Cut and Run

Publisher's Summary

An erotic gay romance, a suspenseful thriller....

A series of murders in New York City has stymied the police and FBI alike, and they suspect the culprit is a single killer sending an indecipherable message. But when the two federal agents assigned to the investigation are taken out, the FBI takes a more personal interest in the case.

Special Agent Ty Grady is pulled out of undercover work after his case blows up in his face. He's cocky, abrasive, and indisputably the best at what he does. But when he's paired with Special Agent Zane Garrett, it's hate at first sight. Garrett is the perfect image of an agent: serious, sober, and focused, which makes their partnership a classic cliché: total opposites, good cop - bad cop, the odd couple. They both know immediately that their partnership will pose more of an obstacle than the lack of evidence left by the murderer.

Practically before their special assignment starts, the murderer strikes again - this time at them. Now on the run, trying to track down a man who has focused on killing his pursuers, Grady and Garrett will have to figure out how to work together before they become two more notches in the murderer's knife.

©2008 Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux (P)2010 Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux

Stunned and surprised.

The only problem I have with the audio version of this book is the narrator, Whenever he impresonates a woman I begin cracking up, it really sounds like he's joking at first. He does this in both books of this series. Fortunately, there are few women characters in this one, and so the distraction is limited. Other than this and his overly perfect pronunciation of every word, he really does great accents, and is very consistent with the character's voices throughout the book.

But here's why I give this read 5 stars: I actually listened to this book after Sticks and Stones, in other words, out of order. I was stunned at how good this book was. It's much better than its sequel. The character development balanced with the intrigue of the case the story revolves around was in perfect proportion. It's a little slow at first getting started, but it really was worth it. Being a gay man myself, I was amazed at how spot on much of the sexual tension believe the two men was. Especially surprising is that it was written by two women. Ha! I would love to know what kind of research was involved in gay-men courting in order to write this book. Throughout the story you sometimes want to strangle each of the characters, and other times want to be the object of their seduction. I found myself relating to both Ty and Zane in different ways. And the climax of this story brought tears to my eyes. Congrats to the authors on an amazing book, the best gay-novel I've ever read. Thanks!

31 of 31 people found this review helpful

Excellent Book

So, we've got a fantastic book with two very unique, confusing, and likable main characters with superb and often hilarious dialogue. We've got a mystery, murder, and, well, romance. I'm still amazed at the depth of the characters. They felt so real to me that I had to continually remind myself these were just characters and not real life people I'd love to meet. On top of this, we've got a great narrator. His voice is pleasant, and just generally pleasing to listen to. He does well with accents and the character's voices are consistent throughout.

What I liked best about the book, though, was it's focus on the relationship between Ty and Zane. They start out hating each other practically on sight, then, as they begin to learn more about each other, and the character's layers are pulled back/revealed, their feelings of animosity turn to (even though neither will admit it--yet) love. It's done really well and is completely convincing. Plus, they may be two bi-sexual men, but they're not put into any kind of stereotypes, and they have an equal relationship--none of that creepy dominance/submission stuff that kind of creeps me out.

Point is, I love Ty and Zane and it makes me sad they're not real.

19 of 19 people found this review helpful

Great Murder Mystery/Gay Romance

I’ve read way too many books in this genre that turned out to be more romance than murder mysteries. “Cut & Run” and the sequel “Sticks & Stones” deliver on both fronts. The story is incredibly well written and very difficult to put down. There are a few (VERY) steamy sections, but most the plot centers on Zane & Tye learning to trust each other and work as FBI partners. The fact that they try so hard to deny the attraction they're feeling towards each other is amusing (and sadly touching). The big bad detective bantering between characters had me laughing and those rare moments of honest caring almost brought me to tears. The authors do a pretty good job of tying up loose ends but “Sticks & Stones” ends with just a few things left unsaid. These are the stories worthy of a hard copy for another read later.

8 of 8 people found this review helpful

A Great Thriller...

Abigail Roux and Madeleine Urban's tale of Ty and Zane was engaging, entertaining, and straight-out sit on the edge of your seat thrilling. The dynamics of the characters are relatable and realistic. Becoming enthralled with the building of a unique relationship between Ty and Zane is unavoidable. The narration, by Sawyer Allerde, was fantastic. The 'who-dunit' reveal added intrigue, if for no other reason than I didn't have a clue...which is a compliment to the author's ability to tell a story. A great book!

