Death of a Thousand Cuts

by Barbara D'Amato

The first winner of the Mary Higgins Clark Award, Barbara D'Amato has been widely praised for her engrossing novels of crime and suspense. Now she opens the case file on a singularly savage murder, set in a uniquely disturbing setting.

The Hawthorne House School for the Treatment of Autistic Children was once known for its pioneering educational approach and remarkable success rate. Now, fifteen years after this celebrated institution closed its doors for the last time, staffers and former residents have returned to Hawthorne House for its first-ever reunion. The gala event turns into a bloody nightmare when the school's revered founder, Dr. Jay Schermerhorn, is found tortured to death in the mansion's basement.

Teacher, healer, and bestselling author, Schermerhorn enjoyed a worldwide reputation for his innovative therapeutic methods and compassionate treatment of autistic children. How could anyone have hated him enough to kill him? As Chicago detectives probe deeply into the history of Hawthorne House, a troubling picture emerges--of a man who inspired both fear and hatred in the children and families who came to him for help.

Death of a Thousand Cuts is a provocative and compelling thriller that exposes the insidious evil behind a facade of false benevolence. Like Mary Higgins Clark or James Patterson, Barbara D'Amato offers up a gripping tale that will chill and captivate readers long into the night.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

352 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2004

About the author

Aka Malacai Black

Barbara D'Amato has had a checkered career, working in the distant past as an assistant surgical orderly, carpenter for stage magic illusions, assistant tiger handler, stage manager, researcher for attorneys in criminal cases, and recently sometimes teaching mystery writing to Chicago police officers.

"Writing is the greatest job of all," D'Amato says. "I get to hang around with cops, go ask people questions about their jobs that I would be too chicken to ask without a reason, and walk around Chicago looking for good murder locales. Best of all, I get to read mystery and suspense novels and call it keeping up with the field."

She was the 1999-2000 president of Mystery Writers of America. D'Amato is also a past president of Sisters in Crime International.

D'Amato is a playwright, novelist, and crime researcher. Her research on the Dr. John Branion murder case formed the basis for a segment on "Unsolved Mysteries," and she appeared on the program. Her musical comedies, The Magic Man and children's musical The Magic of Young Houdini, written with husband Anthony D'Amato, played in Chicago and London. Their Prohibition-era musical comedy RSVP Broadway, which played in Chicago in 1980, was named an "event of particular interest" by Chicago magazine. A native of Michigan, she has been a resident of Chicago for many years.

Reviews

[Sabrina (:]

In Death of a Thousand Cuts by Barbara D’Amato, The Hawthorne House is open for a reunion fifteen years after it was closed down. The Hawthorne House for the Treatment of Autistic Children was known for its approach in treating children with autism. The staff and former patients have returned for the first ever reunion. Some had returned because they chose to and others returned because they were told it would help to be reminded. All is well until the next day the founder of Hawthorne House, Dr. Jay Schermerhorn is found in dead the basement with his body covered in a thousand cuts.
This novel dives into the depths of autism. It gives the reader a look at the different affects it may have on people. Dr. Jay Schermerhorn focused on the patient. He listened to the patient’s words and behaviors, not those around the patient. Dr. Schermerhorn was a compassionate man. Who would want to murder such a kind man?
Although the switch from the officer’s perspective to the patient’s past memories can be confusing, Death of a Thousand Cuts is a great book for anyone who loves to read about mysteries. The first few chapters of the book seem to drag on for hours, but the suspense and mystery starts to build as the chapters go on.
Death of a Thousand Cuts

[Andrea]

This crime novel was similar to Eye Contact in that the investigation has to involve autistic witnesses. The parts I enjoyed most about this book were how the author used the point-of-view of the autistic characters to point out the flaws we have in our societal expectations. We often try to teach others how to "behave" socially, but rarely follow those practices in the ways we wish others would.

[Linda Goldstein]

This book kept my interest throughout. I could put it down, then pick it back up & get right back into it. I liked the different points of view. The problem posed of a detective trying to determine how to interpret statements made by the suspects, both autistic students and psychiatric professionals, was a nice twist for a police procedural.

