Book name: Stone Cross
Author: Marc Cameron
Publisher: Kensington Publishing
Format: Print, ebook, audiobook
Genre: Crime
Publication Date: 2020
Star Rating: 5/5
Alaska continues to be a fascinating setting for fiction and drama, so when I saw that Stone Cross by Marc Cameron was set there, I was interested in finding out more.
Stone Cross is an ‘Arliss Cutter Thriller’. Each book is self-contained although there are some passing references to previous development with the character and his family.
These are clearly explained and aren’t a bar to starting midway through the series.
Arliss Cutter is a US Deputy Marshall based in Anchorage. He and his partner, Lola Teariki, are pulled from their usual duty for a special assignment.
Arliss and Lola are sent to remote Stone Cross to guard a federal judge who is travelling there to adjudicate on a local case.
The judge is resistant to being protected in this way, even though a credible threat has been received.
In the same area, at a very isolated lodge some distance outside Stone Cross, Sarah Mead and her husband David have been attacked and the handyman Rolf Hagen has been killed.
What is out there in the snow viciously attacking residents? Once Sarah’s lack of contact with her friends becomes suspicious, speculation begins as to whether a local legendary Big Man might be responsible.
When they arrive in Stone Cross, Arliss and Lola identify the person who sent the threatening letter to the judge and assess whether this person presents a continuing threat.
They also become drawn into Sarah and David’s silence and are part of the team that goes up to remote Chaga Lodge to investigate.
There is action aplenty in Stone Cross, along with lots of ‘police procedural’ material relevant to US deputies. I really loved the story. Arliss was complex enough to sustain multiple stories, and his home life provided an excellent balance to the action up in Stone Cross.
The premise that led to Arliss and Lola being up in Stone Cross in the first place was a tad contrived and was probably the weakest element of what was otherwise a strong narrative.
I would have loved to have seen more of Sarah and David’s experiences but it was consistent with the crime-fiction structure that almost all of the story was told via the eyes of the marshalls.
Alaska is a wonderful location for any story involving action and physical danger, and the rural nature of the plot kept me hooked right up to the end. The setting felt very vivid, and I really loved the ‘Shining’ ambience with which Stone Cross began.
I’m keen to read the next in the ‘Arliss Cutter’ series, too.
Thank you for reading my review.
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