Book Review – The Face On The Cutting-Room Floor

Who Is Cameron McCabe? by Cameron McCabe (Picador Classic) ISBN 9781509829811

1933. London. Cameron McCabe is editing a film involving a love triangle. The director has instructed him to edit out an aspiring actress, Estella Lamare. She becomes the face on the cutting room floor. Then Estella is found dead in the very film studio, exactly where her image was lying in pieces of celluloid on the floor.

Is McCabe a suspect, victim, joker or storyteller? Who is Cameron McCabe? This is an unusual detective mystery. There is emphasis on its literary value, and the social and philosophical nature of the time. The novel was first published in 1937 but the true identity of the author was a mystery until 1974.

The epilogue invites you to go back and analyse the novel. It is as though you have eaten the main course and now face a large and varied dessert.

Dawn Blankfield
2.5/5