Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #71851 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

WATERSTONES BOOKS QUARTERLY
'a crime writer to be reckoned with. CUT TO BLACK ... is a chilling foray into Portsmouth's seedy drug world.'

Review
'a first-rate police procedural... Hurley is now firmly at the top, with few rivals in this genre.' (Suzanna Yager SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )

'Hurley is one of my favourite British crime writers of the last few years, and long may he continue to chronicle Portsmouth's seedier side.' (Mark Timlin INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY )

'A crime writer to be reckoned with. CUT TO BLACK ... is a chilling foray into Portsmouth's seedy drug world.' (WATERSTONES BOOKS QUARTERLY )

'An in-depth analysis of police procedure... Hurley's growing fanbase will be well satisfied.' (PETERBOROUGH EVENING TELEGRAPH )

'This is one of the best 'police' novels I've read in a long time and confirms Graham Hurley as one of the leading writers in this type of crime fiction... The plot is beautifully constructed and the dialogue and writing are impeccable.' (TANGLED WEB )

'CUT TO BLACK... [the] latest in the increasingly admired Portsmouth police series... Another satisfying entry in a series which is currently vying for the top spot among British police procedurals.' (Mat Coward MORNING STAR )

'a good book with believable characters' (KEIGHLEY NEWS )

Sue's Top Ten 'With this book, Orion has another major crime novelist on its list... With the hardback priced at 9.99 it's the ideal time to promote this excellent author.' (Sue Baker PUBLISHING NEWS )

'Hurley is one of my favourite British crime writers of the last few years.' (Mark Timlin INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY )

Mark Timlin, INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
'Hurley is one of my favourite British crime writers of the last few years.'

Customer Reviews

Cut to the truth
I can probably say I am officially now a fan of Graham Hurley and have (thanks to the library) embarked on another of the Joe Faraday novels. Cut to Black follows nicely along from Deadlight and I would say even better than Deadlight.

Bazza McKenzie Portsmouth's very own crime lord seems to have cleaned his act up and made his money in property. Something is not quite right and an undercover operation is underway trying to find something that can be used on him. Enter an undercover team that have spent a long time on this project and when Joe Faraday (the main detective in these stories) joins the team things seem to start moving but is there something not quite right about this investigation.

The other detective that Hurley uses is DC Winter, old style policing of its own and he seems to be always teaching his new colleagues a thing or two. Winter's character is good and bad in terms of personality as he deals with life in the police force. The cross over in the story of him and Faraday gives you a read a widening spectrum of what the police force is like and perhaps teaches readers about different aspects of crime and the problem of bringing prosecutions when you know there has been a crime.

Having read only two of Hurley's books now, I recognise that there is also some sort of back story which is going along behind everything and it is this which seemingly dates the book for me. The Iraq War in 2003 is the event and Faraday becomes entangled with his girlfriend's passion for all things political on her mission to film the reactions of the local protests as well as her obsession in making a film about drug use, which was very graphic and hit home a point, no doubt its intention.

Other reviews have said the book does not appear to go anywhere, and in some ways I feel that it does because it is obviously building on what has gone on in previous books and there is something about bringing a reader to a point where you think, yes this is it, to then only take the carpet right from under you. It kept me turning the pages as much as the fact that this is based in my home town and the descriptions of the places, I can actually feel myself walking along the roads, going in the pubs and hotels, the location of the police station as well as the wonder of the environment that Faraday sees from his windows. This all brings the book to life for me.

Authentic Locations
I have read all of this series of books, I am on the latest one, extremely entertaining. I think we can all relate to Paul Winter, in our own ways. A previous reviewer wondered if the locations were authentic, and I can tell you that they most certainly are. Hurley has really done his homework on this, and as an ex-Pompey boy myself, I am impressed with his eye for detail.
Are you a Pompey boy Graham? I see that, like me, you now live in the West Country.

Good characters but little plot
Cut to Black tells the story of Detective Inspector Joe Farrady from the Portsmouth force and his efforts to send cocaine dealer Bazza Macenzie down.

Hurley develops some good characters, I especially liked DC Winter a tough cop from the old school.

This books falls down with a weak plot. There's nearly 500 pages but half of it is irrelevant and you are waiting for something to happen. There's no twist at the end, because there isn't really an ending at all.

Shame because the characters are good if only they had something to do ! Save your money for something else.