14 of 15 people found this review helpful

a great love story, and some murder thrown in

This is the first of two books (so far) about this couple of FBI agents. The story flows easily and is an easy listen. I loved the uneasy love story set against the murder investigation. The narrator is easy to understand and the characters are easy to differentiate.

6 of 7 people found this review helpful

A great series

The Cut and Run series, featuring FBI special agents Ty Grady and Zane Garrett, was one of my first favorites when I started buying gay audiobooks. Both of these hard, deeply scarred men are intriguing from the outset, with an impressively crafted balance of strength and vulnerability, and every crisis makes them and their dynamic more fascinating. The first two books are key for establishing their relationship, and later, after acquiring a new narrator with book three (veteran Sean Crisden), their bond deepens as their lives, and the threats against them, get more complex. I keep coming back to these books because I love Ty and Zane and how the trouble they get into transforms them both individually and together.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Let’s Play POV Ping-Pong!

Wow, where to start! This book is a study in how not to write a novel, and yet… and yet, these gals must know something I certainly don’t: they’re published, and this book, Cut and Run, is first in a series of six (!), so far. Or maybe soft-core porn just doesn’t need to be all that well written.

Trying to keep up with the point of view changes was like trying to watch the ball in a championship ping-pong match. It was hard to keep up with who was speaking, and therefore it was impossible to know whose story was being told. Confusing the reader with POV changes is a huge Writing 101 no-no. In Cut and Run the perspective changes so often, sometimes within the same paragraph, that the moment you, reader, start to identify with one character the perspective has switched and you’re on to the other making it difficult to care about either.

I would wager that a full third of this book is nothing but adverbs. Oh my god, nearly every action is done carefully, slowly, slightly, doubtfully, soothingly, flatly, softly, curtly, wordlessly, logically, dubiously… “She complained, obviously.” So many adverbs. They stifled the flow and undermined the storytelling. Another Writing 101 no-no, and the classic “show vs. tell” issue. Instead of telling us that “he watched him warily” the writers could have left out the adverbs, let the dialog and the action flow, and just showed us that the watching was wary.

And speaking of the dialog… the meant-to-be playful banter between the two main characters is forced and sometimes awkward and often clichéd. It’s intended to tell readers, “They hate each other. No, they really hate each other. Well, maybe it’s actually angsty teasing. No, it’s foreplay!” And the writers just beat you over the head with it throughout.

Let’s just call this for what it is: it’s a buddy cop romance thinly disguised as a mystery. There are a lot of needless descriptions of hotel rooms, what the men wore, and pointless actions that have nothing to do with the story, and all these descriptions are just long lead-ins to the sex scenes. The characters don’t actually spend much time trying to solve the murder mystery that is supposed to be at the heart of the story. As for the mystery, if that is what brought you to this book, I would recommend selecting something else. The mystery, a serial killer in New York, isn’t even mysterious enough to keep the attention of the two main characters.

While the budding romance was tender and the sex scenes were kinda hot, I wasn't sufficiently moved by the characters or the story in this book to continue with the series.

Allerde’s narration wasn’t awful – when doing male voices – but his falsettos were pretty bad.

8 of 10 people found this review helpful

WOW

If you could sum up Cut and Run in three words, what would they be?

Adictive, Amazing and Thrilling

What did you like best about this story?

ALL OF IT! Everything about this story and the remaining series is so amazing its insane. The angst and the suspense and silly banter...It all tied in really well. Some parts were a bit predictable but that's okay. I will be listening to this series over and over!

Which scene was your favorite?

Oh, man, I don't even know...there are so many.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The way that Ty and Zane developed their trust for one another and the way that they danced around the feelings.

Any additional comments?

