The Simulacrum is the most famous lost movie in film history – would you tell someone your darkest secrets, just to lay hands on a copy? 104-year-old Mary Arden is the last surviving cast member of a notorious lost film. Holed up in Garthside, an Art Deco mansion reputed to be haunted, she has always refused interviews. Now Mary has agreed to talk to film enthusiast Theda Garrick. In return she demands all the salacious details of Theda's tragic past. Only the hint of a truly stupendous discovery stops Theda walking out. But Mary's prying questions are not the only thing Theda has to fear. The spirit of The Simulacrum walks Garthside by night, and it will turn an old tragedy into a new nightmare...

This book was provided for free by the Author and the publishers in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book!

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I’ve had the pleasure of reading several works by Helen Grant, including her novel Too Near the Dead and her short story collection, The Sea Change & Other Stories, and in my opinion, Jump Cut is her best work yet.

Theda Garrick has just lost her husband, Max, and in an attempt to run away from her grief and everything that reminds her of her new status as a widow, she has jumped at the opportunity of a lifetime. Ageing actress Mary Arden has never given an interview – until now. That in itself is enough to get Theda heading for Arden’s, but the icing on the cake is that Arden is willing to discuss The Simulacrum, an infamous lost film that Arden starred in. No one has ever seen the film, and no one involved with it has ever spoken about it. It’s the perfect topic for Theda’s first book.

Since no one has seen Mary Arden in decades, Theda doesn’t know quite what to expect from the one-hundred-and-four-year-old film star. She certainly isn’t expecting a conniving old hag who will only talk to her in return for details about Theda’s life, and Arden is only satisfied with the ones that hurt Theda the most: her life with Max. The exact thing she was hoping to escape.

As Theda does her best to handle Arden’s requests, she slowly gets the information she came for: the story of The Simulacrum. It’s more unbelievable than anything she could have imagined. She gets one hour a day with Arden, and the rest of the day she has the grounds of Arden’s Art Deco mansion, Garthside, to herself, everywhere apart from the East Wing where Arden lives.

The more time Theda spends at Garthside, the more she realises something is going on. Something dangerous, something that can’t possibly be real. Just when she thinks of leaving, Arden drops a bombshell that ensures Theda will stick around a bit longer. But soon Theda realises that no price is worth what Arden is offering…

In Jump Cut, the reader gets three stories for the price of one. Through Mary Arden, we hear the story of director Lillian Velderkaust and her lover, Hugh Mason, which led to Lillian making The Simulacrum starring Arden. Part of the story that Arden retells has been told to her second-hand, and as she tells it, she recalls how Lillian told it to her and how she reacted to it. Jump Cut is narrated from a first-person perspective, offering us Theda’s thoughts and responses as Arden speaks.

Grant capitalises on the power of oral storytelling to create a powerful bond between the storyteller, Arden, and the listener, Theda and the reader. As a result, the interview scenes between Arden and Theda are highly emotional scenes that draw the reader in. I felt as though I was sitting in the room with the characters.

Having lulled the reader into a false sense of security, Grant vividly breaks that bond when Arden switches from the role of storyteller to that of manipulator as she breaks roles and demands details of Theda’s life. The whiplash of emotions is shocking and doesn’t stop being shocking in future interview sessions. Through Arden’s interrogations, Theda tells her story, and here Grant handles a difficult topic with sensitivity (see the content warnings for more details).

I found Mary Arden to be completely fascinating, and it is in the scenes between her and Theda that Grant’s skill shines. Most of the time, the ageing actress just seems like a bored rich crone getting her last thrills from harassing a young woman mourning the recent loss of her husband. At times, there are brief flickers of concern as she coaxes details from Theda, taking on the role of a perverse therapist before she turns cold again.

The third story that is told in Jump Cut is that of Theda’s time at Garthside, and here Grant draws on her considerable background in horror. With things going bump in the night, secret off-limit areas of the manor, and shifty answers from staff, Grant has the reader primed for answers.

I refer to these as stories rather than plots because storytelling is such a prominent and important feature of Jump Cut, and Grant masterfully uses it to build suspense. It accumulates throughout the book as each of the stories converges into the final reveal, and what a reveal it is! Grant has a wicked imagination, as seen in her previous work, but she has outdone herself in Jump Cut. This thrill ride will stick with you long after you have read it. I highly recommend it for horror and thriller fans, especially those who like to learn new things. Old films have never been something of interest to me, but I enjoyed learning about them in this book.

Thanks for reading my book review for Jump Cut by Helen Grant!

Don’t forget to check out the rest of my reviews if you’re looking for some more book recommendations 🙂 You can also now sign up for my newsletter to get an email each month with a list of my new reviews!

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