The First Cut

by Ali Knight

Five years ago, Nicky was on holiday when her best friend Grace was murdered. Nicky sought solace in the arms of Grace's widower. They're now married but he's often out of the country for work, and when Nicky meets Adam, she's tempted. But what starts as an innocent flirtation leads to a terrible ordeal, and a dark secret.

Genres: Thriller, Suspense

327 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2012

About the author

I'm the author of five psychological thriller novels. The latest, Before I Find You, is a 99p digital special offer. My other books are The Silent Ones, 'Eerie, smart and brutal,' said Heat; Wink Murder, named by The Independent as 'One of their best commercial reads of 2011'; The First Cut, 'One of the top ten crime books to take on holiday,' according to The Telegraph; and Until Death, 'A gripping read,' The Sunday Mirror.

I love reading and writing and getting feedback from readers. I live in London with my husband, kids and a psychotic cat. (Photo: Rankin Photography)

Reviews

[Labijose · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The first cut” is an Ok psychological thriller. It has enough suspense to keep you guessing, although I found some of the characters a bit plain. But the dialog is quite accomplished, and the descriptions make for a good understanding of the plot. I also liked the final twist in the novel, which leads to a satisfactory ending. Ali Knight was an unknown author for me, so I was pleased to discover someone new, and is quite likely I will read more from her in the near future.

[Lainy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Time Taken To Read - 2 days

Blurb From Goodreads

Five years ago, Nicky's best friend Grace was brutally murdered.

No one was ever charged with this terrible crime and Nicky in her grief sought solace in the arms of Grace's widower.

They're now married but he is often out of the country for work, and when Nicky meets Adam, who is young, good-looking and obviously interested, she's tempted.

But what starts as an innocent flirtation leads to a terrible ordeal, and a dark secret. A secret that involves her husband, and Adam, and what happened to Grace all those years before.

Nicky finds herself fighting for answers. But when love is worth killing for, the price paid for the truth can be very high indeed...

My Review

We start off with the murder of Grace and quickly flip to present day. Nicky and Greg (Grace's then husband) are now married and things are far from perfect. He is always away for work, they aren't talking and things are just strained. Along comes a chance encounter and she meets Adam, young, fun and very flirty. Soon the fun turns to danger and Nicky finds herself caught up in murder, lies, deceit and a secret that will change everything.

I was gripped after the first few pages and really drawn in until soon after she meets Adam. Then things change dramatically and I found myself having to re read parts incase I missed something as it didn't seem to make sense. I found myself thinking that a few times in parts where characters would say something and I had to go back incase I was missing the link. The confusion did take away from my enjoyment as I kept trying to work out the what and why in different parts (sorry for being sketchy but I don't do spoilers in my reviews).


Another thing I liked about this book is the chapter length is a handful of pages between each (like James Patterson does) which means you can race through it inbetween doing your daily chores.I did enjoy the book and the things I liked far outweighed those I didn't and all of the confusion was pretty much cleared up and all the boxes ticked by the end. My first encounter with this author and I would read their work again. Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for introducing me to yet another new author and giving me the chance to review this book. An on the fence 3/5 for me.

This book is available from all good retailers from the 5th of July 2012.

[London Guy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazon recommended this book to me by email and delivered a week ago. I enjoyed her debut first immensely, but this second book is more confident and mature in style and the plotting is first rate. I really, really enjoyed this.

From the opening chapter right to the end, Ali Knight, drives the plot and always keeps you guessing. I thought I'd worked out what was coming next a few times, and then began to realise that this book is much cleverer than that with genuine twists and turns. The opening scene finds the main character Nicky swimming in a lake at night, which she loves, and then something dramatic happens. Won't put in a spoiler as to what, but the surprise of that sets the tone for all the other surprises to come.

I really liked the main character - she writes obituaries on newspapers and her marriage has got entangled in some choppy waters because of the aforementioned lake scene. Enter a handsome, carefree man she meets on a plane and who puts her on a path to test her marriage. Things then start to go really awry. There's a lot of plot to go through but the pace ramps up all the time and there are several nice set scenes, including one at the Notting Hill Carnival. But along with the pace it gets really creepy and twisted at times!

The final twist is a genuine surprise that kept me awake thinking about it for ages... I cannot wait for the next one!

