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A Novel
by Rachel Taff
A page-turning suspense debut about a woman infamous for escaping a cult as a teenager, who finds her future threatened when dangerous secrets come back to haunt her—perfect for fans of Jessica Knoll and The Girls.
Everybody knows the story. Nobody knows the truth…
Lucy Golden is a true-crime icon, infamous for the murder she committed while escaping a California cult twenty years ago. But as everyone in Los Angeles knows, fame is fleeting, and Lucy and her story are always just one news cycle away from obscurity. Not to mention, she's fending off a stalker and moderating an icy feud between her acclaimed photographer mother and her scandalous rock star sister. Worst of all, online trolls are asking increasingly threatening questions about the legendary crime. Questions that could tear her life apart.
So when a hotshot documentarian makes her case the subject of his next film, Lucy sees a chance to silence any doubters once and for all. But as filming begins, she must return to the California desert and come face-to-face with a cast of players from her torrid history. Of course, the past is never what it seems, and long-buried secrets soon collide with present-day threats. Can Lucy stop her critics from digging up the truth before it's too late? And how far will she go to protect the story she's been telling—and selling—all along?
Told in a narrative split between the present day and Lucy's hit memoir about her fated summer in the cult, Paper Cut combines psychological suspense with coming-of-age Californian cult noir and a sharp examination of the true-crime phenomenon. As incisive as it is propulsive, this mesmerizing debut will keep readers hooked until the last page.
"As tightly coiled as a rattlesnake about to strike, Taff's screen-ready exploration of art, celebrity, and exploitation makes for stay-up-all-night reading. It's a knockout." ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A haunting exploration of reputation, memory, and how easily the vulnerable can be swayed. Fans of cult stories and true crime accounts will enjoy this page-turning suspense." —Library Journal
"Taff's crime fiction debut expertly explores the hunger young women have to be taken seriously as artists and people." —Booklist
"A moody noir-cum-psychological thriller…An intricate examination of coming-of-age and true crime culture." —CrimeReads
"Gorgeously written, with an arch, seductive narrative voice and a timely dissection of the true-crime industrial complex, Paper Cut stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the best cult thrillers, particularly those that interrogate how women might use sensationalist crime narratives to shape their own identities. Taff is an exciting new voice." ―Ashley Winstead, USA Today-bestselling author of This Book Will Bury Me
"Darkly addictive with a blistering pace and puzzle-box structure, Paper Cut takes all the juiciest elements of true crime and assembles them in a dazzling new constellation. Elegant and smart, readers will find Taff's debut as intoxicating as the cultish outpost at its core, and just as terrifying, too. An absolutely stunning crime novel." ―Katy Hays, New York Times bestselling author of The Cloisters
This information about Paper Cut was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Rachel Taff is an author and television producer. Most recently, Rachel was the Director of Development at Dynamic Television, known for Ginny and Georgia, where she sold projects to Amazon and Hallmark. Previously, Rachel worked for Emmy-winning director Thomas Schlamme's Shoe Money Productions, where she developed projects for FX and managed a production slate including Snowfall and The Plot Against America. Additional credits include SMILF, American Dad, and Fresh Off the Boat. Rachel earned a Media Arts & Entertainment degree at Elon University. After a decade in Los Angeles, she now lives in Atlanta with her husband and their Portuguese water dog. Paper Cut is her first novel.
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