Brookmyre says it’s more personal than that. “I’m always very grateful when I find that people have been reading the books for so long and haven’t got fed up with me,” he admits.

Just to be clear,’ she told Jerry, covering herself first and foremost. ‘You do not need to submit to any search, and he has no right to demand one.’ The warden’s right. I don’t have the right to search your room. But believe me, I’ll be keeping an eye out for that phone, and if I see you with anything like it, I’ll be going to the police.’ The Cut is an ingenious stand-alone thriller by one my all-time favourite Scottish authors. I could tell you it’s about an ex-con grudgingly teaming up with a young thief, but this turns that old trope upside down with two unique and fascinating characters. It had sounded good when she said it. But now anyone could see his place wasn’t here. And one of those people was him.

Phew! This is a fun read to a point. I found the opening chapters hugely enjoyable and the depressed Millie a very interesting character and was looking forward to how it all played out.

After Mildred discovers some important information, all thoughts of suicide evaporate. Then, Mildred and Jerome bond in their mutual love of horror films (and the fact that he saves her life). Much of the humour in this story comes from the banter between Mildred and Jerome as they jostle for points re their knowledge of films/TV dialogue. I must admit that though I knew about two-thirds of these films, I didn’t remember hearing any of the dialogue “points” that Mildred and Jerome acquired during this banter, but I did appreciate the contest. Stories is an anthology of short stories, written on themes of community and hope, by a mix of the UK’s best established writers and previously unpublished authors, whose pieces were chosen by Kathy Burke from over 250 entries. Philippa saw him the other day coming out of that dodgy elec¬tronics place on Dumbarton Road, Fonezone. Everybody knows it’s full of hooky gear. The owner pays cash and asks no questions.’The boy wouldn’t have made a card player. There was a quivering twitch to his bottom lip as he realised his mistake and the

Young Jerry is in college and not getting along with anyone there, hence his house share with older women. He is also a huge fan of horror movies and knows many of the films that Millie has been involved in. We could tell you about the bodies. We could tell you their names, where they were found, the state they were in. We could tell you about the suspects too, the evidence, the investigators; join a few dots, even throw you a motive. But what would be the point? You're going to make your own assumptions anyway. After all, you know these people, don't you? You went to school with them. We all did. Granted, that was twenty years ago, but how much does anybody really change? Exactly. So if you really knew them then, you'll already have all the answers. If you really knew them then...Overall, I’d say that it’s not bad, but it’s not great; it’s a decent brain-off read, especially if you’re a big movie fan. I always wanted to be able to combine those things. I think when you’ve read about something that you really relate to and you know intimately and you know that place, it’s more of a buzz if you can picture it. When I was reading Iain Banks in my early 20s, I would really be excited by the fact these very bizarre things were happening in places I knew.” The Cut is a Putting Scotland at the centre of his books was both a deliberate choice and a result of the way Brookmyre’s imagination would wander while travelling around the country. It started out close to home. The tension builds up to almost unbearable levels by the time Jerry has to reveal a deadly secret he’s been keeping from Millicent.

consequences of it. He’d claimed he’d lay a hundred to one, but Jerry was the guy who had named the stakes. Quite Ugly One Morning is taken from Warren Zevon's album Mr. Bad Example - the last chapter title continues the song's chorus.

I think the thing I like most about the book is the characters of Jerry and Millicent. When they first meet it’s a highly entertaining game of verbal tennis with Millicent’s hapless jobsworth social worker rushing to get the lobs. There is much good dark humour between them. It takes a while to get into the story but after the chance discovery the mystery deepens and becomes more intriguing and you have many questions about where it all starts to go wrong for Millicent. It appears to link to the making of an unreleased and violent film called ‘Mancipium’ in 1993. The story of the making of the film is very dark and unsavoury, think Weinstein and you get the picture. There are some interesting reflections on the impact of video nasties on key court cases at this time which is thought provoking. There are some good sections where there is fear, some jaw dropping discoveries and it gets twisty and twistier with some excitement such as that which Hollywood may produce. The end is clever and unexpected as we’ve been led up some blind alleys.