''Final Cut'' is the third novel by the English S. J. Watson, published in August 2020 by

Transworld Publishers Transworld 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 Books. It publi ...

under their imprint

Doubleday Doubleday may refer to: * Doubleday (surname), including a list of people with the name Publishing imprints * Doubleday (publisher), imprint of Knopf Doubleday, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House * Doubleday Canada, imprint of Penguin Random ...

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 village in North Yorkshire, England. It is south of Whitby and north of Scarborough on the Yorkshire Coast. It is an ancient chapelry of Fylingdales in the wapentake of Whitby Strand. It is on the Cleveland Way nati ...

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 entails centrist views on a liberal-conservative spectrum. It may also designate a rejection of radical or extreme views, especially in regard to politics and religion. Political position Canad ...

. Alex herself suffers from

fugue state Dissociative fugue ( ), previously referred to as a fugue state or psychogenic fugue,Dissociative Fugue (formerly Psychogenic Fugue) 'DSM-IV 300.13, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition'' is a rare psychiatric con ...

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 ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

'' 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. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'' 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'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

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 ...

'', 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