Gurglings of a Putrid Stream

Because "Cutthroat" is about two cops chasing down a serial killer who appears to be linked to a shady pharmaceutical firm, you might come at this one looking for police work. But you'd be disappointed if you did. You might think, Well, I love a good mystery. But you won't find one here. On the other hand, because this is written by Michael Slade, you might be satisfied with blood, gore, and torture. This is really the only way to go. Cutthroat is nothing if not sadistic.

Believe it or not, a gigantopithicus skull figures into the plot. Gigantopithecus is an extinct species of ape once thought to be related to Man. Or is it related? Slade wonders. He uses it to tie together Custer's Last Stand, a superfluous scene with Charles Darwin, and one of the dumbest climaxes I've ever read.

He uses his time-period (late eighties) to tie in the Zodiac killer, in the process making a mockery of all the behavioral science and criminal profiling pioneered by people like John Douglas.

As literature, the book is almost a total loss. As gore-porn, it has its moments.

One funny note about the climax: Slade goes out of his way to position his cop heroes as literate, cultured men. They quote poetry and listen to classical music. But when one of them imagines a terrible battle on top of a mountain, the best his mind can conjure is a grade B monster movie.