The Cutting Room

A Novel of Suspense

Roy Milano is no Sam Spade. But when this divorced movie geek stumbles onto the trail of Orson Welles' long-lost masterpiece, The Magnificent Ambersons, he can't help but take the case. The usual suspects prove to be anything but - a bodybuilding film fanatic obsessed with bizarre rumors about an A-list actress; a rotund reporter who holds Hollywood in thrall via Internet dispatches from his parents' basement; and a starstruck street punk with a thousand voices. And then there's the transatlantic love triangle that finds Roy caught between his very own Gal Friday and a sultry Spanish siren with a stunning secret. But when the bodies start falling, Roy must cut to the chase in his quest to save the Holy Grail of cinema before everything fades to black.

©2004 Copyright by Laurence Klavan. All rights reserved.; 2010 BBC Audio

Narrator - yes, plot - not so much

I liked the protagonist well enough, but the story was a bit all-over-the-place for me; I had to suspend disbelief to get through some of Roy's less-credible escapades. I'm considering listening to the sequel for the narrator; I doubt I would've finished this one in print.