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WORK TITLE: The Cutaway
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://www.christinakovac.com/
CITY:
STATE: MD
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://www.christinakovac.com/author/ * http://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Christina-Kovac/1348163753
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Married; children: two.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author and broadcast journalist.
Appeared on Nightly News, Ten O’Clock News (FOX Five), the Today Show, and Meet the Press.
AVOCATIONS:Walking, going to bookstores, crime fiction.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Prior to launching her writing career, Christina Kovac built a career in the journalism industry. She was aligned with the broadcast sector, specifically, and has made appearances on Nightly News, the Ten O’Clock News segment of FOX Five, the Today show, and many more. According to her official website, her decision to switch to writing full time came from a desire to spend more time with her children.
The Cutaway is Kovac’s first published piece of fiction. The novel is partially influenced by her past career, as reflected through her central protagonist. Virginia Knightly works as a producer of television programs and becomes deeply enmeshed within the circumstances of Evelyn Carney, an attorney who has been seemingly spirited away. According to witnesses, her last known location was a restaurant, which she attended alongside her husband, and where the two of them went through a brutal falling out. Evelyn stormed from the establishment, and some time later, Evelyn’s body is located near the Potomac River. She was clearly murdered, but the authorities have to figure out how and who could have committed the crime.
Virginia has been following this case from the beginning, and decides to get involved with solving it. To help her are one of Evelyn’s coworkers, as well as an ex-partner of Virginia’s who has gathered plenty of clues toward the case thanks to his work as head of the police force. However, Virginia’s job will not be easy. Her main career is threatened by the arrival of her freshly hired supervisor, who relieves her of her normal career duties once he is instated. Additionally, there is increasing evidence that suggests the truth of the case may be much more malicious at heart than anyone could have ever suspected. As the truth unwinds, it leads Virginia to Washington, DC, to discover a whole host of terrible secrets.
Booklist contributor Michele Leber called the book “an impressive debut and a good choice for fans of Hank Phillippi Ryan.” A reviewer in Publishers Weekly commented: “Readers will want to see more of this tenacious, lovable heroine.” On the Civilian Reader blog, one contributor remarked: “The Cutaway certainly shows a lot of promise, and I’m definitely looking forward to reading Kovac’s next novel.” They also added: “If you’re a fan of thrillers and crime fiction, or novels with a political element, I think you’ll find plenty to like here.” A Whispering Stories blogger stated: “The book is gripping, it has you eager to know more, and a desire to stand shoulder to shoulder with Virginia, and work the case alongside her.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, February 1, 2017, Michele Leber, review of The Cutaway, p. 24.
Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 2017, review of The Cutaway.
Publishers Weekly, January 23, 2017, review of The Cutaway, p. 57.
ONLINE
Christina Kovac Website, https://www.christinakovac.com (November 7, 2017), author profile.
Civilian Reader, https://civilianreader.com/ (January 31, 2017), review of The Cutaway.
Simon & Schuster Website, http://www.simonandschuster.com/ (November 7, 2017), author profile.
Whispering Stories, http://whisperingstories.com/ (April 14, 2017), review of The Cutaway.*
Christina Kovac
Christina Kovac worked for seventeen years managing Washington, DC newsrooms and producing crime and political stories in the District. Her career as television journalist began with Fox Five’s Ten O’Clock News, and after that, the ABC affiliate in Washington. For the last nine years, she worked at NBC News, where she worked for Tim Russert and provided news coverage for Meet the Press, the Today show, Nightly News, and others. Christina Kovac lives with her family outside of Washington, DC. The Cutaway is her first novel.
About Christina Kovac
Christina Kovac, author of The Cutaway
Christina Kovac writes psychological thrillers set in Washington, DC. The Cutaway is her debut novel.
