The Last Cut Review

Monday 5 June 2017


Rating: 5/5
Source: PR Copy from Mulholland Books/Hodder Publicity

Who's hunting who? 

DS Harri Jacobs survived a horrific assault, with the scars to prove it. The worst one is the promise her attacker made: that he would return. 

Her transfer to Newcastle was meant to keep her safe. But then a murder case lands on her desk. A case which feels frighteningly familiar. Is it her chance to catch the man who hurt her? 

Or is it a trap? 

I have been a fan of Danielle Ramsay's work for years and have reviewed all five of her DI Jack Brady novels on my blog, as well as her book Broken Silence being the first review I did overall.

The themes of Danielle's books always resonate with me. Rape and assault are still very much taboo subjects and they shouldn't be, they're ugly topics but if people pretend they don't happen then it's very likely they won't stop. Harri Jacobs is raped in her own home, her attacker has not yet been brought to justice and because of his promise to come back and kill her has left her unable to remain in London, which brings her to transfer to the North East.

I love Harri. I thought I was going to have a difficult time adapting to a new detective, but I really honestly love her. She's so real and a total badass, even though she is struggling to deal with what happened to her and there's this fear in the back of her mind, she refuses to give up her job and hide away completely.

Danielle Ramsay is always going somewhere with her writing, she doesn't write about random murder cases and everything is relevant. It almost hurts trying to keep up with everything because you just know it's going to come back later. Harri wants to remain working on the case but as similarities between her case and those of the murder in question arise, is it really a good idea?

There are some quieter moments in the book so you'll have time to breathe, I don't think it affected pace too much. Harri has a lot of inner conflict, hardly surprising given what she has been through, so a lot of the time away from the station is her dealing with that. It makes her feel even more real, she's suffered and she continues to do her job, but that doesn't mean she's automatically okay. A lot of damage as been done and just because a person isn't constantly crying, doesn't mean they aren't in pain, plenty of people have to go about their day to day life and might never show that what happened to them has left a lot of damage.

As I said, Harri is very real. If you would like to know a little more about why that is then I urge to read this which is a post written by Danielle herself entitled writing what you know. I don't want to say too much as it's a really powerful piece that I think you should read, but if you don't read it, just know that Danielle understands what it means to be a strong female.

Any fans of this author will know her books aren't for the faint of heart. There's some very graphic scenes that make this a brilliant thriller but also the murder mystery aspect of the book keeps you guessing until the end. Just as with all of Danielle's writing, I want more. I can't wait for the next book and this one has only been out 3 days. Please don't keep us waiting! 

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