The First Cut

by Peter Robinson

Book Overview

Published in the UK as Caedmon's Song, this is a gripping standalone thriller from New York Times bestselling author Peter Robinson.

On a balmy June night, Kirsten, a young university student, is strolling home through a silent moonlit park when she is viciously attacked.

When she awakens in the hospital, she has no recollection of that brutal night. But then slowly, painfully, details reveal themselves--dreams of two figures, one white...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 006073535X
• ISBN13: 9780060735357
• Release Date: January 2017
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

The First Cut

Peter Robinson was born in Yorkshire in 1950, and is probably best known for his series of Inspector Banks novels. "Caedmon's Song" was first published in 1990, and was the first of his books set away from Banks' world. Whitby is a coastal town in the north-east of England, and apparently relies heavily on the fishing and tourism industries. When Martha Browne arrives in Whitby in the early autumn, she doesn't have much bother finding a guest house. However, while she tells her landlord she's in town to research a book, it's pretty clear she's arrived to cause someone in Whitby a great deal of trouble. More than that, it seems she may be a little unhinged. (She has arrived with a `talisman' - a small, glass paperweight - and appears to believe that Caedmon - a poet who lived in Whitby in the 7th Century - "was the one who had called her here.") Kirsten, on the other hand, has just finished her university exams, and will soon be graduating with first class honours. She's originally from just outside Bath, in the south of England - which, of course, means a rich family - although she chose to study in the north. In a bid to stay away from home, she and her boyfriend, Galen, are planning on taking postgrad courses in Toronto. On the night we meet her, she's celebrating her exam results with some friends - although Galen is at home, following his grandmother's death. The group of friends have had their difficulties over the years, but they've all remained close. (Hugo would prefer he and Kirsten were a little closer, but she's a devoted girlfriend to Galen). After being thrown out of the pub, they go to a party at a friends place for a while. Kirsten leaves alone, and walks home through the park - where she is, unfortunately, attacked. She only comes round ten days later, in hospital, with no memory of what happened to her. However, bearing in mind what actually happened to her, that may be something of a blessing... The book switches back and forward, laying out Kirsten's recovery and Martha's search side by side. Martha seems a very cold, calculating individual and there's very little in the way of warmth or tenderness about her - but, right from the off, there's clearly a link between the two women. It doesn't take too long to figure out exactly what the link is - I suspect most will have it worked out a little more quickly than Robinson hoped for when he wrote the book. It's a little unbelievable at times, and it is a little dated too - you wuoldn't get a B & B for £9.50 today, while Kirsten's music collection is largely on cassette and not CD (or even MP3s, for that matter). At times, I found Robinson's writing is so formal it was nearly funny : Russell, apparently, "sure knew how to choose party music" while one of Kirsten's doctors actually says "And so you jolly well should". However, it's an easy enough read overall and it's a good deal better than some others I've read recently.

This Author's Books are Compulsive Reading

Peter Robinson grew up in Yorkshire, and is the author of a number of previous novels featuring Inspector Banks. He is the winner of numerous awards in the United States, Britain and Canada, and in 2002 he won the CWA Dagger in the Library. As I also come from Leeds the background to his stories is something that I have experienced first hand and because of this I have a special affection for his books. However they would be first class crime fiction wherever they were based. It's a warm summer night and a young university student, Kirsten has not got a care in the world as she strolls home through a moonlit park. Suddenly here tranquil mood is shattered as she is brutally attacked. Later when she wakes up in hospital. She has no recollection of that night, or who attacked her. But then, slowly, as if in a waking nightmare the details slowly begin to reveal themselves . . .

A One Sitting Read

A young final-year English student is viciously attacked and left for dead by her assailant in a deserted city park as she is walking back to her flat from a end-of-year student party. There are practically no clues and the victim has little memory of what happened. Peter Robinson creates here a wondrously psychological and suspenseful tale of one woman's attempt at trying to put the pieces of her shattered life back together and her quest for revenge. This novel is rich in detail. Normal families and tourists are contrasted with the victims whose lives will never be the same again. Mr. Robinson makes the Yorkshire coast come alive. One can taste the bad food that England is famous for. His attention to detail is beautiful. There are "orderly riots of roses." A character's [Keith's] eyes "really were a sharp blue, as if he had spent so much time staring into blue skies and oceans that they had taken their color from the water and air." And Robinson describes the moon as "almost three-quarters full. . . It seemed to float there like an incandescent jellyfish just below the water's surface." Mr. Robinson artfully weaves together the stories of three women-- Martha, Kirsten and Susan-- into a page-turner climax, and makes interesting observations along the way on Thomas Hardy. It's obvious-- at least in this case-- that revenge is often neither pretty nor precise, but oh, so final. You'll read this novel in one sitting.

tale of two victims

THE FIRST CUT is an early work from Peter Robinson sans Alan Banks. It is a psychological thriller that alternates the narrative between two surviving victims of "the Student Slasher", a serial killer who brutalizes female university students in a grisly manner. This is tightly woven, suspenseful story of revenge told in tandem from two perspectives until they merge for a satisfying climax.

A psychological thriller from the creator of Inspector Banks

This, the fifth novel by Peter Robinson, was originally published in England as Caedmon's Song. It is not part of Robinson's Inspector Alan Banks series but is a suspenseful psychological study of a young university student, Kirsten, who is brutally attacked and mutilated and must start her life over again with a new, darker perspective. Interwoven with Kirsten's story is the story of Martha, a mysterious young woman who arrives in Whitby, on the Yorkshire coast, intent on a grim pursuit of her own. Gradually the two story lines converge in a fascinating narrative pattern. This is a haunting psychological suspense story that is difficult to put down. The author is a master of describing the Yorkshire scenery, here leaving behind the dales of his earlier novels to depict a brooding and picturesque coastal town that previously inspired Bram Stoker while he was writing Dracula.