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Cut & Run: When the Truth is No Protection
When he lifts his arms to point the camera at me, the shirt bunches around the muscles of his biceps and his shoulders.
'What's this about? Who sent you?'
'There's a simple message: back off.'
The photograph has printed. He holds it up, shakes it dry and looks at it appraisingly. 'Not bad,' he says, turning the photo so I can see it.
I look at myself, smiling at the camera, reflexively.
'This is for you,' he says, giving it to me. 'Keep it handy, so you can show the plastic surgeon what you used to look like.'
When a rugby star, who began life on the city streets, is murdered in the arms of a beautiful celebrity, it seems to be an open and shut case of a drug deal gone wrong. But Anna Markunas, legal researcher for the prime suspect's defence team, begins to uncover a far more sinister truth - a truth that could destroy everything and everyone she cares about most. And could, ultimately, destroy her.
'What's this about? Who sent you?'
'There's a simple message: back off.'
The photograph has printed. He holds it up, shakes it dry and looks at it appraisingly. 'Not bad,' he says, turning the photo so I can see it.
I look at myself, smiling at the camera, reflexively.
'This is for you,' he says, giving it to me. 'Keep it handy, so you can show the plastic surgeon what you used to look like.'
When a rugby star, who began life on the city streets, is murdered in the arms of a beautiful celebrity, it seems to be an open and shut case of a drug deal gone wrong. But Anna Markunas, legal researcher for the prime suspect's defence team, begins to uncover a far more sinister truth - a truth that could destroy everything and everyone she cares about most. And could, ultimately, destroy her.
288 pages, Paperback
First published August 3, 2009
45 people want to read
About the author
Alix Bosco
5 books2 followersAlix Bosco is the crime-writing pseudonym of acclaimed New Zealand television screenwriter and playwright Greg McGee. As Bosco, McGee won the prestigious Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel in 2010 and was a finalist in 2011.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 7, 2010
The thriller-writing debut from a “successful writer in other media” writing under a pseudonym, Cut & Run introduces Auckland based-heroine and legal researcher Anna Markunas, who will apparently spearhead a planned series.
Middle-aged Markunas has been easing herself back into work, and equilibrium, after recovering from a breakdown suffered after years of will-sapping social work in South Auckland, the suicide of her husband, and the problems of her P-addicted son. Now a legal researcher for a defense lawyer friend, she finds herself looking into the circumstances of a celebrity murder.
When rugby star Alex Solona, who began life on the tough streets of South Auckland, is murdered in the arms of beautiful socialite Mikky St Claire, it seems an open-and-shut case of a drug deal gone wrong. A view bolstered by Solona’s former friend and rugby teammate Kamal Fifita confessing to the crime. But as Markunas begins to research Fifita and Solona’s backgrounds, she begins to suspect something far more sinister.
Overall, Cut & Run is a very enjoyable thriller that sucks you in and keeps you turning the pages. Bosco sets the scene by name-dropping a lot of real-life central Auckland locations and historic urban footnotes in the early going, before also taking the story to South Auckland and the Coromandel. There’s also a sense that some of the high-profile characters, including celebrities and QCs, may be amalgams of real-life New Zealanders, which can create a fun game of ‘I wonder who that is based on?’
But the bigger question is, ‘does it work as a thriller?’ And the answer to that is a resounding yes; Bosco creates an enjoyable page-turner not only through the ‘did Fifita really do it?’ plotline hook, kicked up a notch when subsequent discoveries put Markunas in danger, but through her creation of characters with some nice depth and complexity.
The more we learn about Markunas, the more we want to follow her (in this book and the ongoing series). The supporting cast could read like a caricature list: lawyers (honorable and not), cynical restaurant reviewers, violent gang members, jaded policeman, troubled youngsters, airhead socialites, but Bosco imbues them all with something more. She does a great job setting us up and then upturning our assumptions about not only the plot, but some of the characters. I look forward to the second in the series.
