Smash Cut by Sandra Brown

Paperback 2009, 489 pages
South Amboy, NJ

I started reading this book on my trip to Boston, and finished it at home.

The story is about how Creighton Wheeler, a horror movie buff, hires someone (Billy) to kill his uncle Paul and frames Paul’s supposed lover Julie Rutledge for the murder. Creighton gets Billy to do the killing because Creighton first kills a witness in Billy’s murder trial. This and other actions by Creighton are inspired by murder mystery films such as “Strangers in a Train”. Julie enlists the help of the defense lawyer Derek Mitchell who gradually changes his opinion from doubting Julie to fully supporting her view of events. Eventually they (Derek, Julie, and a investigator by name of Dodge) catch up with Creighton as he is about to kill Billy’s former girlfriend.

The story is generally okay, perhaps with too much gratuitous sex thrown in. At the end we find out Julie is actually Paul’s daughter instead of his lover. This “surprise” ending unfortunately detracts from the overall plot. Julie remains a suspect because people think she is with Paul for the money, there is much less reason to suspect her if it is known that she is actually Paul’s daughter. The reasons for her not telling people are too arbitrary.

In any case, this is a good book to read. The author tries to explain the term “smash cut” a couple of times, unsuccessfully in my case.