[Americagirl]

Grace wordt vermoord en Greg blijft als weduwnaar achter. Na een half jaar worden Greg en Nicky een koppel. Nicky was de beste vriendin van Grace. De familie van Greg is echter niet wild van de nieuwe relatie. Enkele jaren later leven ook Nicky en Greg langs mekaar door. Greg zit steeds meer in LA en Nicky leert Adam kennen. Ze spreken af op het landgoed van zijn tante. Daar komt Struan aan om Nicky te vermoorden. Adam weet Struan te doden en wil Nicky in bescherming nemen. Nicky wil gewoon zo snel mogelijk naar huis maar Adam houdt haar gevangen. Troy wil nu Nicky zelf vermoorden aangezien Struan het niet heeft kunnen doen. Nicky wil antwoorden en vlucht weg maar ze wordt gevangen genomen door Lawrence.
Troy wordt neergeschoten en Nicky en Greg worden op een vliegtuig gezet met Lawrence achter de knuppel. Hij wil met hen naar Frankrijk waar alles begon.

Lawrence springt uit het vliegtuig en sterft. Greg blijkt de minnaar te zijn van echtgenote Cathy, en moeder van Adam.
Lawrence heeft de vrouwen waar Greg van gehouden heeft, laten vermoorden. Nicky was gewoon de volgende. Dit uit wraak omdat Cathy stierf door toedoen van Greg, ook al was het een ongeluk.

Greg en Cathy waren op weg naar Frankrijk destijds en het vliegtuig kwam in moeilijkheden. Greg overleeft. Cathy sterft.

Op het einde komen we erachter dat Connie (tante van Adam en zus van Lawrence) jaloers was op Cathy en dat zij het vliegtuig destijds heeft gesaboteerd. Ze heeft de schuld nooit kunnen opbiechten aan Lawrence.

[hugo van der wildt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grace was gedood voor dat zij in het water belandde. Vraag: Wie is de moordenaar? later trouwt de man van Grace, Greg, met de beste vriendin van Grace, Nick. Vreemd maar waar. Hier moeten moeilijkheden van komen en zij komen. Doodsbedreigingen aan het adres van Nick. Geheimen uit het verleden komen stilaan aan de oppervlakte door dat Nick de waarheid wil kennen. Eind goed, al goed.
Besluit: Kwam traag op gang maar dan in een snel vaart naar de oplossing en het einde van het verhaal.
Zeker een aanrader.

[Elizabeth Rossmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Patiently waiting for the knife drop so to speak, a lot of filler however I have heard that greater things are to come; I am just over a third of the way through. The main character is a bit frustrating, you'd think she would have better skills at assessing situations being a reporter...onwards I read. I wanted to like the rest of this but found my self speed reading the hollywood action at the end; it felt rediculous, the only reason I didn't give it 2 stars is for the husband who was a poor tormented soul.

[pearletta 🦢 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Randomly picked this up in an old bookstore... HEY THIS WAS GOOD.

This book is underrated. The same way people rave about 'The Silent Patient' being apart of the thriller book starter pack, throw this one in too.

That triple plot-twist at the end, could've been written badly and almost seem ridiculous but it wasn't at all.

Yes, at first I was confused and some sections felt like filler sub-plots but it all came together at the end.

[James Robinson · Rating 2 out of 5]

The best thing about characters with secrets is the Deus ex machina.

[Brigitte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lekker spannend zomerleesboek.

[Justine · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Kennis is macht en de waarheid kan je tot koning kronen.”

[anonymousreader]

to-read

[irl_21 · Rating 5 out of 5]

the first cut is the deepest:

-maim (you too)
-mercy in the summertime
-records / the before

by thegoodbutter on ao3

Alina Starkov/Alexander Morozova

[Reads one more chapter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mijn recensie voor Ali Knight - Snijdende pijn voor VrouwenThrillers.nl

http://www.vrouwenthrillers.nl/index....

