The Cutaway by Christina Kovac is a 2017 Atria publication.

A solid debut!

This is another book that has been lingering around on my TBR pile for too long. In fact, it’s been hanging around so long the blurb was still comparing books to ‘Gone Girl’. Oy!

I think the newsroom premise is what prompted me to add this book to my list. Personally, investigative journalism is more interesting to me than standard police investigations. They tend to uncover the best scandals and conspiracies!!

In this case, an up and coming young attorney named Evelyn goes missing, catching the attention of TV producer, Virginia Knightly. Hoping that by calling attention to the case, the story might morph into positive ratings, and maybe help her exorcise a few personal demons, Virginia and her team open an investigation. But things take on a much stronger sense of urgency when Evelyn is found murdered.

Meanwhile, Virginia is fighting for her job, and those of her team, when a new station manager takes over, which makes solving this case more important than ever. However, the deeper she digs, the murkier the case becomes, and it looks as if key players may be attempting to cover up pertinent information and are purposely trying to stymie her progress. It soon becomes clear that Virginia can trust no one- and she could be putting herself directly in the line of fire.

For a debut novel, this book is pretty good. At first it was a bit dry and the pacing was anemic, but then several interesting twists upped the ante, and from there the story picked up steam.

There is a dark undertone to the story, and Washington is the perfect setting for this type of thriller. The newsroom atmosphere has a realistic quality to it, and the behind the scenes dramas were a nice touch. There were a few surprise developments on that end of things as well. I never could figure out who to trust, any more than Virginia could, and I don’t think I ever would have guessed how things would eventually turn out.

Overall, the premise and location, is what really sells this story. The author did a great job with construction, but the execution is a little wobbly. Other than that, I enjoyed the story, and I think the author is off to a good start. I hope she will try her hand at writing again someday.

3.5 rounded up

This book was a pretty good read full of suspense, twists and turns. The writing was very good for a debut novel. I look forward too reading more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria / 37 Ink Books for this free readers edition. In exchange I am providing an honest review.

When I read books with the kind of plot this book has I always have to wonder if there is any basis in reality. I understand it is a fiction book but even reality can be found in fiction. But story lines like this one make me wonder.

Virginia Knightly is a TV News Producer and loves it. She loves what she does and she's not afraid to admit she's damn good at it. When a woman goes missing and her name and photo land on Virginia's desk something about it captures her attention. Instead of just issuing the standard missing person notification at the end of the nightly news cast she starts digging around for more information. She has no idea the can of worms she's about to pop open. Her inquiries lead her straight into harms way as she persistently pursues what happened to Evelyn Carney and why.

Kovac's background is in news so it makes sense for her to write from what she knows. But I really would love to know if anyone in news experiences the dangers and perils Virginia Knightly did in this story. Or if anyone has ever come close to representing the villains in this story. I just can't see regular, normal people going as far as her characters did. Yes, people do dumb and awful things and there are murderers out there but does it ever actually play out the way Kovac has crafted here - or the way other authors have? Maybe I'm being naive but I just can't see it being so...extreme. This isn't necessarily a criticism of the book, it's more just a curiosity in me that has been growing as I read similar story lines. Kovac writes well enough. Her characters are decently developed although I felt a few holes here and there, specifically with her main character. I also ended the book having no idea or connection to the title. Is cutaway a news term? I have no idea and the book doesn't explain it so that left me a little confused as to the title. When all is said and done I liked the book well enough and felt a little like binge watching Newsroom.

This book moved incredibly slow and was not the thriller I expected. The characters weren’t likable, there was no hook to grab my attention, and the story itself was kind of boring.

A fantastic thriller with mystery, intrigue, and danger! The characters were interesting and well written. The plot was full of action and suspense. A page turner!

Not what I thought it was going to be. This also reminded me of a similar book I’ve read that I can’t seem to remember right now.

The blurb for this book mentions Gone Girl and that is a pretty faithful comparison. The setting is a DC-based newsroom and the various reporters and producers that inhabit the place, trying to track down a missing woman. It is a pretty faithful accounting of the kinds of people and processes that they use, only this time they are trying to solve the case. For a debut author this was an impressive effort and well worth reading.

I love Newsroom and I love Gone Girl, so finding a novel that was supposed to be a combination of the two was intriguing and seemed like an easy win for me. Unfortunately, I just could not get into this story. The main character and her many "issues" annoyed me. I found myself annoyed with all the shifts to petty little side stories. This just wasn't the right read for me.

Just finished The Cutaway. I’m torn. Part of me really enjoyed it and the other part feels like it could’ve been a bit better. The story itself is great, full of twists and turns that constantly leave you guessing. It did take me a bit to actually get into the story though.

The main con for this book is there are parts that feel glossed over. I’d prefer more details about her parents and what happened with them, as well as what her dad had been up to all those years. Also, what happened with Ben? Too many loose ends for me but it was a good book if taken at face value.

great read awesome writing i really enjoyed this author and this book i would reccomend to other for sure

This was a book I was so busy telling everyone about I didn’t realize I had not written my review. Step into the world of journalism, beauty of Georgetown and characters who keep you guessing and you have one thrilling suspense story! Plan this to have a prime spot in your beach bag this summer!

