Millie Spark can kill anyone.
A special effects make-up artist, her talent is to create realistic scenes of bloody violence.
Then, one day, she wakes to find her lover dead in her bed.
Twenty-five years later, her sentence for murder served, Millicent is ready to give up on her broken life - until she meets troubled film student and reluctant petty thief Jerry.
Together, they begin to discover that all was not what it seemed on that fateful night...and someone doesn't want them to find out why.
Title: The cut
Author: Chris Brookmyre
Publisher: Little, Brown
Publication date: March 4, 2021
REVIEW
RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I had never heard about Chris Brookmyre until I saw the ARC for "The Cut" on NetGalley a few months back. The synopsis sounded so interesting I had to request it even though I didn't have any references about the author or his previous work.
The story take off with a bang when we discover that someone is dead, then going backwards a few days to find out how that murder came to happen.
There are two very distinctive parts in this novel. First half is more of a character driven story and, imo, it could have been shortened a little bit as pace was a bit slow and nothing much happened plot wise. I think this may be a deterrent to some readers that might think about DNFing it then. The second half really picks up the pace and it turns into a cat and mouse chase around Europe with Millicent and Jerry trying to find out what happened 25 years ago when Millie was sent to prison for killing his boyfriend.
Millicent and Jerry were two great leads. Although their relationship was a bit weird at first (a 72 yo and a 18 yo running together around Europe trying to solve a 25 yo murder?), crazy as it sounded it really worked and both of them grew up on me as the story progressed. Their dialogue was full of wit and banter and with some doses of black humor that made it even more enjoyable. All the movie references went a little bit over my head, but I'm sure all movie buffs will appreciate them.
The flashbacks to the 90s, around the time of the murder, were a bit harder to follow especially because of the large number of characters (I should have taken notes). The resolution was a bit convoluted but once all the puzzle pieces started to fall into place I realized I had missed some clues that were there. There were a couple of coincidences that may require suspension of disbelief.
The epilogue made a reference to the pandemic but seeing as it did not add anything to the story (I don't remember we're told when the story is taking place exactly) it felt a little bit forced.
Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
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