Tijdens een vakantie met vriendinnen wordt Grace Peterson vermoord, haar beste vriendin Nicky ontdekt het lichaam van haar vriendin in het meer voor hun vakantiewoning. Na een periode van rouw krijgt Nicky een relatie met Greg de man van haar vermoorde vriendin. Vijf jaar verder in de tijd en journaliste Nicky is getrouwd met Greg Peterson. Greg is veel in Los Angeles voor zijn werk en het huwelijksleven loopt niet meer zo soepel. In een vliegtuig ontmoet Nicky de jonge, onbezorgde en flirtende Adam. Nicky is gecharmeerd van zijn aandacht en laat zich verleiden om mee te gaan naar zijn vaders landhuis, dit landhuis heeft een turbulent verleden.
Huurmoordenaar Troy ontdekt dat hij jaren lang onderbetaald is geweest. Troy chanteert zijn voormalige klanten om op deze manier alsnog zijn misgelopen inkomsten te verkrijgen. Naast chantage gaat het ‘gewone’ werk ook door en huurt een voormalige klant Troy in om Nicky te vermoorden. Moorden, chantage, vrijheidsberoving, sabotage, vluchtpogingen en leugens wisselen elkaar af om te eindigen op de plek waar het allemaal begonnen is.
Snijdende pijn van Ali Knight heeft een aantrekkelijke en opvallende frontcover. Het rode uitgewaaierde haar steekt af tegen het witte water en het dode lichaam. Het verhaal wordt vanuit verschillende personages in de derde persoon geschreven. Ali Knight start met twee verschillende verhaallijnen, waarin de verhaallijn van Nicky in de 56 korte hoofdstukken de meeste aandacht krijgt. De twee verhaallijnen komen halverwege het boek samen in een chaotisch verhaal om tegen het einde de rust te hervinden richting een alles oplossende ontknoping.
Het verhaal begint met de dood van Grace en de kennismaking met Adam gevolgd door de ervaringen in het landhuis, dit prikkelde mijn nieuwsgierigheid. De spanning werd langzaam opgevoerd. Halverwege raakte ik echter overprikkeld door de veelheid aan intriges en de snelheid waarmee alle ellende zich opstapelde. Hierdoor verloor ik mijn interesse. 75 pagina’s voor het einde keert de rust en de spanning terug waardoor ik het slot in één ruk heb uitgelezen.
Jammer is dat de personages wat oppervlakkig blijven, hierdoor ontstaat er geen verbondenheid en als lezers wordt het moeilijk mee te voelen met hen. Het voordeel van de oppervlakkige kennismaking met de personages is dat het verhaal mysterieus blijft en de ontknoping voor een paar goede verrassingen zorgt.
Snijdende pijn van Ali Knight is geen moment saai en daardoor prima entertainment voor regenachtige herfstdagen.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back in August of last year, I read and reviewed Ali Knight's debut novel Wink Murder. I was impressed by her writing then and having just read her second novel The First Cut, I'm still very impressed.

The First Cut is another very cleverly written psychological thriller. The lead characters are not the most likeable of people, they are flawed and damaged individuals who constantly make the wrong decisions, yet the story is compelling.
In the prologue, Nicky's best friend Grace is brutally murdered. Her throat is slit and her body is dumped in a lake. Nicky finds the body and the murderer is never found. Grace's murder shapes the rest of Nicky's life. The story then begins proper, five years later, and the reader discovers that Nicky is now married to Grace's widower Greg. Nicky writes for a newspaper, Greg works in film and is often away from home. Life seems pretty normal until the day that Nicky meets Adam on a flight home from Spain. This meeting turns her life upside down. What starts out as pretty harmless flirting with a sexy younger man soon turns into a nightmare for Nicky. What really happened to Grace? Does she really know the man that she is married to? Could Greg really be a murderer?

The First Cut is a roller-coaster of a read, full of suspense, red-herrings and an intricate if sometimes over complicated plot. At times I found the cast of characters a little confusing and this is certainly not a book that can be rushed. Despite being fairly short at just over 300 pages long, it took me quite a while to read this. It needs to be digested fully in order to follow the plot line completely.

Although this is definitely a thriller, it is also a relationship study and looks at how a marriage can work even when there are secrets being kept that could change everything. With themes of guilt and betrayal, this is much more than a murder story.

It is clear that Ali Knight's writing is going from strength to strength, she has mastered the art of creating characters that the reader does not have to particularly like, but will care about what happens to them.

[Linda Strong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nicky's best friend, Grace, is ruthlessly murdered during a girl's weekend away. The murderer is never caught.

Fast forward 5 years .... Nicky is now married to Greg, who was married to Grace before her death. The marriage isn't going well ... they seem to be pulling away from each other. Nicky accidentally runs into a young man who becomes quite taken her. No problem with a little flirtation ... is there?

That's when the strange things begin to happen. Accidents that maybe aren't accidents? Discovering that Greg's wife wasn't the first woman who died who was involved with him. Did he hire someone to kill his wife ... and is he planning to have Nicky killed? Is the young man actually same ... he seems to have a huge secret he's hiding. Throw in some dysfunctional family and you have a very suspenseful story.

