The Cut

Ben Knott a high profile architect who from the outside appears to have everything — award-winning international architectural firm, a happy second marriage (to a much younger woman who seems to be good with his two children) and has built himself his dream home in the idyllic countryside he grew up in. And yet, in reality his life teeters on the verge of catastrophe.

Knott’s architectural business is collapsing, and he fears losing it all, possibly going to prison for fraud and tax evasion. On top of that, thirty years ago, his childhood sweetheart was murdered, and the man who killed her is due to be released in the next few days. The entire town is worried that the killer will come back to live amongst them again. They fear he has unfinished business as he has spent thirty years denying he killed her, but in order to get parole he has finally confessed. Of course, anybody who has ever read a thriller knows the man in prison is innocent, and that one of the group [of mutual friends] is the real killer. But who? And why? And what happened back then?

At the same time Ben’s teenage son auditions for a part in a low budget horror film, and he gets the role, despite having no acting experience. It becomes clear that the filmmakers are actually making a film about the murder thirty years before and the son has only got the part because of who he is. It’s also obvious that the director knows something about that night… the night she was murdered.

Armitage is a hugely successful actor and has starred in blockbuster films (The Lord of The Rings Trilogy among others) and he has a really strong visual storytelling style. The locations – an abandoned mill, dark countryside, twisting roads and Ben’s house, an architectural beacon in the countryside, are phenomenal. I could see every scene and imagined the book as a TV series all the way through. He also has a great way of intertwining the timelines as we move seamlessly back thirty years as we chart the relationship between Ben and his friends, the nineties setting and the dynamics of childhood friendships.

The least successful part of the book is the low-budget horror film being made with Knott’s son, which is strangely-curious as Armitage clearly knows the film world, but it felt like a plot point too far. I had to suspend my disbelief [further than I felt comfortable with] to believe that it was the best way to smoke out the truth about what really occurred on the night of the murder.

But all-in-all, this is a book to keep you reading and guessing right to the end, and I was right there in that dark and stormy mill on the night of the murder, I felt like I was a witness to everything.

Highly Recommended