Marc Cameron is the author of two of his own series, Arliss Cutter, and Jericho Quinn. In addition, he has contributed seven books to the Jack Ryan series. Open Carry is his first novel in the Arliss Cutter series.

Deputy U.S. Marshal Arliss Cutter is a born tracker. Raised in the Florida swamplands, he honed his skills in the military, fought in the Middle East, and worked three field positions for Marshal Service. When it comes to tracking someone down, Cutter’s the best. But his newest assignment is taking him out of his comfort zone to southeast Alaska. Dark, uninhabited forests often shrouded in fog. And it’s the kind of case that makes his blood run cold . . 

The murder of a Tlingit girl just the beginning. Now, three people have disappeared on Prince of Wales Island. Two are crew members of the reality TV show, Fishwives. Cutter’s job is to find the bodies, examine the crew’s footage for clues, and track down the men who killed them. But it won’t be easy, because the whole town is hiding secrets, every trail is a dead end—and the hunter becomes the hunted.

This was the first book of Cameron’s outside of the Ryanverse that I’ve read. I’d asked him if he wanted to tip me towards Open Carry, or National Security from the Jericho Quinn series. Cameron said “They’re both fun, but I’d suggest Open Carry”. So Open Carry it was and I wasn’t disappointed.

Cameron has clearly drawn on his experience as a Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal, as well as his time spent in Alaska, where he’s now lives. This experience has given weight and depth to the characters and location in a way that made me enjoy them more than the story itself. Don’t misunderstand me, the story was great, which we will come to. But without overstating or over-describing either, Cameron delivered characters and a location that I both enjoyed and immediately felt at home with.

Arliss Cutter is described by his boss as always being a “nanosecond from throat punching anyone who gets in your way.” And I lost count of the times people asked if he ever smiled. He had reportedly inherited the resting “mean mug” of his paternal grandfather, known as Grumpy.

But don’t let this tough looking, down to business, exterior fool you. Cutter has a softer side. He moved up to Alaska to help take care of his widowed sister-in-law and three children. And he really takes on the role of father, particularly to the boys. It seems that Cutter takes great pleasure in imparting the wisdom of Grumpy’s rules, especially as he cooks with the boys. There was at least as much affection for those boys as there was toughness with them.

We also saw this toughness and softness in equal measure in another scene where he’s tracked down January, a woman who is a potential suspect in a murder. He finds her in the middle of a howling storm, out in the bay, after having been himself cut off from being able to return due to a landslide across the road. After signalling to her, out on her boat, Cameron notes Cutter had “either just made a poor woman venture out in the driving rain so he could ask her a few questions—or he was about to explain to a murderer that he needed to spend the night.” And within a very short space of time he’s aboard her boat and cooking up a meal in the galley for her. By the end of the book he’s back on the boat cooking up one of his double top secret recipes.

At the heart of it, Cutter is a no nonsense guy who is more than prepared to get shit done. But he’s also able to combine it with being laid back – to the extent that I’m quite jealous of this ability of his, described as slow to anger but quick to action. It’s the sort of quality that takes decades to develop and master. In today’s world of instant everything, Cutter was a nice change of pace. I loved how uncommitted he was to his smartphone. He has qualities I’d like to emulate.

The other characters were enjoyably well formed. Cutter’s partner is interesting and well contrasted to him. I’m also looking forward to finding out where things go with his sister-in-law, who he seems to have feelings for but is conflicted about.

The story was great in its relative simplicity. It allowed for the characters and location to really breathe. Essentially, a girl goes missing and Cutter goes to help track someone who may be involved. More people go missing and Cutter becomes involved in supporting that investigation. There’s a Mexican cartel involved and Cutter puts the pieces together. This was easy to follow and didn’t have me building a spider web of red string connections to try to keep up.

I will most definitely be continuing with this series. I will also be diving into Cameron’s Jericho Quinn series when I get the chance.