[Mia Berkstresser]

Normally I'm always suspicious about how marginalized groups are portrayed in crime novels, given the frequency with which they're the villain in a story. But I'm autistic myself, and for once I can say this is good. The portrayal of the autistic characters felt more nuanced and accurate than I expected at first, and the exploration of how much harm and abuse is done to autistic kids in the guise of "treatment" (both by authority figures' neglect/malice/preying on concerned parents, and well-meaning neurotypicals who don't understand yet how misguided their ideas are of what autism actually is) is unfortunately true to reality in a way that makes this kind of story actively relevant to our lives. In that regard, I also appreciate that it was largely written through the lens of the non-autistic protagonist whose preconceptions and initial reactions to autistics probably reflect many people's own understanding, and so learning more what autistics are actually like and watching her change her understanding/perspective over the course of the story feels like a more organic way for readers to understand better as well, rather than just being told "everything you think about us is wrong, fix that" in a nonfiction sense.

[Binktv24]

The first half of the book in my opinion seemed to drag on, I didn't like how the detective was handling the case and the constant back and forth between perspectives kind of confused me at times. Only close to the end I started to like the book a little bit but I'm not even satisfied with the end.

[Lisa]

It’s possible this is the worst book I’ve ever read! I didn’t care about the characters. The murderer was finally announced on page 362. (The book was 384 pages). I SHOULD have put this book into my DNF pile.

[Harrison]

It was fine kind of confusing

[Sherry]

Very unique thriller but I did find it a little bit predictable. That being said, it was very well written with interesting characters.

[Donna Riopelle]

2.5 pretty slow

[LJ]

DEATH OF A THOUSAND CUTS (Police Procedural) – VG
Barbara D’Amato – 19th Book
Forge, 2004 - Hardcover
During a reunion weekend, famed doctor and author, Dr. Jay Schermerhorn, if found brutally murdered in the basement of Hawthorne House, once a home and treatment center for autistic children. Chicago Detectives Emily Folkestone and Oliver Parks must quickly find the killer of this high-profile victim among the former staff, doctors, family and patients.
*** Marvelous descriptions of Chicago and Hawthorne House build the foundation for this well-written book. However, it’s the relationship between the two detectives and the characters of the patients, particularly Jeffrey, that draws you in and keeps you reading. While the mystery is good, it is the look at autism that makes this a fascinating book.

[Marsha]

A reunion at a former resident school for autistic children results in the murder of the school's founder, Dr. Jay Schermerhorn. the autistic children, now autistic adults, their parents and former staff are held for questioning. But how do the police evaluate the responses and behavior of the autistic adults? Can their answers be relied upon? And what will their parents to to protect them? These problems and more confound the police in their investigation of this high profile case.

I found the authors descriptions of various types of autistic spectrum behaviors and abilities well researched and credible. This added to the pleasure of the eventual explanation of clues and solutions. Very well done.

[Jennifer]

June 2009 COTC Book Club selection.

I actually really liked this and plan to add some more of D'Amato's books to my mental to read list. I was actually surprised to see that this is the first book featuring Emily and her partner - D'Amato wrote it such that I felt there had been previous installments and we were expected to know about the police detectives. I did see that she has a novel featuring Polly Kelly, the Chief of Detectives South, so maybe our main detecting protagonists are spin-off characters. I found the information on autism fascinating and the depiction of the original treatments saddening. The resolution to the mystery was satisfying and the interactions of autistic murder suspect Jeffrey Clifford with Emily were pleasantly unexpected.

[Shirley J]

Thoroughly enjoyed the premise of the book and felt the characterization was well done.

I felt the story started to drag somewhat, mostly because the point of view of Detective Emily Folkestone seemed to veer into events or thoughts that I didn't feel were that relevant to the story (and I do hate to feel like my time is being wasted when reading a book). This is a minor fault of the book but I was annoyed enough to rate the rating a notch.

Ms. D'Amato does extensive background research for her books which always makes for a rewarding read.

[Rainbow]

I enjoyed this book. I especially liked the portrayal of the autistic characters. There was no big "cure the defective autistic person" moment. The author must have done some research into the autistic spectrum.

It is a good mystery, with its share of red herrings and blind alleys.

[krin]

This book was a good police procedural with an emphasis on the wide spectrum of autism behaviors. I liked how the point of view switched from former patient Jeffery Clifford who has developed ways of coping with the world to detective Emily Folkestone who learns about how autistic people behave.

[Shannon]

Odd read for me. I grew up with autism (my older brother) and with my job as a speech therapist. So I am very hard to satisfy when reading anything with Autism. If you knew little to nothing of autism, this would be a good read.

[Brook]

Knew what happened before it was revealed, but still pretty good. I thought the storyline was well written.

[Sara G]

3.5/5
the focus on autism was interesting but the mystery took too long to unravel. there were a lot of pointless sidebars.