Starts off with a bang and then sort of simmers along until about half way through the story when things REALLY start moving again.

This is the second book in the Ash Todd series. It's categorized as a thriller but it's a very slow building one. It starts off running at full tilt with Commander Ash Todd of the Australian Federal Police rushing his wife to the hospital for the impending birth of their first child. Then things take a hard left turn and the world goes tilt.

Todd is drinking his way to an early grave. He often turns up for work late, when he bothers to turn up at all, and then he's usually "unwashed, unshaved, and reeking of last night's stale booze"... an intervention of sorts from his supervisor and a couple of old friends finds him taking a bit of a working holiday as the security man on a high roller's yacht. An easy gig with a big payday.

But, of course, if things went the way they were supposed to go it would be a very short book wouldn't it? There is a gruesome murder one night out at sea and Todd is left with a ship full of suspects including an oddly familiar ship's captain, a roguish first mate, a few hookers, some very rich, very shady businessmen, a "lady-boy" prostitute, and a half dozen kitchen staff. There are also a lot of strings being pulled, tugged, and tied by some very powerful people. That's when the story takes off.

Dead Man's Cut is categorized as a Thriller or Suspense novel. It seemed to me more along the lines of an old fashioned action/adventure tale with an Asian flavor. I liked it okay. While reading I never really got to a point where I was so caught up in it that I couldn't put it down. I wouldn't be opposed to reading more books in the Ash Todd series but I won't make it a priority. Considering the size of my "to read" list I might get back to author Ross Cruthers and Ash Todd around 2020 or so...

***Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for providing me with a review copy of Dead Man's Cut.

Ash Todd is having a hard time recovering from the loss of his wife & unborn son. His friend on the police force sets him up with a little security job in Asia to get away and clear his head. He is to accompany a group of very wealthy men on a yacht with a small crew and some young ladies for entertainment. The son of the owner of the private casino that owns the yacht decides to also go. All starts out well but there seems some problems between the son (Sebastian) and the guests. The next morning Sebastian is found dead in a most terrible way. They are in the middle of the ocean so who ever did it must still be on the yacht. Ash calls the local police where they left from in Macau and tells them what happened and when they can return. From there the story goes on to be bringing to light some very interesting things by all involved. Ash is beaten for trying to find out who was responsible for the death. Many twists & turns. Keeps your interest from start to finish.

I really liked this book. The beginning is so awful, it is hard to imagine and the stumbling and falling afterwards is more than understandable. The new setting is pretty exotic and of course, the obligatory super rich pervert and super cool tricked out yacht.
Of course things are suspicious and go downhill pretty quickly. There is some violence and double crossing and that's when our hero jumps into action. Things go quickly from there. He's very quick and takes some punishment, yet saves the day.
The ending is kind of cute.
I will look forward to another book by this author.