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Reading THE CUTAWAY is like a lesson in news reporting. The author, Christina Kovac, worked in the field in Washington DC, and she is not shy about sharing her knowledge and experiences. As the book opens, Virginia Knightly, the editor of a TV news show, is trying to make sense of the news that a beautiful young lawyer has gone missing in Georgetown. Many women go missing in DC, but they are not usually from the right side of town. As Virginia begins to search for the story behind Evelyn Carney's disappearance, she also faces her boss's attempt to push her to the side.
Politics are everywhere in both the story of Carney's disappearance and in the newsroom. The book is packed with plots and subplots involving Carney's PTSD-suffering husband, her highly placed lover, her manipulative boss, and her high-profile friend. Added to this mix of story lines are those associated with Knightly herself. We follow two love stories, the rise of a megalomaniac of a boss and his protege, the sidelining of an important station anchor, the disregard of a career station employee, the sudden reappearance of a long missing father, and Virginia's attempt to gain the power necessary to do good in the world, her stated underlying goal.
There are too many threads to the plot for any one to be fully developed. As Kovac jumps from one track to another, the reader can sometimes feel a bit of whiplash. I found myself going back to re-read the end of the previous chapter as a new chapter frequently left me feeling unmoored. And while the author clearly has a deep regard for the goodness in people, this sometimes gets in the way of characterization. I am not one for stereotypes, and so I appreciate nuanced characters. However, with so little room left in the book after all of the plot lines are tackled, the multiple interpretations of each character do not coalesce into reasonable motivations but rather leave the reader confused as to the character's nature.
The book has very solid underpinnings, and there is a lot to be learned from reading it. The "cutaway" of the title provides the center around which all of the plots and characters swirl. However, the book would have been more effective if it were more focused, allowing more time and effort to be given to a smaller number of plot lines. This is a debut novel, so I am hopeful that Kovac will exercise a bit more restraint and provide a bit more depth in her next book.
§ Sharon Mensing, retired educational leader, lives, reads, and enjoys the outdoors in rural Wyoming.
Reviewed by Sharon Mensing, April 2017
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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