing process; the where and how, etc.

My rating for Cutter and Bone is a 7 out of 10.

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Next up, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles…