The clipping is a press clipping starring Kate Waters, a prominent reporter for the Daily Post struggling to find investigations worthy of the name and Emma Massingham, an employee of an overdue publishing house.
The cut reports the discovery of a small baby skeleton in the middle of a construction site. And if Kate’s instinct pushes her to dig into this micro-story in which she senses that he lodges a little more than a crushed dog, the few lines propel Emma many years back, endangering his mental health more than fragile.
Added to these two women is Angela, whose baby was taken from the maternity ward some thirty years ago and who has never been found.
The trajectories of these three women, initially driven by different motivations, will come together around the figure of this baby buried under a planter. Kate’s and police’s investigation will stir up deep wounds in Emma and Angela’s wounds, but they will also uncover bruises never before seen in other women whose voices will join the trio.
The cut, more than a very good psychological thriller, is a choral novel about what it can be like to be a woman, a young girl and a mother. The story questions the possibility of speaking out in the face of tragedy, but also the possibility of surviving when you have been faced with the worst.
The cut is therefore naturally in line with The widow, the first and superb psychological thriller of Fiona Barton whose experience in the journalistic environment brings a density that is more than appreciable to the story.
If the author continues to gain momentum as these two psychological thrillers seem to predict, the third will surely make her one of the best authors of the genre.
The cut, by Fiona Barton
Black River, 2018, 477 pages, € 20.90