You can read the first chapter of Cut & Run HERE
This review was first published in the 2 October 2009 issue of NZLawyer magazine
Middle-aged Markunas has been easing herself back into work, and equilibrium, after recovering from a breakdown suffered after years of will-sapping social work in South Auckland, the suicide of her husband, and the problems of her P-addicted son. Now a legal researcher for a defense lawyer friend, she finds herself looking into the circumstances of a celebrity murder.
When rugby star Alex Solona, who began life on the tough streets of South Auckland, is murdered in the arms of beautiful socialite Mikky St Claire, it seems an open-and-shut case of a drug deal gone wrong. A view bolstered by Solona’s former friend and rugby teammate Kamal Fifita confessing to the crime. But as Markunas begins to research Fifita and Solona’s backgrounds, she begins to suspect something far more sinister.
Overall, Cut & Run is a very enjoyable thriller that sucks you in and keeps you turning the pages. Bosco sets the scene by name-dropping a lot of real-life central Auckland locations and historic urban footnotes in the early going, before also taking the story to South Auckland and the Coromandel. There’s also a sense that some of the high-profile characters, including celebrities and QCs, may be amalgams of real-life New Zealanders, which can create a fun game of ‘I wonder who that is based on?’
But the bigger question is, ‘does it work as a thriller?’ And the answer to that is a resounding yes; Bosco creates an enjoyable page-turner not only through the ‘did Fifita really do it?’ plotline hook, kicked up a notch when subsequent discoveries put Markunas in danger, but through her creation of characters with some nice depth and complexity.
The more we learn about Markunas, the more we want to follow her (in this book and the ongoing series). The supporting cast could read like a caricature list: lawyers (honorable and not), cynical restaurant reviewers, violent gang members, jaded policeman, troubled youngsters, airhead socialites, but Bosco imbues them all with something more. She does a great job setting us up and then upturning our assumptions about not only the plot, but some of the characters. I look forward to the second in the series.
You can read the first chapter of Cut & Run HERE
This review was first published in the 2 October 2009 issue of NZLawyer magazine
April 1, 2019
Only rated low because I made it to page 50-something and gave up. I just didn't find the main character's monologues very interesting, and it all seemed a bit out of place for New Zealand ('celebrity' murder). I also kept picturing the main character as a man not a woman no matter how hard I tried. Perhaps the first line of the book put me off: '"I'd like to bring out your inner slut," is what he said.' Odd way to start and I never quite got past it....
May 20, 2022
A great crime/thriller. Much more character development that your average crime genre book, which adds to the narrative credibility. Believable dialogue. I liked the narrator being a legal researcher rather than the more usual police officer or PI. Very well paced and structured, with a good build up to the finale. Maybe overdid the name-checking of locations around the upper North Island. Almost 5 stars
Want to read
July 26, 2023Ngaio Marsh Award. Online PDF: https://archive.org/details/cutrun000...
Cut & Run: Where the Truth Is No Protection
Cut & Run: Where the Truth Is No Protection
October 13, 2010
We used to wonder what was in the water in Scotland and Ireland, there was such good crime fiction coming out of those locations. It's rapidly getting to the stage where we have to add New Zealand to the list. Now I think I've already warned people to stand by for some enthusiastic reviews - well this is one of them!
CUT & RUN is the first Anna Markunas book from Alix Bosco (pseudonym), luckily there's already a second book out and let's hope there's a lot more to come.
Bosco has pulled off a very stylish balancing acts in CUT & RUN with a blend of quite a lot of Anna's personal life and background, within the crime narrative. Neither side interferes overtly with the other, in fact a lot of the personal elements provide background either to Anna's motivations or even her attitudes and methodology. It helps that there's a nice line in sardonic humour built into the telling of this story. Anna's got a dry, self-deprecating way about her, which makes her very accessible - a sympathetic character. And there's quite a bit to feel some sympathy with. Anna worked for many years as a social worker, helping the most disadvantaged in society. She'd burnt out and walked away from that career, starting out again as a freelance researcher. Investment worries have driven her husband to commit suicide, leaving Anna to deal with her own grief and the resulting family fall-out, including a drug addicted son and an uptight daughter, despite her own happy marriage.
