I really liked the premise of this book but found that it was incredibly slow and the modern timeline felt really contrived. I really struggled in the middle of the book and found myself not caring how it ended. The final 10% was decent but still left many unanswered questions.

3 5⭐️
I really enjoyed this book. Told in dual time lines 1994 and 2024. Had me hooked the whole way through. Thank you to Netgalley and Faber and Faber Ltd for ARC.

Sadly, after reading ten percent of this book, I decided that it is not for me. The writing style seemed odd, it was too descriptive for a mystery-triller. I found out that this first came out as an audio book, so I'd be willing to listen to the audio book, I'm sure I will enjoy it more.

I enjoyed this book for the characters as much as for the story. There is an untrustworthiness permeating most of the characters which is fun to unpick as the plot unfolds. It’s well written, without melodrama but with a lot of atmospheric language, Readers should also consider listening to the audiobook, narrated by the author. It adds a whole new level to the experience.

There is something dark and brooding about this latest thriller from Richard Armitage that just had me drawn in from the beginning. There is a real sense of tension in those opening chapters, where we bear witness to an event that is going to direct and inform all that will come to pass in the remainder of the book. You can feel those early spikes of adrenaline, and that grip of fear that spills from the witnessing character, both intimately involved and completely removed at the same time, if that is even possible. A distant voyeur if you like, who captures what happens on film before finding themselves right in the cross hairs of the bad guy. It's suspenseful, tingly intensity, framed by fireworks and leading to a shadow that will plague the small town of Barton Mallet for years to come.

And that is just the opener. We join the main story thirty years later, with most of the main players back in situ in Barton Mallet, and a murderer about to be released on parole, much to the communities protestations. You can feel that tension still pulsing, albeit to a lesser degree, flaring up each time that the impending release is raised. And this is where we arelly get to know the key characters in this thriller, principally Ben Knott, whose girlfriend, Annie, was the poor victim three decades earlier. Ben is a complex and damaged character, who past and present mould him into someone who it is hard to feel sympathy for, but whose fate I became completely invested in. He becomes, in a way, a victim himself, but the people behind this campaign against him are not entirely clear, for reasons that become clear in the reading.

Despite his tragic origin story, Ben has carved a successful career for himself as an architect, and he and his family are the focus for much of the story. His daughter is an accomplished sportswoman, and his son, Nathan, although quieter, seems to revel in the art of acting, thrilled to be chosen to play the lead in a new 'found footage' thriller to be filmed in the town. And it soon becomes a case of art imitating life with a lot of the plot of this film, The Cut, being uncomfortably close to home for Ben.

I really liked the way in which the author has built the tension here, using night shoots to create a kind of horror vibe, whilst cutting back and forth between Ben's present and the past he would rather forget, to enhance the psychological impact of the scenes Nathan is filming. We, as readers, and Ben as our protagonist, understand their relevance, even if no-one else around Ben does. The author's own experience in TV and Film really comes to play here, creating a sense of authenticity and intensity that really aids the plot, whilst not overloading readers with technical knowhow that would otherwise have slowed the action down.

Well, noone but the director that is, whose manipulations are the kind that drew a wry smile from me as I read, starting to build an understanding of where this book might be leading. The more I read, the harder I found it so feel sympathy for Ben, for various reasons, although I did feel apprehensive about what might happen to Nathan and his sister, Lily, caught up as they are in all the subterfuge and tragedy. And as for who is really directing the action, who the mysterious producer pulling Director, Karine's, strings is a question that hangs over us until nearly the end of the book, although there are hefty clues that will give eagle eyed readers a fair idea.

As this book was previously released as a Audible Original title , I took the opportunity to listen to a bit of the audiobook too. Narrated by the author and Jacob Dudman, this really is an excellent production piece, creation that necessary sombre tension that this kind of thriller really needs. It actually has a very cinematic feel to it, and not just because it is about the creation of a film. It is that mixture of tension, suspense and intense characterisation that really makes the story land perfectly, and I could easily see it on the small screen. The slow erosion of Ben's sanity, through the course of the book, the gradual reveal of what really happened in the fateful summer, all made for a gripping, dark drama that I think thriller lovers will really enjoy.

Chilling.

In 1994, a group of village kids navigate their last months of school. The summer was supposed to be perfect, but somehow, one of them ends up murdered.

In 2004, the murderer is about to be released from prison. As tension in the village rises, a director charges in to make a horror movie about what happened all those years ago. And it soon becomes clear that she will use anyone to finally reveal the truth about the murder.

