Apologies for the later posting time – it has been a day!
Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Final Cut by S. J. Watson – I LOVED his debut book Before I go to sleep so I jumped at the chance to read his latest offering when Anne sent out the email. And I was delighted to open page 1 and get stuck in I didn’t even read the synopsis until I had finished the first few chapters, which is unusual for me – I like to know…
Book blurb:

Blackwood Bay. An ordinary place, home to ordinary people.
It used to be a buzzing seaside destination. But now, ravaged by the effects of dwindling tourism and economic downturn, it’s a ghost town – and the perfect place for film-maker Alex to shoot her new documentary.
But the community is deeply suspicious of her intentions. After all, nothing exciting ever happens in Blackwood Bay – or does it?
Blackwood Bay. An ordinary place, home to an extraordinary secret.
The writing was great – I would expect no less. The characters and setting were all interesting, but I found the story a bit slow in parts and I found the ending predictable. A predictable ending doesn’t always bother me thou and it didn’t really bother me here.
I LOVED the first half of the book – I loved the slow burn character development and all the tension and menace as the plot started to unfold. I rooted for Alex and I loved the atmospheric village setting and I very much enjoyed the idea of a small indie film production. I thought a lot of the slow reveal with the ‘THEN’ chapters was clever. CLEVER. I wanted to read on and find out what was happening…
I liked Final Cut by S. J. Watson a lot.
But. I had one small but. I thought the second half of the book felt a tad flat in parts. It was still a solid read and I am glad to have picked it up I just felt that the momentum maybe disappeared slightly towards the ending and I wanted to scream at the characters for NOT ANSWERING QUESTIONS! I would definitely suggest picking it up for yourself if you like the sound of it – even with slower parts I was caught up in the writing and following Alex’s story. It was quite a dark novel, with some dark and unpleasant themes.
Final cut by S. J. Watson was a solid read, with some interesting characters, an atmospheric setting, but an ending I guessed. It was good.
I received a copy of the book to review from the publisher, which was all arranged by the blog tour organiser – Thank you!

Thanks for the thoughtful review on this one, Jules! I want to try a book from this author.
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Thank you Jennifer 🙂 x
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Huge thanks for the blog tour support x
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Great honest review, thanks for sharing 🙂 I did start reading this one (I had it from Netgalley) as I liked his previous books but I really felt this one wasn’t for me so abandoned it.
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I do think I prefer his first book – no point continuing on with something that you don’t click with. Thank you.
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Fab review! You definitely make me want to pick up Final Cut to see how I would react to the second half. xx
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I hope you do and I hope you will tell me what you think!
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Fab review! I am curious about this book!
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Thank you, Meggy. I hope you’ve been keeping well! 🙂
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Amazing review! I really enjoyed Before I Go To Sleep when I read it a few years back, I saw this one of NetGalley and I’m super intrigued! I’ve been wanting to get back into thrillers for a while now.
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I hope you enjoy it and I will try and watch out for your review when you get round to it 😀
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Shame the second half fell a little flat, after such a good first half. Great review though!
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Thank you 😀
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Great Review!!! I was really excited to read this and even have an ARC, but after reading some not so positive goodreads reviews I was a bit scared to pick it up. But after reading your review I am getting a bit hopeful!
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It’s definitely worth picking it up and trying the first few chapters – I thought it was good. Happy reading when you get to it 😀
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Great review. I haven’t read anything by this author. Seems like I need to, although a not-so-good second half may be a deterrent. Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you, it was a good read it just didn’t quite wow me.
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Oh my goodness I had no idea that S J Watson had a new book out. I’ve put it on my consideration pile for now because as much as the premise is intriguing, I’m not keen on slow burners as my attention span is somewhat lacking haha. Great review and thank you so much for bringing this to my attention!
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