Arliss Cutter
is the main character in a new series by Marc Cameron, who
has spent 29 years in law enforcement. In early 1991, he accepted
a position with the US Marshals Service, where he moved through
the ranks to finally retire as chief of the District of Alaska.
With his vast experience, Cameron can create realistic stories,
characters, and picturesque settings.
The author explains how his past experience helped him write
these stories. “I worked for the US Marshals where my
assignments spanned protective details of Supreme Court justices
and foreign dignitaries, Witness Protection details, and boots-on-the-ground
law enforcement in the aftermath of hurricanes like Andrew
or Katrina. Twenty years ago, I was on a tactical tracking
unit in Alaska. This was the first time I was in Alaska. I
knew then that it would make a great setting for a book.”
“In all my books in the series, Alaska will be a main
character. There are so many places to write about, including
the Southeast, western interior, the arctic tundra, the cities,
and the rainforest. In the first book, Bush Alaska is the
setting with endless miles of tundra, herds of caribou, salmon-choked
rivers, and some really big bears. I felt like I’d been
dropped into the pages of a National Geographic magazine.
We’ve lived here 20 years now, and I still feel that
way. In the second book, Stone Cross, I wanted to show the
culture, the dog-sledding, fights, sexual assaults, and the
tattoos. It is called the Last Frontier because people who
want to make a new life come here as well as those who want
to hide from their former life. Fugitives are fairly common
because they come here to hide.”
The main character, somewhat based on Cameron, has a strong
sense of doing the right thing in the name of justice. He
deals with bullies in a swift, uncompromising manner, and
is not afraid to put his life on the line to protect and defend
the innocent. Able to exude competence, he is smart, experienced,
capable, and now is part of the elite Fugitive Task Force.
After enlisting in the military, fighting in the Middle East,
and working three field positions for the Marshal Service,
Cutter requests a transfer to Alaska to be closer to his late
brother’s wife and children.
“I wrote Arliss Cutter as a Gary Cooper type of hero:
quiet, an observer, inquisitive, and hard-nosed. He wants
to help others, strong, courageous, protective, someone who
loves his family. He rarely smiles, so it seems like he has
a bad temper, but that’s not it at all. He’s a
big, imposing guy who will suffer virtually any insult against
himself personally, but he will not allow another to be bullied.
There is a line he will not allow others to cross, no matter
the consequences. He’s the type to put himself in the
middle of a confrontation. He has built barriers and is troubled,
trying to redeem a wrong action, even though he was not in
the wrong.”
The first book in the series, Open Carry, introduces
very intriguing secondary characters. Cutter’s partner,
Deputy Lola Fontaine, is gutsy and a good contrast to Arliss.
His grandfather, Grumpy, raised Cutter and his brother, teaching
him rules of life that are now being passed on to the nephews
he is helping to raise. There are two strong women in Cutter’s
life, Chief Jill Phillips and his sister-in-law Mim.
Open Carry has Cutter and Fontaine trying to find
three people who have disappeared on the Prince of Wales Island
in Alaska. Two are crew members of a reality TV show. The
other is a Tlingit Indian girl who had the misfortune of witnessing
the drug cartel's horrific acts. Cutter’s job is to
find them and track down those responsible.
Stone Cross, the next in the series, has Supervisory
Deputy U.S. Marshal Arliss Cutter and his partner, Lola Teariki,
reluctantly escorting a federal judge, who has received a
death threat, to the rural village of Stone Cross. Their assignment
is to protect him. But it takes a chilling turn when they
learn that a local couple has gone missing and their handyman
murdered. Cut off from any immediate help due to inclement
weather, Cutter and Lola must brave freezing snow and ice
to go after a killer and probable kidnapper.
The author brings the Alaskan setting to life with the freezing
storms, deep water, and dark, old-growth forests. The characters
are multi-dimensional, quirky, and have traits that make readers
care about them.
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