Master crime novelist Giles Blunt is back with a standalone novel of penetrating psychological suspense. Turning the screw tighter on every page, he delivers an intricately plotted story of jealousy and obsession that rivals the best of Patricia Highsmith and Gillian Flynn.

Nothing could be more serene than the life of Brother William, a young Benedictine monk who had turned his back on the world ten years earlier to retreat to a monastery in upstate New York. But then Lauren Wolfe, a troubled young poet, comes to use the library to research a book on Heloise and Abelard; one sight of the faint scars from a failed suicide attempt on Lauren's wrist is enough to turn the monk's life upside down. Every suppressed romantic impulse rises to the surface: his desire to rescue and soothe her trumps his vows of obedience, poverty and chastity. Soon he is simply Peter, a gentle young man who has followed his beloved to New York City because he needs to look out for her, as sincerely as he once pursued his calling.

Of course, just because you love doesn't mean your love will be returned. Just because your intentions are good doesn't mean you'll achieve what you intend. No one illuminates the extreme psychological states this tale of obsession explores better than Giles Blunt. And no reader will ever see the end coming...

Giles Blunt's profile page

GILES BLUNT grew up in North Bay, Ontario, and spent twenty years in New York City as a novelist and a scriptwriter for such shows as Law and Order, Street Legal and Night Heat, before making his home in Toronto. He is the author of the bestselling Cardinal crime series, featuring Algonquin Bay's John Cardinal and Lise Delorme, which has been made into a TV series for CTV. He is widely considered "one of Canada's top crime novelists" (The Globe and Mail) and among "crime drama's elite" (Publishers Weekly). He is a two-time winner of the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel and a recipient of the British Crime Writers' Macallan Silver Dagger.

“Beautifully written. . . . Blunt’s narrative slowly takes readers through exceptionally tense territory, both psychological and physical, to a finale that, as the book reviewer’s cliché goes, nobody could see coming.” —The Toronto Star
“The Hesitation Cut is a bit thriller, a bit psychological suspense, but its heart is built around two brilliantly developed characters. . . . Blunt’s gift for character and his wonderful sense of place keep the story centred.” —Margaret Cannon, The Globe and Mail
“Both superb and disturbing.” —Winnipeg Free Press

“I am always pleased to pick up a new Giles Blunt novel. . . . [The Hesitation Cut] is an incredibly well-written novel—moving, touching, heartbreaking.” —Derryll White, e-Know.ca

“[A] brilliantly written, quiet nightmare of a novel, another triumph for Blunt.” —Joan Barfoot, The London Free Press

“[The Hesitation Cut is] a winner. . . . [A] superbly drawn, layered portrait of human frailty in its various forms, as well as a taut suspense tale that will hold you in its grip until the very end.” —The Ottawa Review of Books

“For any reader—suspense fan or not—who wants complex characters and thought-provoking themes, The Hesitation Cut provides a suspenseful treatment of a difficult subject.” —Bookshelf Reviews

“Dark, unsettling and so very hard to put down.” —A Bookworm’s World

PRAISE FOR GILES BLUNT:
“Blunt stands as a master craftsman who shows us not only darkness, but also decency.” —Publishers Weekly

“Blunt writes with the flashing grace of an ice skater skimming over a frozen pond.” —The New York Times Book Review