Despite having read four historical crime novels by Chris Brookmyre under the name Ambrose Parry (written alongside his wife Marisa Haetzman) in a consistently strong series I hadn't to date read anything by this Scottish author with his own name on the cover. This is surprising as he has been considered a top-notch British Crime writer since his award-winning debut "Quite Ugly One Morning" (1996) and has in his career won, amongst other accolades, the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Fiction (2016), The Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel Of The Year (2017), The Crime Writers Association Dagger In The Library (2020) and The Wodehouse Prize for Comic Ficion (2006). Time to put this right. He has written three series but I decided to opt for one of his 11 standalones after seeing a paperback copy in my local library.
This is a rich, satisfying thriller. I'm saying little about plot because I do not want to interfere with the author's delicious toying with his readership and misdirection. We meet Millicent, in her early seventies in modern-day Glasgow unsuccessfully attempting to fit back into society after being out of it for some time and wondering if it is worth continuing living. She meets up with Jerry, a young TV/Film and Politics student who has defied the odds to make it to university but is struggling with Imposter Syndrome. We deduce from the short prologue that something has drawn this unlikely pair together and it has ended in murder.
Millicent used to be a film make-up artist and this book introduced me to the fascinating world of Italian horror movies which unravels in a parallel narrative and explains why Jerry and Millicent become forged together in the present-day strand. It is unpredictable, full of film references and the characterisation is very strong.
The movie-making narrative felt fresh and original. Millicent is the second main character make-up artist I've encountered in my reading in recent weeks, but her world feels more convincing than in Katherine Blake's "The Unforgettable Loretta Darling" (2024). The politics of film production and finance feels authentic and detailed but I admit it did lose me a couple of times working out who was who on the studio set. Unlike many thrillers you can't rush through this, you need to keep your wits about you and need to allow yourself to be leisurely immersed in Chris Brookmyre's creation.
It is obviously very different from the nineteenth century medical focused crime thrillers written as Ambrose Parry but this feels equally well researched with convincing characterisation. There's a lot going on here (and it could be a tad overlong) but this for me was a great introduction to Chris Brookmyre's solo work.
The Cut was first published by Little, Brown in 2021. I read the Abacus paperback edition.
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