''Final Cut'' is the third novel by the English

S. J. Watson Steve "S. J." Watson (born 1971)

, published in August 2020 by

Transworld Publishers Transworld Publishers Ltd. is a British publishing house in Ealing, London that is a division of Penguin Random House, one of the world's largest mass media groups. It was established in 1950 as the British division of American company Bantam ...

under their imprint Doubleday.

Location

In an interview for Crime Fiction Lover, Watson reveals that "I've always loved books in which the setting feels very particular, and almost like a character in itself... I think it's a case of using the real place as a leaping off point – taking from it the things that are evocative and that lend the work the tone you're looking for, while also bending it to my own fictional needs.

Robin Hood's Bay Robin Hood's Bay is a small Yorkshire coast fishery, fishing village and a bay located in the North York Moors National Park, south of Whitby and north of Scarborough, North Yorkshire, Scarborough on the coast of North Yorkshire, England. Ba ...

had exactly the atmosphere I wanted, but I didn't want to set the book there as I needed to take liberties with the setting and the characters."Interview: SJ Watson talks about his new book Final Cut
Retrieved 12 February 2022.

Plot

Documentary filmmaker Alex travels to Blackwood Bay, a quaint former smugglers' Yorkshire village set on a rugged coast. Her task is ostensibly to chronicle the inhabitants but she has a hidden agenda to investigate the disappearance of three teenage girls. A website has been set up inviting the villagers to submit videos themselves, for Alex to

moderate Moderate is an ideological category which designates a rejection of radical or extreme views, especially in regard to politics and religion. A moderate is considered someone occupying any mainstream position avoiding extreme views. In American ...

. Alex herself suffers from

fugue state Dissociative fugue (), formerly called a fugue state or psychogenic fugue, is a mental and behavioral disorderDrs; that is classified variously as a dissociative disorder,Dissociative Fugue (formerly Psychogenic Fugue) 'DSM-IV 300.13, Diagnost ...

and cannot recall her childhood but remembers that she lived in Blackwood Bay as a child. The past catches up with Alex as the current teenage girls living in the village are also in danger...

Reception

Dipal Acharya in ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' explains that Watson "attempts to navigate some complex questions raised by social media, such as how our default communities are more likely to be found online than next door, how we document everything from banal daily rituals to shocking acts of abuse on our smartphones so relentlessly and openly, the disconnect between our online and real life personas which embolden us in damaging ways, as well as how we process trauma." But Dipal concludes that "his investigation of these themes is undermined by the plot, which veers between improbable and completely implausible. As with so many books that follow successful debuts, it is also frustratingly long. Ironically, ''Final Cut'' could do with a little trim. More reviews are more positive though: Alison Flood writing in ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' praises the novel "The reader begins to suspect the reality of Alex’s past just as she does, with Watson adroitly bringing the strands of his story together to create a disturbing journey to a shocking truth.

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

writes "Watson gradually turns up the heat while carefully teasing out wicked secrets...and Alex, who has her own secrets, makes an appealing, if possibly unreliable, narrator. The darkness runs deep in this skillfully plotted chiller." In ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'', Clare Conville writes " A tight, brisk plot drives this sharp character study. Watson perfectly capture small town ennui while illustrating how corruption can hide in plain sight."review
Retrieved 12 February 2022.

References

{{reflist 2020 British novels English thriller novels Novels by S. J. Watson Novels set in Yorkshire Doubleday (publisher) books Novels about child sexual abuse Novels about film directors and producers