Grade: B
And a very gruesome streak at that...Cuts opens with typical Laymon-esque violence; the main-and very disturbed-character, Albert Prince, takes his fury out on a dog, gutting it like a fish. Truthfully, I wasn't really prepared for that-dogs are my favorite animal.
So starts Cuts. After that killer beginning, Laymon slowly introduces us to a number of different characters; at first glance they seem insignificant to the story, but there reasons are slowly unfolded throughout the novel. There is basically two different stories in the novel; only when the reader gets to the end are the stories intertwined.
But sadly, this is what I hated about the novel. One story focuses on Albert and his cross-country trip, all the while murdering innocents, the other story plays out like a soap opera. Yes, there is fantastic character development in Cuts, but it ends up weighing the novel down. Laymon switches from brutal and gruesome scenes to scenes about affairs and deception. This mixture doesn't suit the book; towards the end I felt let down.
Yet the very last part of Cuts is what makes it truly worthwhile. Part One of the book takes place in October/November, 1975, and takes up 289 of the 301 page novel. The Second Part, which takes place in August, 2000, is only 12 pages, yet has the impact of 300. And that is something, of course, that only Laymon could do.
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