• The Cutting Room

  • By: Louise Welsh
  • Narrated by: Alan Cumming
  • Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (28 ratings)

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The Cutting Room  By  cover art

The Cutting Room

By: Louise Welsh
Narrated by: Alan Cumming
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Publisher's summary

Short-listed, Guardian First Book Award, 2002

Winner, CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger, 2002

Winner, Saltire Society First Book of the Year, 2002

When Rilke, a dissolute auctioneer, comes upon a hidden collection of violent and highly disturbing photographs, he feels compelled to discover more about the deceased owner who coveted them. Soon he finds himself sucked into an underworld of crime, depravity and secret desire, fighting for his life.

©2022 Louise Welsh (P)2022 Canongate Books

Critic reviews

"Unputdownable." (Sunday Times)

"I was hooked from page one." (Guardian)

What listeners say about The Cutting Room

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Very good mystery with literary strength

Excellently read by Alan Cumming. This well-textured novel far exceeds my own genre expectations, and explores LGBTQ narratives with intelligence and compassion.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

slow start but good end

Well read with differing voice inflections and accents for the characters. A real cliffhanger towards the end.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Gripping Mystery with Lots of Splendid Characters

Alan Cumming brings this terrific story to life with a dazzling array of characters, each with his or her own voice, vocabulary and vibe. The central character, Rilke, who narrates the tale, is complex and deeply flawed but also brave and noble and, most importantly, is in possession of a moral compass. I happened upon this only because I had just listened to Alan's memoir and I'd fallen madly in love with his lusty, rich Scottish accent. Here we get plenty more of that with the bonus of a multitude of variations. The story grabbed me from the beginning and now I want to read anything by this lovely author, Louise Welsh. In fact, I'm going to get her second book right now. More Alan! How could I resist? PS - The reviewer who complained that this is gay porn was, in my estimation, overreacting to a couple of spicy scenes. This book is more about old photographs and the auction trade and the city of Glasgow and police and hospitals and bookstores and pubs and smoking weed than it is about porn.

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The Cutting Room

As an Alan Cumming admirer, there was never a doubt in my mind that he wouldn’t deliver. But of course he did. His smooth Scottish burr glided in and out through the antics of the characters with ease. As far as the story goes, it was an important topic to address. Ms. Welsh had a fine grasp on the characters, and
I very much enjoyed the grittiness, cunningness, and greediness of them. Yet, they still had compassion. I look forward to listening to Alan narrate the next installment of Rilke!

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