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taylor394's review against another edition
4.0
A very intriguing and dark plot full of mystery and sex. I listened to the audio version read by Robert Carlyle and I highly recommend it!
screamdogreads's review
4.5
"Darkness. I wanted to die. My throat was dry and my heart barren. A pulse throbbed a slow heartbeat on my temple, pounding tarry blood through my aching head. I massaged the hard bones around my eyes, feeling the tight skin move, slick against the planes of my skull. Small sparkles of light glittered for an instant in my blind eyes. I opened them again. Darkness. I remembered a time I was afraid of the dark. Some of the fear returned with the memory."
The Cutting Room is an excessively stylish, gritty, moody, almost Brain De Palma-esque sort of noir thriller cast against the seedy and sensual backdrop of Glasgow's underworld. It's one of those violent, pulpy, vibrant kind of thrillers, and stands as perhaps one of the best mystery thriller novels one could encounter. It's all so very hedonistic and self-indulgent, the entire thing is overtly unrestrained. Obsessive and cruel, The Cutting Room is a story that follows many of the typical crime novel conventions, however, in being so enigmatic, it stands out regardless, it reminds us how to enjoy a story relayed in the traditional manner.
A cast of deliciously flawed characters makes up this novel. Each and every one of them are, at their best, questionable, morally bankrupt people, and at their worst, horrendous - bordering on villainous. Here, you won't find yourself in the company of a morally righteous hero, instead you'll be accompanied by someone teetering on the edge of ruin. This is, at its core, a crime novel. But, it's also so much more than that - Rilke is an entire story just by himself - a gay auctioneer, a bachelor, an obsessive, sleazy pulp thriller leading man. There's not one likable character, yet it's impossible not to love them, in my view that's one of the marks of incredible storytelling.
The Cutting Room is an excessively stylish, gritty, moody, almost Brain De Palma-esque sort of noir thriller cast against the seedy and sensual backdrop of Glasgow's underworld. It's one of those violent, pulpy, vibrant kind of thrillers, and stands as perhaps one of the best mystery thriller novels one could encounter. It's all so very hedonistic and self-indulgent, the entire thing is overtly unrestrained. Obsessive and cruel, The Cutting Room is a story that follows many of the typical crime novel conventions, however, in being so enigmatic, it stands out regardless, it reminds us how to enjoy a story relayed in the traditional manner.
A cast of deliciously flawed characters makes up this novel. Each and every one of them are, at their best, questionable, morally bankrupt people, and at their worst, horrendous - bordering on villainous. Here, you won't find yourself in the company of a morally righteous hero, instead you'll be accompanied by someone teetering on the edge of ruin. This is, at its core, a crime novel. But, it's also so much more than that - Rilke is an entire story just by himself - a gay auctioneer, a bachelor, an obsessive, sleazy pulp thriller leading man. There's not one likable character, yet it's impossible not to love them, in my view that's one of the marks of incredible storytelling.
"I was in a tunnel way beneath the city, the smell of ordure in my lungs. The scuttle of rats around me. Fucking a stranger against the rough brick of a wall. The shuffle of footsteps coming closer. My climax was building, balls slapping against his buttocks, spunk swelling. The images scrolled on. It was coming now, getting close, blood-red vision of the orgasm blackout. Here it came, a wound, red and deep and longing, the dark basement, the slash of blood across her throat."
For me, this was one of those novels that, for the longest time, never seemed to call to me. I'm ever so glad now that I took the time to pick it up. The mystery of this whole thing is all-consuming, but, it's in the journey that this novel truly shines. This is an utterly exemplary crime novel, an excellent noir-thriller that's just coated in layers upon layers of grime and filth. This is dark, gothic, seedy, perverse noir fiction at it's finest, in all of its sensual, sexy, horrific glory. The Cutting Room is a sharply told story that's entirely impossible to ignore. The entire novel is so damn passive and casual about its brutality and ugliness, and this, somehow, accentuates it all into something horrendously shocking and compelling. It's an entirely grotesque thing, a brilliant, enrapturing, grotesque thing.
"I wondered if any suicides were buried under these crossroads. They'd have trouble enough rising, now, under the weight of tarmac, traffic and crossing pedestrians, I tried to conjure them in my mind's eye. The waltzing host of the dead meeting the afternoon passers-by."
aj176's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
maxtaz's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
vandermeer's review against another edition
1.0
Die Autorin kann schreiben, doch das Thema, das Setting und die Protagonisten waren mir zuwider.
indiabirgitta's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
alyssa_sian_reads's review
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
gemmamilne's review against another edition
4.0
Really enjoyed this - gripping story, cracking characters, and so good to read something based in Glasgow written by someone who really gets the city.
liamriley1987's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75