‘The Cutting Room’ Keeps Readers Looking Over Their Shoulders [REVIEW]

Danger lurks in the dark in Ashley Dyer’s The Cutting Room. (Photo by Canva)

A highly-rated reality show. A diabolical criminal. A series of macabre crime scenes that are nefariously artistic. Will two detectives be able to stop the killer before the savage game is taken to the next level? Find out in Ashley Dyer’s breathtaking sophomore thriller, The Cutting Room. 

William Morrow

Professor Mick Tennent is the popular host of Britain’s hot new television program, Fact, or Fable? which showcases urban myths and the theories which surround them. In the latest episode, the show turns its attention to a murderer dubbed the Ferryman, a faceless, hooded figure who is prowling the streets of Liverpool.

Soon after the show airs, Detectives Ruth Lake and Greg Carver receive a mysterious digital invitation that lures them into the city’s dark back streets. Just when they begin to think they are on a wild goose chase, they stumble upon a a ghastly scene that seems like something out of a nightmare. As Lake and Carver approach, they suddenly find themselves surrounded by onlookers who seemingly appear out of nowhere and have cameras at the ready to record the Ferryman’s latest “art installation.”

But how did everyone know where to go? Not only is the Ferryman a cold-blooded killer, but he is also adept at using social media to his advantage, to both captivate and terrify the country. It soon becomes apparent that the city’s newest villain revels in his infamy and will do anything necessary to stay in the spotlight.

Perfect for fans of Thomas Harris (The Silence of the Lambs), Leslie Glass (Burning Time), and James Patterson (Target: Alex Cross), The Cutting Room excels where many suspense thrillers fail. It starts out with a bang and maintains its taut story line until the very end, only to cinch the noose a bit tighter at the very last page.

The characters are thoughtful, richly layered, and utterly compelling. With a modus operandi that is psychotic to say the least, the Ferryman is dark and twisty and deliciously mysterious. Meanwhile, the detectives are devoted to one another, despite their flaws and concerns about one another’s intentions and abilities. Their relationship buoys the arc of the novel and keeps things from getting unbearably desperate, yet still the tension is always there, building… building… building to a devastating crescendo that threatens to shatter our nerves. But isn’t that what we are looking for in a thriller?

If you want a novel that will make your palms sweat and your skin crawl, yet keeps you turning pages with transfixed intensity, The Cutting Room is the book to read this summer. And once you do, you won’t forget this author’s name anytime soon. Ashley Dyer brings our nightmares to life. She is one author guaranteed to not only keep your lights on tonight, but to have you looking over your shoulder tomorrow.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ashley Dyer is UK writing duo Margaret Murphy and Helen Pepper and author of Splinter in the Blood. Visit the author’s home on the Web at Ashley-Dyer.com, like her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter.

Murphy is a Writing Fellow and Reading Round Lector for the Royal Literary Fund, a past chair of the Crime Writers Association (CWA), and founder of Murder Squad. A CWA Short Story Dagger winner, she has been shortlisted for the First Blood critics’ award for crime fiction as well as the CWA Dagger in the Library. Under her own name she has published nine psychological suspense and police procedural novels in the UK.

Pepper is a senior lecturer in policing at Teesside University. She has been an analyst, forensic scientist, scene of crime officer, CSI, and crime scene manager. She has co-authored, as well as contributed to, professional policing texts. Her expertise is in great demand with crime writers: she is a judge for the CWA’s Gold Dagger for Non/Fiction Award, and is a forensic consultant on both the Vera and Shetland TV series.

THE CUTTING ROOM
By Ashley Dyer
448 pp. William Morrow. $26.99

Purchase The Cutting Room at one of these fine online retailers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, HarperCollins, IndieBound, and Powell’s.

The Cutting Room is brought to you in association with TLC Book Tours.