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 and one black, hovering over her; snatches of a strange and haunting song; the unfamiliar texture of a rough and deadly hand. . . .

In another part of the country, Martha Browne arrives in a Yorkshire seaside town, posing as an author doing research for a book. But her research is of a particularly macabre variety. Who is she hunting with such deadly determination? And why?

 The First Cut is a vivid and compelling psychological thriller, from the author of the critically acclaimed Inspector Banks series.