Smash Cut

Smash Cut by Sandra Brown
Adult New Book Display-Main Level – BROWN

The phrase smash cut is a movie term where one scene abruptly ends and another begins without any transition. THE SCENE: Hotel Moultrie, 3:15 pm on a Tuesday. An elevator with four people is stopped at a floor to pick up others. The occupants were stunned when the door opened to a mask man who quickly hit the stop button. The unknown man ordered everyone to kneel. After he took their jewelry he shot one man dead. END SCENE. Paul Wheeler was the man that was shot dead in the elevator on that fateful day. Of the three witnesses one was the most important; Wheeler’s female companion, art gallery owner, Julie Rutledge. The big question is who murdered Paul, was it a random robbery or the work of a cold, chilling sociopath.

Paul was a widow with no family except for his brother Doug, sister in law Sharon, and his nephew Creighton who were all shocked by his death. There is obvious dislike between Julie and Creighton, who try to point the police in each other’s direction even though they both have iron clad alibis. This is where Derek Mitchell enters. Derek is a hotshot criminal defense lawyer and he turns down the offer to be Creighton Wheeler’s lawyer. Not only is there a strange and startling conflict of interest but he does not like Creighton as a person and could not justify being his lawyer. Creighton is a spoiled young man. He does not hold a job; he plays various sports and has a large obsession with movies, especially horror movies. Just about every comment he makes is taken from a movie. Strange and scary disturbances start happening to Julie and Derek as they team up to prove that Paul’s murder was the work of a sociopath. Sandra Brown offers up a great read in this romantic thriller. You will enjoy the many twists and turns that this novel brings.