Working for an old family friend and defence lawyer with personal problems of his own, she is drawn into the case of a young man accused of killing a famous rugby star. The accused young man is somebody she remembers from a torrid family rescue back in her social work days, and somehow, the accusation just doesn't seem to make sense, nor does the accused's attitude. Anna puts herself into some difficult situations to find out the truth, but, in that way that this author has of telling a story, there's no sense of daft femjep. There's some deliberate jeopardy undoubtedly, but at no stage does the reader feel like Anna's not completely in control. Or at least aware. Okay so occasionally she's running a lot on instinct and less on street-smart, but she's not an idiot and she can peddle hard if she needs to.
There is a bit of romance towards the end of this book - one of those older people with their edges roughed up by death, divorce and a desire to dull the lights in front of the mirror just a bit - romances. As with all the personal elements, the romance isn't out of place, it's adroitly handled. There's a real sense of searching for justice in the investigation, setting the wrongs of the world right, and making something right. What is really appealing about Anna is that she's prepared to stick with a problem regardless of how dodgy the circumstances get because it's the right thing to do. What's really appealing about CUT & RUN is that it feels real. Anna seems like somebody you would know; the world she inhabits feels just like our world; the problems, the happy moments, the sad moments, the challenges and the sheer living of life is all so very very realistic.
CUT & RUN is the first Anna Markunas book from Alix Bosco (pseudonym), luckily there's already a second book out and let's hope there's a lot more to come.
Bosco has pulled off a very stylish balancing acts in CUT & RUN with a blend of quite a lot of Anna's personal life and background, within the crime narrative. Neither side interferes overtly with the other, in fact a lot of the personal elements provide background either to Anna's motivations or even her attitudes and methodology. It helps that there's a nice line in sardonic humour built into the telling of this story. Anna's got a dry, self-deprecating way about her, which makes her very accessible - a sympathetic character. And there's quite a bit to feel some sympathy with. Anna worked for many years as a social worker, helping the most disadvantaged in society. She'd burnt out and walked away from that career, starting out again as a freelance researcher. Investment worries have driven her husband to commit suicide, leaving Anna to deal with her own grief and the resulting family fall-out, including a drug addicted son and an uptight daughter, despite her own happy marriage.
Working for an old family friend and defence lawyer with personal problems of his own, she is drawn into the case of a young man accused of killing a famous rugby star. The accused young man is somebody she remembers from a torrid family rescue back in her social work days, and somehow, the accusation just doesn't seem to make sense, nor does the accused's attitude. Anna puts herself into some difficult situations to find out the truth, but, in that way that this author has of telling a story, there's no sense of daft femjep. There's some deliberate jeopardy undoubtedly, but at no stage does the reader feel like Anna's not completely in control. Or at least aware. Okay so occasionally she's running a lot on instinct and less on street-smart, but she's not an idiot and she can peddle hard if she needs to.
There is a bit of romance towards the end of this book - one of those older people with their edges roughed up by death, divorce and a desire to dull the lights in front of the mirror just a bit - romances. As with all the personal elements, the romance isn't out of place, it's adroitly handled. There's a real sense of searching for justice in the investigation, setting the wrongs of the world right, and making something right. What is really appealing about Anna is that she's prepared to stick with a problem regardless of how dodgy the circumstances get because it's the right thing to do. What's really appealing about CUT & RUN is that it feels real. Anna seems like somebody you would know; the world she inhabits feels just like our world; the problems, the happy moments, the sad moments, the challenges and the sheer living of life is all so very very realistic.