Prior to writing fiction, Christina Kovac worked in television news. Her career began with a college internship at Fox 5’s Ten O’Clock News in DC that turned into a field-producing job—making minimum wage while chasing news stories, gossiping with press officers, and cultivating sources—while somehow making rent on a closet-sized apartment on Capitol Hill. After a stint as weekend editor at WRC TV and senior editor at the ABC affiliate, she went on to work at the Washington Bureau of NBC Network News, as a desk editor and news producer in such stories as that of missing DC intern, Chandra Levy.
After being late to pick up her kids at daycare one too many times, she left television to start a writing career. She lives in suburban Maryland with her family, a husband, two kids, a gimpy dog and noisy cat. She loves reading crime fiction and hanging out in bookstores and going for long walks to work out plot problems. She’s not fully human until she’s read the morning newspapers while gulping down a ritual six cups of half-caff (so, it’s kind of like only three cups?) Her most fervent belief is that baseball’s Opening Day should be a national holiday.
She’s currently at work on her second novel.
The Cutaway
Michele Leber
Booklist.
113.11 (Feb. 1, 2017): p24.
COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
The Cutaway.
By Christina Kovac.
Mar. 2017. 320p. Atria/37 Ink, $26 (9781501141690): e book, $12.99 (9781501141713).
Women go missing all the time. But when promising lawyer Evelyn Carney vanishes after leaving her husband in an
upscale Georgetown restaurant, Washington, D.C., television-news producer Virginia Knightly is hooked on the story.
While contending with possible cutbacks at her station and a reunion with her estranged father, who's near death,
Knightly sets out to pursue the Carney story. Then Carney's body is found in the Potomac River with signs of a head
injury, and what was a missing-person problem becomes a murder. Knightly teams with anchorman Ben Pearce to
follow the case, collecting information from Carney's husband, a marine recently returned from duty in Afghanistan
who says his wife left him for another man; from her mentors; and from police commander Michael Ledger, with
whom Carney had a relationship. Former D.C. newsroom manager Kovac knows her milieu and portrays it vividly in
this smart, absorbing mix of media, politics, and mystery, with twists and turns to the end. An impressive debut and a
good choice for fans of Hank Phillippi Ryan. --Michele Leber
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Leber, Michele. "The Cutaway." Booklist, 1 Feb. 2017, p. 24. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA481244778&it=r&asid=a4420b31af71d8860e2969d4d0facbd7.
Accessed 8 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A481244778
10/8/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1507506301844 2/3
The Cutaway
Publishers Weekly.
264.4 (Jan. 23, 2017): p57.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* The Cutaway
Christina Kovac. 37 Ink, $26 (320p) ISBN 9781-5011-4169-0
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Washington, D.C., TV producer Virginia Knight, the narrator of TV journalist Kovac's nail-biting first novel, takes an
interest in the case of a missing woman, attorney Evelyn Carney, who was last seen running out of a Georgetown
restaurant after a public fight with her husband. When Evelyn's body is found in a cove on the Maryland side of the
Potomac, Virginia applies her reporter instincts and nose for a good story to investigate the murder. Meanwhile, she's
beleaguered by Nick Mellay, a new manager at her station, who starts firing members of her staff and takes over her
job, supposedly temporarily. Still, she manages to follow leads from police commander Michael Ledger, an exboyfriend
of hers, and from Paige Linden, a law firm colleague of Evelyn's, which point toward Ian Chase, an assistant
U.S. attorney, as a person of interest. As Virginia starts uncovering information being withheld from the investigation
and irregularities in witness statements, she's left in doubt about whom to trust. Readers will want to see more of this
tenacious, lovable heroine. Agent: Dan Conaway, Writers House. (Mar.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"The Cutaway." Publishers Weekly, 23 Jan. 2017, p. 57. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA479714159&it=r&asid=de50bc8aab58fd00e56dd70a59c186e8.
Accessed 8 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A479714159
10/8/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1507506301844 3/3
Kovac, Christina: THE CUTAWAY
Kirkus Reviews.
