Welcome to today’s stop on the blog tour for Cut Adrift by Jane Jesmond. My thanks to Hollie at Verve Books for inviting me to take part in the tour and for my digital review copy. Cut Adrift is available now in paperback, ebook and audiobook format.
About the Book
Risk everything, trust no one.
Jen Shaw is climbing in the mountains near Alajar, Spain. And it’s nothing to do with the fact that an old acquaintance suggested that she meet him there…
But when things don’t go as planned and her brother calls to voice concerns over the whereabouts of their mother, Morwenna, Jen finds herself travelling to a refugee camp on the south coast of Malta.
Free-spirited and unpredictable as ever, Morwenna is working with a small NGO, helping her Libyan friend, Nahla, seek asylum for her family. Jen is instantly out of her depth, surrounded by stories of unimaginable suffering and increasing tensions within the camp.
Within hours of Jen’s arrival, Nahla is killed in suspicious circumstances, and Jen and Morwenna find themselves responsible for the safety of her daughters. But what if the safest option is to leave on a smuggler’s boat?
Format: Paperback (320 pages) Publisher: Verve Books
Publication date: 28th February 2023 Genre: Thriller
Find Cut Adrift (Jen Shaw #2) on Goodreads
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My Review
Cut Adrift is the second book in the series featuring self-confessed adrenaline junkie Jen Shaw, the sequel to On the Edge which was a Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month. I don’t think it’s essential to have read On the Edge to enjoy Cut Adrift but it would probably help to understand the cause of the fractures in the Shaw family, the impact of which forms a secondary, albeit minor, plot line. The latter – a wrangle over the sale of the family home in Cornwall – felt like a distraction to me but might have more significance for those who’ve read the first book.
The plot of Cut Adrift is inspired by the very contemporary issue of the smuggling and exploitation of refugees. The author takes her time to build up a picture of the desperate situation faced by people – often women and children – forced to flee war-torn countries such as Libya and Syria. The dramatic prologue brilliantly brings this to life. Such people are easy prey for smugglers and people traffickers but can also be used as cover by those with more sinister motives. Having made it across the Mediterrean to the island of Malta, they face long waits to have their asylum claims processed, in the meantime being placed in crowded camps with limited access to medical care. And the influx of refugees is causing problems for Malta as well with rising anti-migrant sentiment. I think we can all call to mind parallels with the situation closer to home.
Cut Adrift focuses on a small group of refugees, including Nahla, a friend of Jen’s mother Morwenna. A journalist and activist, Nahla has been forced to flee Libya with her two daughters, Aya and Rania. (The author does a terrific job of conveying the trauma of such an experience through the character of Aya.) Unfortunately, whilst Nahla thinks she may have reached safety, that’s not the case. She’s witnessed something that’s placed her in danger, but what exactly is it?
The death of Nahla trailed in the blurb doesn’t take place until around a third of the way through the book but from that moment on the thriller element really comes to the fore in a series of dramatic scenes that sees the very particular skills of Jen and her mother put to the ultimate test.
Jen finds herself once again in the company of Nick Crawford whom she met in the first book. Although attracted to each other, Jen is frustrated by Nick’s reluctance to talk about his work. As she says at one point, ‘I was sick of lies and secrets and uncertainty. Sick, sick, sick of them.’ She starts to find out more when there occurs what I like to term a ‘Casablanca moment’ – as in “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world,she walks into mine” – but what she discovers doesn’t necessarily put her mind at rest. Who is this man who can seemingly adopt multiple identities? Is he ever really himself?
Jen is a brilliant character. She’s fearless, independent-minded, tough, determined but quite solitary and introspective. When we meet her at the start of the book she’s attempting to rein in her wilder instincts for fear of hurting others and trying to leave behind what she describes as ‘the madness of last summer’ when she’d lurched from one crazy night to another. (Those who’ve read the first book have the advantage over me as far as the cause of this is concerned.) Jen’s the sort of woman who when told to do something, including for her own safety, is likely to do the exact opposite. It’s this that makes her such a great protagonist of a thriller such as Cut Adrift.
A third book in the Jen Shaw series is promised in 2024 which is just as well because, appropriately given Jen’s love of climbing, Cut Adrift ends on a tantalising cliffhanger.
In three words: Compelling, action-packed, contemporary
Try something similar: The Bone Road by N. E. Solomons
About the Author
Jane Jesmond writes crime, thriller and mystery fiction. Her debut novel, On The Edge – the first in a series featuring dynamic, daredevil protagonist Jen Shaw – was a Sunday Times Best Crime Fiction of the Month pick. Cut Adrift has been named as a Times Thriller Book of the Month. A Quiet Contagion, which Jane describes as ‘an unsettling historical mystery for modern times’, will be published by VERVE Books in November 2023.
Although Jane loves writing (and reading) thrillers and mysteries, her real life is very quiet and unexciting. Dead bodies and dangerous exploits are not a feature! She lives by the sea in the northwest tip of France with a husband and a cat and enjoys coastal walks and village life. Unlike Jen Shaw, she is terrified of heights! (Photo: Author website)
Connect with Jane
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What Cathy Read Next... 
The Spanish setting encourages me to give this a go. I haven’t read anything by this writer – yet.
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