Paper Cut The gripping SUNDAY TIMES thriller of the month about cults and true crime

"Paper Cut" is a gripping debut about Lucy Golden, a woman famous for escaping a cult and writing a book about it. Two decades later, her story is fading until a documentary filmmaker decides to revisit it, uncovering secrets Lucy has kept buried. The novel switches between the present day and flashbacks from Lucy's time in the cult, gradually revealing what really happened. The writing is very good, I couldn't put the book down and I just wanted to uncover the truth behind the mystery. Lucy herself is a complex and often frustrating character. She's deeply affected by her past, still wrestling with the trauma of the cult, but yet, she's so self-absorbed making it really hard to like her. While the idea of this story is so good, I felt the book could have gone deeper. Many of the twists were predictable, which reduced the overall suspense. Also, it all felt so rushed. I couldn't fully process what had just happened before the story already moved on. Overall, "Paper Cut" is a thrilling story, with an interesting premise, and good writing. The exploration of fame, trauma, and self-deception works well, but I was left wanting more depth, especially about the cult. Still, the book kept me hooked, and I'm definitely curious to see what the author writes next.