The Cutting Room

by Laurence Klavan

An Edgar Award-winning Author Self-proclaimed movie geek and divorced thirtysomething Roy Milano lives alone in a cramped Manhattan apartment, toiling as a freelancer to make ends meet. Trivial Man, Roy's self-published newsletter, is filled with tidbits of little-known lore for the delight of other fringe-dwelling cinemaphiles. It's a tantalizing phone call from such a kindred spirit that thrusts Roy headlong into his waking noir nightmare.

Genres: Mystery, Audiobook, Thriller

383 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Playwright, novelist, and librettist Laurence Klavan is the author of a number of plays, as well as of mystery novels centering around Hollywood.

Reviews

[Gene · Rating 2 out of 5]

The bits of movie trivia and the relationship of the two main characters were the only really interesting parts of this book for me.The story line got pretty far off line at times,I thought. There were some pretty weak moments also. If you're going to go through the trouble of killing someone for something wouldn't you unzip the bag to ascertain the desired item was there, rather than just taking off with it and having to do it all over in the next chapter? I'm not too sharp either, turns out I was really looking for another book with the same title so will be headed back to the library.

[Courtney Coombs · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was... fine. The plot was really far-fetched. Like, ridiculous. Especially just the sheer number of times this movie was stolen and killed for and mistaken for other things. For such an outrageous plot, though, the narration was good, and I appreciated Roy's character growth, how he realizes that his obsession with movies was just a way to avoid real life. I liked his anxiety-driven use of movie trivia (and I also like the trivia itself) a lot. The twist at the end was mildly interesting. Overall, I didn't hate it, but it wasn't that good.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not offensively bad, but highly formulaic, with characters popping up for clearly no reason other than to provide a convenient ort of information – not too much though, just the one thing that will move the mc from one thing to the next.

[Machka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reminded me a little of North by Northwest, which may have been one of the many movies mentioned in the book. It didn't feel very suspenseful and there were so many characters, it got confusing in places. But I did find it funny here and there and it kept my interest.

[Simay Yildiz · Rating 3 out of 5]

The suspense of it picked up rather quickly, which would have made it an easy read if the author didn't use dashes in almost every single sentence. And I wasn't too crazy about the ending.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

ok. movie trivia buff on quest for an original version an old orson wells movie runs into murder and mayhem.

[Cece Baez · Rating 2 out of 5]

since i don't like murder mysteries, i am going to give this book a "neutral" review....I'm not putting it down, but i'm not putting it up on a pedestal either.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rambling, somewhat slight plot saved by good narration - recommended over print version (which I doubt I would've finished).

[Cat. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dumb.

Dumb dumb dumb, and the reader didn't do much for me either.

[Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book felt very dated.

[Lynda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of silly premise filled with old time movie references. hard to stay attentive.