In Midnight in Paris, Marion Cotillard tells Owen Wilson she is already hooked after having heard the first sentence of his book. Now, you may think the film was a cinematographic masterpiece or not, that is not the question, but you have to agree that a book that hooks its audience after only the first sentence is a book worth reading. I have not read a lot of books that can boast having done this to me, but Rough Cut was, surprisingly, one of them.
I genuinely love detective stories and books that have a real rhythm to them, and who does not? With his book, Owen Jones has found the perfect recipe: Rough Cut is cleverly written, will grip you from the very beginning and will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. To be quite honest, I did not put the book down once. I read it in one go, omitted going to sleep, fought against my tired, heavy eyes to finish reading it as soon as possible.
The story centers around Carter Jefferson, synthetic diamond specialist, whose help is enlisted by the Federation of International Diamond Traders after a number of high quality fake diamonds are found in the middle of a batch of real diamonds in New York. Soon old friends seem to be connected and Jefferson needs to travel to Europe to find out what is really going on.
The characters are well thought through and likeable. And they all have a real dimension about them. I think there is nothing worse than reading a book with flat characters who don’t seem to have any sort of history to them. The intrigue is rich and will make you move from one country to another. And there is even romance, but thankfully not the ever-so terribly predictable kind.
If you like a murder mystery along with dark family secrets and enthralling romantic stories, then Rough Cut is definitely one to check out the next time you are looking for something to read. One thing is for sure, once you start reading it, you might want to tell your friends and relatives you will not be seeing them until you have turned the final page.
