C. J. Dotson has started her promising literary career with an extremely clever and chilling novel that will appeal to fans of both horror and psychological thrillers.

THE CUT quickly gets under your skin and makes you uncomfortable from the first page to the last. It does not make matters any easier as you wonder if the protagonist is a reliable narrator. Sadie Miles has run away with her three-year-old daughter, Izzy, to escape an abusive relationship with Sam, who also happens to be the mayor of their small town in southern Ohio. She never reveals to him, or anyone else for that matter, that she is pregnant.

Sadie heads north to interview for a job as a housekeeper at an old hotel off the banks of Lake Erie. But first, we get to enjoy a prologue where a man thinks he sees his lost dog splashing in the water. When he wades in to reach the figure, he hears his dog barking on the shore behind him. That is the last thing he will ever hear as he is pulled beneath the water by the creature he was approaching, never to resurface.

"The strange occurrences ramp up in a big way for the finale. Dotson pulls out all the stops as THE CUT’s memorable and spine-tingling finish had me gasping for breath."

What sounds like the start of a great B horror movie is elevated to far greater literary heights by Dotson as she slowly reveals piece by piece what is going on at the L’Arpin Hotel, as well as the nearby power plant and small beach area known to locals as The Cut.

Sadie’s interview with Mr. Drye, the hotel manager, goes very well, and she is offered the position. She asks Mr. Drye if she can take a room with Izzy until she has time to search for an apartment in town. Her request is accepted, and she is about to start housekeeping training with Mel, a fellow employee. Sadie knows in her heart that the hotel is just a speed bump in her life as she plans to stay there just long enough to save up money for a far more distant relocation from Sam. She also wants to start a safe household for Izzy and the baby on the way.

Since this is a horror novel, readers will recognize that characters cannot make plans when there are external elements that might have something else in mind for them. It is not long before Sadie begins to believe that she is seeing and hearing things in the hotel. She also swears to have observed a guest by the pool who then disappears from sight. Mr. Drye claims to know nothing about this individual, and Sadie makes it her business to get access to the few security cameras they have so she can see for herself. That she has constant flashbacks to the verbal and physical abuse she suffered at the hands of Sam is enough to make you wonder how believable she is, especially when Sam constantly accuses her of making up stories.

When Mel goes missing from the hotel, Sadie asks Mr. Drye about her, and he insists they have never had an employee by that name. Sadie is now confident that something is up, and that is reinforced when those limited security cameras are suddenly removed. She sees what looks like strange tentacled creatures coming out of the drain in her bathtub but is unable to get anyone into her room to corroborate this. But then she has the opportunity to save a manager from the power plant next door who is being attacked in the parking lot by what looks like a dog if it had wings and tentacled arms.

The strange occurrences ramp up in a big way for the finale. Dotson pulls out all the stops as THE CUT’s memorable and spine-tingling finish had me gasping for breath. The mixture of unreal horror and whatever supernatural power is pulling the strings around this area is first-rate, and Dotson writes with the skill of a seasoned horror master.