Final Cut

Too many convenient plot devices

When Alex is looking for a close-knit community to base her new film around she receives a postcard to suggest Blackwood Bay. However, Alex has a sordid past with the village that not even she fully realisesÃ?¢ââ??¬Ã?¦

Around 10 years ago when it first came out, Before I Go to Sleep by SJ Watson was one of my favourite books. I was therefore very happy to receive the ARC of Final Cut, the new thriller by the same author. It seems that unreliable narrators and memory issues really do run in the authorÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s repertoire and are in full force in this novel.

Final Cut is a very twisty thriller that fully takes advantage of the unreliable narrator technique. Alex knows that she has a connection with the place she is visiting and tries to find out more about it, along with information about 3 girls who disappeared 10 years ago. I did think there was a little suspension of disbelief with the plot, particularly as to why some people recognised her instantly and some not at all and also why the whole village seemed so hung up about something that happened so long ago. I did like the idea of using small videos uploaded to a website which made for a sinister aspect. However, at an important plot point someone instantly uploads something to the website which is not true to life and seemed to be a too convenient plot device Ã?¢ââ??¬" has the author ever tried to upload a video to something like Dropbox? It takes hours and if itÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s stopped at any point it will be cancelled!

Alex is difficult to sympathise with because she is so unreliable and the plot forces her to be vague and confusing at times. I felt that the novel dragged on a lot in places with not enough new information to drive it through. I found it hard to care about the mystery of what was happening to the girls in the present and instead was more focused on the past mystery which I had already guessed the twist to very early on. I do also think that a lot of the plot could have been resolved if the characters had actually spoken to each other or told someone what was going on. There seemed to be an awful lot of conversations that ended with a frustrating Ã?¢ââ??¬Ã?Å"I canÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢t tell youÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢ which made them feel a bit pointless.

Overall, Final Cut felt frustrating at times with an over-reliance on convenient plot devices which made the plot feel unrealistic. Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers & Doubleday for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.