The Narrator for this book and the next one, Sawyer Allerde, was kind of "meh" at first but he grows on you. His rendition of Ty was pretty good. It was kind of sad to have a new narrator for the other two books. Ty didn't sound like Ty and Zane didn't sound like Zane, voice wise. It took some getting used to but after a few chapters you sort of just go with it. Not to say that Sean Crisden is a horrible narrator, its just...when you start a series hearing characters one way and then the change half way through its a bit of a shock, LOL! but all in all 8 out of 10 for the whole series, well done!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Dry narrator, mediocre plot

Heard a lot about this series, but it didn’t live up to the hype. The plot and romance were mediocre. The agents didn’t even solve the case before the killer got to them. Most of the time they were arguing with each other and trying to figure each other out than solving their case. They were also separated repeatedly, too many times IMO in one book. The narrator was rather monotone except when they were yelling and didn’t express the sex scenes and romantic scenes with any passion or emotion in his voice. Idk if it was because the authors’ writing style was really that dry and mechanical or if it was solely the narrator’s fault. The guys were hot for sure, and their personalities were interesting, but the story wasn’t very good. They didn’t even outsmart the villain; I suspected the villain before did! Which is not a good thing IMO because I’d rather read about heroes who are smarter than me. I wanted them to be way more awesome.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

M/M Cop Fluff..If you like that kind of thing.

What would have made Cut and Run better?

Ty and Zane.
Zane and Ty.
Quite possibly, the worlds dumbest detectives.

I love m/m. I love cop drama. I love gory crime scenes. I love the "OMG" plot reveals. I love dirty hot cop sex, ehem.

Sadly. This book had none of these things.
It was poor, unadulterated m/m cop fluff. And while sometimes cop fluff is a good thing, this story missed the best part of the "fluff."

So, the plot. Bad cop and good cop get partnered up. Act like they hate each other for half the book. Spend more time in their hotel room and getting injured than they do actually solving the case.

Suddenly and without preamble they are hot for each other. A "decent" scene in a hotel bathroom for build up led to one of the worst m/m sex scenes I have ever read. Ty and Zane are hot. I like them, even though their back stories are little watered down. A little angry cop sex could have gone a LONG way.

More injuries, story time lapse, more injuries...OMG! That's the guy who's committing the crimes?? (shocking, this was not) and then...END SCENE.

These authors missed so many opportunities here.

And what really got me?
Every scene where Ty and Zane kept talking to each other; long drawn out talking about feelingggsssssssss. They talked in a hotel room, in a house, in a parking garage, in an alley, in a car. All their angry pent up emotions could have led to some explosive hotness. BUT NOTHING HAPPENED. EVER. NEVER. I get it, they were always tired or injured. But throw me a bone here.

Oh, All those injuries? Well, I almost forgot about them. Apparently, going to the hospital was an inconvenience. Every time. I didn't get it.

So...Will I read book 2. Maybe. I always believe in giving a bad book a second chance if there is a series involved.

All my Ty and Zane fantasies, will just have to live on in my head I guess.
2 (feeling generous) stars.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

Cut and Run book one

This story has everything that any reader will want in a story.It is a gay romance but nothing like you have ever read before.Two special agents assigned to track down a killer thought to be one of their own find love as well as the killer eventually.The love scenes are carefully written without overt description but are highly erotic. The action packed story full of drama and suspense will thrill but beware the death scenes they are shocking. I could not believe that this was written by two women but if I want to read about gay love and thriller fiction give me these two anytime. More of the same please

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Best book on audible!!

This book was a step away from my usual Fantasy genre and it was made with some tredidation, usually I just can't read Crime, I get bored or scared and pick up a Terry Pratchett to distract myself with until I've forgotten all about the serial murderer in the other book. HOWEVER because this so proudly displays 'Gay Romance' on the audible title line I couldn't stop myself from pressing the 'add to cart' button, and I am so insanely happy that i did!

Zane and Ty are the most in depth and loveable characters I have ever come across, I have never developed empathy with characters as quickly as with these two. They are dedicated strong, intelligent and caring yet still flawed and still human. Their interactions are a perfect blend of intense, funny violent and loving. That will sometimes leave you in stitches from laughing on the verge of tears or fanning away the heat. I simply can't praise the authors enough for their wonderful work on them.

Also the narator Sawyer Allerde is absolutely amazing, his delivery for Ty and Zane is totally flawless, even down to the gravel in Ty's voice and the 'Poster Boy' in Zane's, he does the lead characters justice! Not to mention the varied list of minor characters all of which are easy to differentiate, he even copes well with the female voices.