There are quite a few characters to keep up with ... both from years earlier and today. The author does a very good job in describing who they are and how they connect throughout the story.

I gave it 5 stars .... the book was well-written and kept me guessing until the very end.

[Ingrid Fasquelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ali Knight a travaillé comme journaliste et secrétaire de rédaction pour la BBC, The Guardian et The Observer. Je ne sais plus qui tu es, son premier roman, figurait sur la liste des romans de l'année 2011 du journal The Independent.

Dans ce thriller au suspense hitchcockien, Ali Knight met à nouveau les sens de ses lecteurs en alerte. Personnages troubles, récit captivant et chapitres courts, vous ne pourrez pas lâcher La première blessure avant d'avoir découvert le lien sordide qui unit chacun des personnages !

«Elle ne savait même plus quelle questions se poser. [...] La seule chose que Nicky avait en tête pour le moment, c'était que personne n'était au dessus de tout soupçon.»

Entre étranges coïncidences, dangereuses manipulations et jeu de séduction sulfureux, Nicky va apprendre à ses dépens que les apparences sont souvent trompeuses...

Implacable et pernicieux, La première blessure est un thriller qui joue avec les nerfs du lecteur comme un chat avec une pelote. Un très bon divertissement dans lequel Ali Knight, brouillant volontairement les pistes et multipliant les rebondissements, a su faire preuve d'un sens du suspense impressionnant !

[Clarabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

On a là un roman qui avait énormément de potentiel, où se jouait une partie de séduction sulfureuse, au suspense pernicieux, et où les protagonistes endossent tous un rôle trouble, qui brouille volontairement les cartes. C'était franchement alléchant et plutôt engageant. Hélas la deuxième moitié du récit s'est avérée décevante et longuette.

Nicky se prête à flirter avec Adam, un jeune homme de bonne famille, pour oublier que son couple bat de l'aile. Elle accepte de le suivre à la campagne, mais son séjour va virer au cauchemar et raviver le souvenir de son amie assassinée cinq ans plus tôt sous ses yeux.

Cette lecture m'aura finalement fait l'effet d'un appétissant moelleux au chocolat, à déguster sitôt sa sortie du four, lorsqu'on réalise avoir inversé le sucre avec le sel. Quelle amertume ! Le dénouement choisit aussi la facilité, convenue et trop lisse.

[Gillie Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good read once I got into it. Kept me guessing right to the end. Hard to put down. Nicky our main character,a journalist on a failing newspaper/ journal who wrote the obituaries , often tried to use her journalistic skills but came up with 5 when adding 2+ 2. There were some extremely frightening moments in this book and at least a couple of obviously very nasty men, stuff of nightmares certainly . Not giving anything away by saying it has a happy ending and had a definite conclusion and end. So many books don't and I know authors like you to make up the end yourself sometimes. This was a Book Club book and it's made me want to read other books by her.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book I found took me a little while to get into. I was wondering whether to give up on it but hate doing that to a book and was so glad that I didn't. It really did pick up pace about a third through and couldn't wait to see what happened next. I had no idea of what was to happen at the end. The main characters Nicky and Gregg I had trouble warming to. Nicky I liked more than Gregg though. A good read.

[Mandyperrybtinternet.com · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ali Knight is a master at creating page turning, suspense and characters that you can't bear to give up. I have loved all her books but this one is my favourite with the dark marriage and the changing way you perceive the central character as the book progresses. The inherent sinister nature of supersized container ships and the fear they engender is carefully captured and exploited. A great read.

[Александра · Rating 3 out of 5]

The start of this book was great and it hold my attention until I slowly got to the end of the book. It went a little boring for a while, but the ending was a suprise so I would say that this one is a decent read. 3,5*

[Danielle Dent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book from Ali Knight packed full of intrigue and twists and turns. I didn't guess what it was all about or who had ordered the hits on Gregs girls but it loses a star for the reasoning behind it as it seemed a bit OTT that Lawrence would go to those lengths. Still enjoyed it though.

[Anke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zeer goede thriller! Spanning en (on)verwachte gebeurtenissen. Zeker een aanrader.

[Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok quick read.

[Angela Tadd · Rating 5 out of 5]

You really don't want to put it down.

[Natasja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Het begin en het einde waren geweldig maar daar tussenin vond ik het vaak verwarrend en erg lang duren.
Het einde is erg verrassend.

[Nicole Carey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fab book that had me guessing all the way through would highly recommend