Thank you for the opportunity to review this book. Unfortunately, I did not finish it. I will therefore not be posting reviews of it. I could not get into the story.

From Wikipedia: "Cutaway: In film and video, a cutaway shot is the interruption of a continuously filmed action by inserting a view of something else. It is usually, although not always, followed by a cut back to the first shot, when the cutaway avoids a jump cut."

In this very smart and suspenseful debut, author Christina Kovac takes her readers into the cutthroat world of broadcast journalism. At 34, Virginia Knightly has worked her way up to the position of executive producer of the top-rated Evening News at a tv station in Washington DC, but receives the stunning news that her boss wants to take over her position, effectively demoting her.

Still working for the show, she decides to follow up on a story that intrigues her: the disappearance of a young lawyer named Evelyn Carney. Carney had recently met her husband for dinner at a Georgetown restaurant and tearfully announced that she wanted a separation; she left the eatery shortly thereafter and was not seen again.

Virginia remembers the woman's face from somewhere--she has a great memory for that kind of thing--and is pretty sure it was in a cutaway scene in a news video. When she sees Ian Chase, an assistant US Attorney, at the vigil held for Evelyn, she has an 'aha!' moment and sets her editor searching through the station's film library, looking for film of Ian speaking which includes that particular cutaway scene she so vividly recalls. In the shot he finds, Evelyn is seen in the audience, looking totally rapt. Was Ian her lover by any chance, the one for whom she was leaving her husband? He IS the one who phoned in the missing person report, after all.

After the young woman's dead body is found in the river, Virginia pursues her own investigation even more vigorously, working her many contacts and sources, including her former lover in the Metropolitan Police Department. She interviews Evelyn's friends and follows up a phone tip or two, but soon realizes she has been told so many lies, just who can she trust?

The mystery is very intriguing and suspenseful. At one point in the story, it felt like one of those movies where you know the young woman is making a deadly mistake by going out alone in the night and you want scream NO!! Don't go!! This effect is heightened if you've been able to figure out the whodunit by this point, as I had. Loved it!

The writing is so well done throughout the story, but I particularly enjoyed the emotional scenes when Ginny confronts her estranged father. Kovac's personal tv broadcasting experience and expertise adds gravitas and authenticity to her newsroom setting--all the politics and maneuvering that goes on behind the scenes and what it takes to investigate, film, write and produce stories for the nightly news. The professionals make it look easy but it's not!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for providing me with an arc of this exciting new book.

This is a fast-paced book that had an intriguing main character and a story that kept me guessing. A young female attorney is missing, but the homicide unit is looking into it. Is it a missing persons case or do they think that she is dead and a killer is on the loose? No one will give Virginia Knightly, a producer for the Evening News, a straight answer. This story has so many twists and turns and you don't know which sources are being truthful and which ones are lying to her. The ending was a total surprise. This is an amazing first book. I'm looking forward to reading what Ms. Kovac writes next.

Thank you to Atria/37 Ink and NetGalley for this e-book. This did not influence my review in any way.

I wasn't very impressed with this one. I mean, I liked it enough to finish it, but I wasn't eager to. It was a good story and I enjoyed it at times, but it didn't hook me all the way. I kept getting distracted while reading it, which really makes the rating take a hit. There were several twists that I didn't see coming and that were exciting. It was a good story overall, but I think it could've been better. I also think it needs to be noted that this reads more as a mystery than a thriller, I think it would give the reader different expectations.

This was a solid debut with a great twist of perspective - it has a bit of the feel of a police procedural but from the side of the news and the investigative reporter. The Cutaway had interesting characters, some great twists and turns of its own. While I was distracted midway by the relationship drama in the middle, the pace quickly regains speed and hurtles along until the conclusion.

This is not a good psychological thriller. And it really isn't about politics and the DC underbelly, other than that it takes place in DC, and involves crime. There are no players involved in the "DC underbelly" or organized crime or anything like that. The entire first half of the book, only three major plot points occurred, and two of them were in the personal life of the main character and had absolutely nothing to do with the missing woman.

The last 25% of the book, the plot really picks up pace, but by then, I just really didn't care about the main character, and there wasn't enough about the real reasons for the missing woman's disappearance for me to really be invested in her either. Not to mention a huge focus of the whole book is the demise of the news industry, and how television media is dying and everyone needs to worry about job security. Having recently read another book that obsessed about the death of print media to the internet, I have decided I just have no interest in stories set in the news industry.

This thriller is pretty fast-paced, but also fairly predictable. There were also a few side plots that took up way too much space but didn't advance the story at all other than to distract the reader from the mystery.

I can't believe this was a debut novel! This author has a voice and such an intriguing, suspenseful story! Every time I thought I knew where the plot was going, there was a twist I didn't see coming! This was also a refreshingly new outlook on the same old murder mystery which I absolutely loved. It was so much fun to read!

3.7 - twisty, turny, corrupt - and completely believable, given that it's set in D.C.!