May 26, 2013
Auckland Bande
Nach einem Burnout in ihrem Job als Sozialarbeiterin ist Anna nur mühsam wieder auf die Beine gekommen. Ruhe findet sie beim Paddeln. Froh ist sie, dass ihr Sohn die Drogensucht überwunden zu haben scheint. So langsam beginnt sie auch wieder zu arbeiten und zwar für ein Anwaltsbüro, für das sie Vorarbeiten in den Fällen leistet. Das Büro hat die Verteidigung von Kamal übernommen, der seinen früheren besten Freund erschossen haben soll und sich schuldig bekannt hat. Anna kennt Kamal von früher und als sie dessen Mutter aufsucht ist sie immer mehr überzeugt, dass Kamal nicht der Mörder sein kann. Nach und nach deckt sie Ungereimtheiten auf, die eigentlich keiner wissen will und bringt sich damit in große Gefahr.
Natürlich ist auch dies der Start einer Reihe, das gleich vorneweg.
An die Art wie das Buch geschrieben ist, muss man sich zu beginn etwas gewöhnen. Da sind viele Innensichten Annas, die bei kleinsten Anlässen beginnt über ihre Vergangenheit nachzudenken. Natürlich lernt man sie so besser kennen, aber mitunter nimmt es dem Roman doch eine ganze Menge an Tempo. Dies ändert sich jedoch, je näher Anna der Lösung kommt. Dann geht es plötzlich Schlag auf Schlag, so dass man das Buch nicht mehr aus der Hand legen kann. Man taucht ein in Banden- und Drogenkriminalität und wird fast gezwungen, sich von dem Gedanken an die Urlaubsidylle Neu Seeland zu verabschieden. Sie haben dort auch üble Probleme und Gegenden, in die man lieber keinen Fuß setzen sollte. So wirkt der Roman etwas düster und desillusionierend, aber dennoch atemberaubend. Und schließlich birgt Annas Vergangenheit noch ein paar Geheimnisse und ihre Zukunft einige Versprechen, so dass man durchaus geneigt sein könnte, ihren Werdegang weiterzuverfolgen.
Nach einem Burnout in ihrem Job als Sozialarbeiterin ist Anna nur mühsam wieder auf die Beine gekommen. Ruhe findet sie beim Paddeln. Froh ist sie, dass ihr Sohn die Drogensucht überwunden zu haben scheint. So langsam beginnt sie auch wieder zu arbeiten und zwar für ein Anwaltsbüro, für das sie Vorarbeiten in den Fällen leistet. Das Büro hat die Verteidigung von Kamal übernommen, der seinen früheren besten Freund erschossen haben soll und sich schuldig bekannt hat. Anna kennt Kamal von früher und als sie dessen Mutter aufsucht ist sie immer mehr überzeugt, dass Kamal nicht der Mörder sein kann. Nach und nach deckt sie Ungereimtheiten auf, die eigentlich keiner wissen will und bringt sich damit in große Gefahr.
Natürlich ist auch dies der Start einer Reihe, das gleich vorneweg.
An die Art wie das Buch geschrieben ist, muss man sich zu beginn etwas gewöhnen. Da sind viele Innensichten Annas, die bei kleinsten Anlässen beginnt über ihre Vergangenheit nachzudenken. Natürlich lernt man sie so besser kennen, aber mitunter nimmt es dem Roman doch eine ganze Menge an Tempo. Dies ändert sich jedoch, je näher Anna der Lösung kommt. Dann geht es plötzlich Schlag auf Schlag, so dass man das Buch nicht mehr aus der Hand legen kann. Man taucht ein in Banden- und Drogenkriminalität und wird fast gezwungen, sich von dem Gedanken an die Urlaubsidylle Neu Seeland zu verabschieden. Sie haben dort auch üble Probleme und Gegenden, in die man lieber keinen Fuß setzen sollte. So wirkt der Roman etwas düster und desillusionierend, aber dennoch atemberaubend. Und schließlich birgt Annas Vergangenheit noch ein paar Geheimnisse und ihre Zukunft einige Versprechen, so dass man durchaus geneigt sein könnte, ihren Werdegang weiterzuverfolgen.
Want to read
June 26, 2011In 2010 was awarded this first-ever Ngaio Marsh Award for New Zealand crime fiction.
November 25, 2014
Loved this read! Set around Auckland and an intriguing plot that keeps you guessing until the very end.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews