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Start giftingThe Cutting Room
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Learn moreLike the hero in a classic Hitchcock thriller, the innocent movie buff at the center of this witty and suspenseful novel finds his ordinary life suddenly transformed when he's plunged into a harrowing game of intrigue, duplicity, and danger. Spurred into a frantic race from New York to Hollywood to Barcelona and back, he'll encounter enough hairpin twists, shocking surprises, white-knuckle tension, and sinister characters to give even the master of suspense himself a serious case of vertigo. But in "this scenario, the mayhem and murder are all too real.
Self-proclaimed movie geek and divorced thirty-something Roy Milano lives alone in a cramped Manhattan apartment, toiling as a freelancer to make ends meet. It is a life perfectly suited to the creator of Trivial Man, Roy's self-published newsletterāfilled with tidbits of little-known Tinseltown lore for the delight of other fringe-dwelling cinemaphiles. And it's a tantalizing phone call from one such kindred spirit that thrusts Roy headlong into his waking noir nightmare.
"I've got The Magnificent Ambersons," declares Alan Gilbert, host of a homemade cable-TV show about the silver screen, who now claims to possess the rarest of the rare: the long-lost and never-released complete print of Orson Welles' classic follow-up to Citizen Kane. But when Roy arrives at his fellow movie maven's abode to sneak a peek at celluloid history, the front door is ominously open, Alan Gilbert is dead, and The Magnificent Ambersons is nowhere in sight. Even though the cops arrest a local drug addict for the murder, Roy knows they're wrong because the theft of the movie masterpiece points to a different kind of junkie, the kind Roy knows only too wellāand the kind he is certain only he can catch.
But Roy Milano is no Sam Spade, even if he does run into more gun-toting goons, sucker punches, and double-crosses than Bogey on a busy day. And the suspects prove to be anything but usualāincluding a bodybuilding film fanatic obsessed with bizarre rumors about an A-list actress, a rotund reporter who holds Hollywood in thrall via red-hot Internet dispatches from his parents' basement, and a star-struck street punk with a thousand voices. And then there is the transatlantic love triangle that finds Roy caught between his very own eager Gal Friday and a sultry Spanish siren with a stunning secret. But when the bodies start to fall faster than a box-office bomb, Roy must cut to the chase in his perilous quest to save the Holy Grail of cinemaāand unmask a killerābefore everything fades to black.
Laurence Klavan is the Edgar Awardāwinning author of Mrs. White. His other novels include The Cutting Room and The Shooting Script. He received two Drama Desk nominations for the book and lyrics to Bed and Sofa, a musical produced by New Yorkās Vineyard Theatre. With Susan Kim he cowrote the graphic novelsĀ City of SpiesĀ andĀ Brain Camp. As kids, he and his three brothers used to make epic movies in their backyard, reenacting the Alamo, the signing of the Magna Carta, and the end of the world.
Nick Sullivan has narrated audiobooks for over twenty years and has recorded over four hundred titles. An Audie Award winner, he is also the recipient of numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards. His TV and film credits include The Good Wife, The Affair, Bull, Boardwalk Empire, 30 Rock, Our Idiot Brother, and Private Life.
Reviews
āA lightning-paced, high-concept thrillerā¦Astonishingly inventive, The Cutting Room stands out as one of the best mysteries of the year!ā
āLike every other character in this witty spoof, Roy Milano, a New York film buff who airs his arcane knowledge via a self-published newsletter called Trivial Man, is a beloved movie clichĆ©. Cast as the Hitchcockian hero who embarks on a quest for knowledge and becomes a pawn in a deadly game of intrigue, Roy plays his role with disarming guilelessnessā¦Although the plot eventually implodes from its pileup of improbabilities, the farcical spirit of the adventure makes it worth its weight in popcorn.ā
ā[A] wry, whimsically romantic crime novel. Brimming with engaging tidbits of movie trivia, it is narrated in the self-effacing voice of its bumbling, endearing hero, Roy Milano, publisher of Trivial Man, a cultish movie trivia newsletter sold through bookstores and video outlets around the Big Appleā¦This tongue-in-cheek whodunit marks the long overdue second coming of a gifted novelist.ā
āFilled with intrigue, red herrings, chases, and hairpin turns, this entry into the Hollywood detective arena is clearly intended to introduce a series. Though the plot line is a bit thin for die-hard mystery readers, the story is peppered with enough movie trivia and snappy dialog to capture the attention of movie buffs and leave them eager for a sequel.ā
āMilano is an engaging character, from his self-deprecating self-assessment to his compulsive habit of remembering film trivia when he gets nervous. And Klavanās touch is playful and deft, which is good because his target, Hollywood, is an oft-pricked one. But if skewering the rich and shallow is easy sport, many readers will nonetheless agree with the hero that movies often need to be saved from those who make them. A great bit of escapism for film and mystery buffs alike.ā
āLibrettist Klavanās first novel under his own name stars a trivia buff in a madcap search for the Holy Grail of missing moviesā¦ [Loaded]with nuggets of irrelevant movie trivia readers may well find fascinatingāor grating.ā
āBesides having a superb acting voice, Nick Sullivan knows how to make a reading fun. In Klavanās latest, Sullivan gives a tongue-in-cheek rendition of a hapless detectiveās search for the long-lost full-length version of an Orson Welles film while bodies pile up around him. Sullivan is not only called upon to portray the detective, who is also a movie aficionado, but also a host of unusual characters. You just canāt help chuckling as Sullivan works. Thereās a plump reporter, caricatures of a couple of sexy women, a street guy, and a chap whoās into bodybuilding films. All are augmented by Sullivanās light, sure touch.ā
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