Past and present collide as secrets are revealed at breakneck speed and inevitably culminate in the final reveal of the truth...

This second book of Richard Armitage's was even more claustrophobic than the first. It was incredibly hard to put down, even at the most disgusting behavior of some of the main characters. Seldom have I needed to watch people get their comeuppance more...

I am so excited to see what Armitage does next, this was just terrific!

Content warning: the characters from the 90s are openly and horribly homophobic and racist, and torture the gay and the Asian character relentlessly.

The Cut is a vividly written lurid B picture of a novel, a kind of I Still Know What You Did Thirty Years Ago sort of thing.
Thirty years ago, Ben's girlfriend is horribly murdered. Cut to today, the person who went to prison has been released.
In a preposterous, but fun, turn of events, Ben's son is cast in the film version of the story, as Ben The film is a nasty found footage film done on the cheap: it's a psychological thriller inside a psychological thriller, where the writer keeps upping the pressure on both Ben and the Ben in the film.
Confused? You will be.

This was an enjoyable read that I just could not put down, it gripped me right from the very start and kept me guessing right until the end.

I think this had a great premise but then didn’t fully deliver for me. Armitage has a gripping style of writing and the mystery is interesting, but I struggled with connecting with the characters.

A read that at times was rather slow it felt like it needed a good kick at times.
Dual timelines from teenage and adult points of view from 1994 and 2024.
The characters were a mixed bunch some likable some not so.
After the authors first book Geneva I expected a bit more from this one but found it to just be an okay read.
Thanks to Netgalley and Faber&Faber for the Arc.

This was a really enjoyable read. It had me from the start to the end and I read it in one sitting. The thriller aspect is well done and I liked the characters alot.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC. All opinons are my own.

After reading Geneva I was excited to read The Cut. Overall it was a decent read but at times felt really slow.

I enjoyed Richard Armitage’s Geneva and was interested to read The Cut. The Cut is set over two time periods where we see the teenage and adult versions of the same characters. Each period has a great deal of toxicity and unpleasantness and even the slightly implausible quest for justice is toxic and unpleasant.

The Cut is a well paced psychological dark thriller with atmospheric small-town vibes over dual timelines. Set in1994 and present day, we follow a group of childhood friends and their journey through trauma and tragedy.

A compelling storyline exploring emotive themes of childhood trauma, bullying and homophobia. Richard Armitage weaves the past with present and has created a brilliant cast of characters, some extremely unlikeable!

A brilliant read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I have a copy of Richard's previous book Geneva but I have yet to get round to reading it.

I am a bit on the fence here. I love Richard and am a huge fan of his work, and I hate to say anything negative about it but this didn't live up to what I wanted. I found it too confusing, too busy, and I didn't find the transitions between the scenes in the 90s and the present scenes all that smooth.

I did enjoy the scenes set in the 90s, with the teenagers and young adults trying to find their place in the world and their friendship groups, who is top dog and who is popular and who is bullied etc. that was handled well. I didn't find any of them likeable as adults though. I don't mind disliking characters as long as they're well written, and they are, but I found myself preferring them when they're children. I had no real emotional connection with them as adults.

I'd have liked it to get going a bit quicker. It opens with a bit of an unknown thrill but then it goes quite flat. I think - and this is my personal opinion after reading many thrillers - it would have been more enjoyable if the thriller elements happened quicker, because it does drag. It's less of a slow burn and more of a nothing happens.

I do wonder if there's too much going on. There's crime, murder, threats, terminal illness, death, bullying, money issues, secrets, paranoia, filmmaking. I wonder if it had been smoother to read if there was more of a focus on a couple of these topics rather than having them all, because you end up jumping from one to the other without having sufficient time to enjoy one.

I really wanted to like this, because of the aforementioned love for Richard, but sadly it fell short. A bit flat, too slow, too confusing. I couldn't connect to anything. It did get better as it went along but I felt it was a bit too little too late.

A decent thriller, but at times it was really slow going. There’s slow-burn and then there’s slog, and at times it felt like the latter. It also felt like too many time and character jumps to be fully invested in the characters. Some plots also felt odd, like the scene with Nate and the AI live video and Freckles. I don’t get what he was doing live. Was he being groomed? Also the way the movie comes about without Dani or Ben properly checking. Since when did Dani have legal right to sign on Nate and Lily’s behalf?

That said it was a good premise, and I appreciated the way homophobia and racism were woven in. I think this would make for a good movie to have actors flesh out the characters. The audiobook has Richard Armitage as one of the narrators so I recommend perhaps reading in tandem.