If you have one book, it should be this one!!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Changes of POV have me whiplash

I wanted to enjoy this.

I half did, but, it took so much work to decipher who was talking when as the POV was constantly changing - something I hate. Pick one and stick to it for a while and then when it changes make it obvious, like a new chapter.

The narrator was clunky.

The whole thing was quite jarring and I won’t be bothering with further audiobooks from this series or anything from this author at all.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

I wanted to like this - but didn’t

Recently heard the first two books of Alice Winters’ In Darkness series and LOVED them and wanted to find more books like them (m/m, good relationship, action).

This series has popped up on my recommendations on and off for a few years for me and I’ve always disregarded it because of the negative Goodreads reviews that gave me reason to be cautious. However, there’s so much love for the series I thought I’d give it a go. I wish I hadn’t!

First of all the writing is a mess. Continuous head hopping and changing point of view, even within the same paragraph, means it is so difficult to know who is speaking/thinking and it’s hard to get to know the characters as they merge into one. There’s so much potential with this plot, and with the writing, but the author needs to work with an editor to help them communicate their ideas more effectively. Maybe have a chapter for one character, then swap to the other character in the next chapter?

Then the characters acted like desperately macho 15 year olds with attachment issues, who were pretty awful at their job. I saw that ending coming a mile off. Sighhhh. Never mind! I imagine the aim is for the characters to develop as the series goes on, but I’ll never know because I’m stopping here.

There’s so many good elements to this book that could be worked on to make a 5 star listen, but as it stands it’s like a draft that needs an editor and beta readers.

Terrible - I thought this was a thriller

Probably one of the worst books I have listened to. Had I known these two ‘macho’ special operatives, one an ex-marine, were going to have a gay relationship, I really wouldn’t have bothered with it. Not just that they have gay feelings towards each other, but the near constant references to their feelings is tedious in the extreme. In addition, the false ‘banter’ between the two is intensely irritating. Little or no investigating in the first 5 chapters, so I gave up. The only reason I gave any stars was because the review wouldn’t be accepted without any. It doesn’t deserve any. I’m sending the book back.

cool story bro

loved the story. lots of laughs and suspense. and switch roles. will purchase Sticks and Stones next

awful narration

These books are great fun. The narration by j f harding brilliant. This guy, awful. Sounds like he is running late and this job is getting in the way. Zane also sounds like a teenage boy. A total botch. Please record again with someone who sounds like they actually care.

The first story in a brilliant series

Would you listen to Cut and Run again? Why?

OMG yes! I have read the book twice and listened to the audio once. But.. there is no doubt I will listen to it again.

What other book might you compare Cut and Run to, and why?

The other books in the seriers of course. Zero at the Bone. All have a great story and added MM romance between the main characters.

What about Sawyer Allerde’s performance did you like?

Very good. I really liked him as a the reader (however, Sean Crisden , who reads the later books, is a bit better with the characterisation of main characters)

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Funny in places for sure! Their first few days getting to know each other was quite funny... Ty was a real bitch whilst Zane was being a bit of the silent type!

Any additional comments?

The whole series is recommended. I think 5 out of the 8 are available on Audible. Would be good to know when the next books will be available.

The beginning of a wonderful series

This is the first book in the 'Cut and Run' series. If you want intellectual gay themed fiction, get something by Alan Holinghurst to fall asleep to. However, if you like excitement, a fast pace and something that will start you on a journey involving two main characters the you end up caring about, you can't go far wrong with this series.

Whilst I rather suspect that literary merits are dubious, the adventures of Ty and Zane and in particular the development of their relationship gripped me throughout the whole series.

I listened to the first five in the series and the had to buy the next three in print as I simply had to know what happened next. I only hope they become available on Audible soon.

Fantastic start to an amazing series

Where does Cut and Run rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Cut and run is an amazing story with a fantastic narrator and has to be one of my favourites by far

What was one of the most memorable moments of Cut and Run?

The most memorable moment for me was towards the end of the story without giving too much away the book really captured the a motion of the scene

What does Sawyer Allerde bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

The narrator really brought the story to life for me well read audio book is like watching TV this one was fantastic

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

If I could have I would have listened to this in one stating

Any additional comments?

Would recommend to anyone who loves the genre and those who like thrillers