Thirty years ago, Annabel Maddock was killed. One of her group of friends, Dave, went to prison for it and the rest drifted apart. But Dave is released from prison and it seems that the story of Annabel Maddock is far from over for the village of Barton Mallett.

Ben Knot, Annabel’s boyfriend at the time, has been suffering with problems with his business so initially he turns something of a blind eye to his son being cast in the leading role in a Hollywood film being shot in the village. But as his daughter also gets pulled into the film, Ben starts to realise that this is more than just a work of fiction. The events of thirty years ago are being recreated for the big screen, but for more than simple entertainment…

I’d been meaning to take a look at Geneva, Richard Armitage’s debut thriller, but when I came across this on NetGalley, I thought I’d jump into book two – the books are standalones, after all. Given that Armitage seems to be a permanent fixture in any Netflix Harlan Coben adaptation, I was curious to see if Coben was his inspiration or whether this was something altogether.

There’s certainly a similarity to Coben’s work, but it has its own voice. There’s a parallel narrative, the events in 1994 that led to Annabel’s death and the present day events of the film being made. The stories keep pace with each other, as we only discover the sequence of events that lead to Annabel’s death at the same time as events come to a head in the present day.

The characters are strong, with the two time periods having distinct feels to them. While it takes a little while for the story to take shape, there’s no confusion as to what is happening when, which can be a problem with multiple timeframe narratives.

It’s not perfect – I had trouble with the character of Ben’s wife, willing to turn so many blind eyes to what is happening to her stepchildren. Also, at the end of the day, the story sacrifices the out-of-the-blue last minute twist in order for the story to deliver the emotional wallop that it has been building to. It provides a solid and satisfying denouement, but I could have done with a little more of a surprise to put this up there with the very best.

Nonetheless, the pacing of the plot and the writing are spot on. I’ll definitely be taking a look at Geneva soon.

The Cut is out this Thursday in hardback and ebook. Many thanks for Faber & Faber for the review e-copy via NetGalley.