Thanks to Faber and Faber and NetGalley for the advance copy.

I didn't know what to expect. An actor starting to write books? Well, I loved it. It's an enjoyable, entertaining and suspenseful book. The back and forth between past and present made it a little difficult to read but I just couldn't stop reading. A recommendation. I guess now I'm going to have to read the author's other book.
I received an advance review copy via NetGalley/Faber and Faber and I'm leaving a voluntary and honest review.

Wow what a fabulous well written thriller this was!
We had
Beautifully developed characters
Dual timelines
Well executed topics such as bullying, racism & homophobia
This story kept you on track and intrigued throughout I couldn’t put it down!
Richard arbitrage is definitely an auto buy author now after smashing another book out the park

I don't know why it is that we readers think that just because someone is famous, they must be able to write a novel. I'm as guilty of it as anyone - I see a famous name, someone I like and consider talented in their chosen field, and curiosity as much as anything prompts me to read. But being good at acting does not automatically qualify someone to write a decent novel, and that's true of Richard Armitage. If he were an unknown person submitting this manuscript, it wouldn't have been published.

It's a strange, confused and dark thriller that is incredibly implausible. The action switches between 1993, when teenage bullying in a nondescript Midlands village ended in tragedy, and 2023/4, when a film crew arrives at the same village to recreate the events. Ben Knot was a friend of the murdered child, and since has become a successful architect. His two children are cast in the film, and he becomes more and more concerned about the motives of the film makers and their uncanny knowledge of the events of that year. It's clear early on that many secrets remain about what really happened on the night in question, and someone is determined to get to the truth.

It's one of those dark, grubby books where most of the characters are horrible, and there's an unrelenting grimness about it. It's depressing without being moving. The writing is description heavy and it feels slow even though it's supposed to be a thriller. None of it has the ring of truth either - neither the historic story nor the more modern one. The casual set up around the film seems utterly unbelievable - I'm no actor but surely film crews don't sign up a child online, proceed to start filming without permission from (presumably) the only person with parental responsibility, and also use said child star's house as a base for all their equipment, again without permission upfront from the homeowner. The more you think about how events came about, the more ludicrous it is. So many elements just don't make sense. Far too much was left to chance by those behind the film, and so many key things were never explained.

I can't really find a lot good to say about it - it is fairly compelling at the end, as you would expect from a thriller, but there are literally hundreds of thrillers out there that are also well written, with good characters and at least a level of plausibility. I don't recommend wasting time on 'The Cut' when you can read one of those instead. Richard Armitage would be better off sticking to what he's good at and leave writing novels o people who are good at that.

Just finished ‘The Cut’ by Richard Armitage. This book is set to be released on the 28th of August 2025. It’s categorized as a Thriller / mystery novel.

I have to be really honest; I had a real hard time getting through this book. It felt like the storyline was all over the place. This story has a storyline set in the past and one in the present. There isn’t really a main point of view, it’s a bit scattered around which makes the story hard to follow. Also, the chapters that are set in the past seem to flow over to the present without warning. It really is confusing.

BUT I did finish it, I just can’t give it a high rating.

So, this story is about uncovering something that happened in 1994, we get about a year worth of storyline prior to the faithful day; to get a feel about the characters. It’s a group of teenagers we’re following; The Davis Twins, both are complete bullies. Ben; a teenage boy with a really short fuse and also a bully. Annie; Ben’s girlfriend. Dave; The peeping tom with his camera desperate to fit in with this group and has a secret crush on Annie. Cat; Annie’s sister and Mark AKA Marcello; The one that gets bullied.

Every little thing, every scuffle, every fight. Everything leads up to a faithful day where a girl gets killed and it’s all caught on film. But this film goes missing, the one eye witness can’t handle talking about what happened but still an arrest is made so surely justice is served.

Fast forward to the present day.

Ben has a failing business and there is a fraud investigation on the way. With all the stress from his job and trying to figure out what went wrong. He is happily married to Dani and has two kids with his ex-wife; a daughter called Lily and a son called Nate.

(Struggling to write this review, sorry)

Cutting the story short; Nate and Lily get cast to play a role in a movie called ‘The Cut’. A lot of their time goes in to this, without Ben knowing the extent of this movie and the amount of school the kids are missing. It takes Ben a long time to figure out what the movie is about and what happens in the end. When the penny drops, Ben shifts in full gear and does everything he can to make sure his kids are safe. But, at what cost? What did actually happen back in 1994?

Sorry, only 1.5 stars from me.