(Jan. 15, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Kovac, Christina THE CUTAWAY 37 Ink/Atria (Adult Fiction) $26.00 3, 21 ISBN: 978-1-5011-4169-0
A TV news producer trails a missing woman into Washington, D.C.'s dark regions.Kovac, herself a TV news producer,
writes informatively and convincingly about newsroom procedures, conflicts, and subterfuges in this debut thriller.
Away from the studio, however, her hand is less steady. Virginia Knightly has a memory for images, and a photo of a
missing woman recalls a video cutaway she has seen. Troubled by the disappearance, Knightly unearths the video and
sets out to discover what has become of the woman. Complications, some relevant, beset her. In a power play disguised
as a cost-cutting move, she is demoted (this frees her to follow the missing person story) and the dreadful news director
brings in a bimbo. A former lover, who may be manipulating her to cover for someone, leads the police investigation;
her absent father reappears after 20 years, mortally ill. An assistant U.S. attorney is implicated, then cleared, and
eventually the trail leads to a pot of dark money intended to fund shady PACs. Not a bad premise, but incomplete
plotting--the dying father, for example, is never revisited; it seems he appears only to provide a mechanism to explain a
lost phone--and inconsistent characterization weaken the effort. And while any exploration of power and greed in
Washington offers opportunities to reflect on feminist concerns, Knightly's late assertion that she wanted to help "all
the lost women who are flung into a world vaguely hostile to them" isn't convincing. Not without some strengths, but it
takes more than a good newsroom to produce a good story.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Kovac, Christina: THE CUTAWAY." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Jan. 2017. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA477242497&it=r&asid=a12dbccf8344571ac2e7c366c8237be2.
Accessed 8 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A477242497
Quick Review: THE CUTAWAY by Christina Kovac (37Ink)
January 31, 2017
Civilian Reader Review
When brilliant TV news producer Virginia Knightly receives a disturbing “MISSING” notice on her desk related to the disappearance of a beautiful young attorney, she can’t seem to shake the image from her head. Despite skepticism from her colleagues, Knightly suspects this ambitious young lawyer may be at the heart of something far more sinister, especially since she was last seen leaving an upscale restaurant after a domestic dispute. Yet, as the only woman of power at her station, Knightly quickly finds herself investigating on her own.
Risking her career, her life, and perhaps even her own sanity, Knightly dives deep into the dark underbelly of Washington, DC business and politics in an investigation that will drag her mercilessly through the inextricable webs of corruption that bind the press, the police, and politics in our nation’s capital.
The Cutaway follows a television producer, as she investigates the disappearance of a beautiful Georgetown lawyer. Forced to navigate competing ambitions, entrenched Washington mentalities and suspicions, and maybe something deadlier, it’s an interesting look at the relationship and working practices of the media in Washington, D.C.
I enjoyed this novel quite a bit. I’m always interested in thrillers connected to the media and/or US politics. As a result, The Cutaway was on my must-read list as soon as I learned of it. What I found was a fast-paced novel, packed with interesting insights into the media industry, and the challenges that confront reporters and producers in D.C. There were shrewd observations about the near-obsession with secrecy, poor relations between departments and entities that are (supposedly) working together. Throw into this mix the police and their agendas, and a killer, and it all makes for a pretty good thriller.
I think the only thing that didn’t quite work was the balance between the personal and the case. Elements of the former often felt included because they are expected of the genre; while the latter sometimes took a back seat. As a result, I thought there were times when I wasn’t sure what was supposed to be most important. I think the case had far more potential, and perhaps could have benefitted from a longer novel — sometimes, it feels like we’re only getting the surface of the story. I would have welcomed more exploration of the various actors in D.C. I’m not suggesting that it had to be Richard North Patterson-levels of detail, but maybe some more on the way everyone works (or doesn’t) together.
At the same time, the personal relationships didn’t feel quite as developed as I would have liked — as a result, I never felt fully invested in Virginia’s personal life (although, the storyline related to her father was interesting). There were a few moments towards the end, therefore, that were maybe robbed of their emotional punch as a result. That being said, the characters were very well-drawn — the main protagonists, as well as side-characters all felt real, and Kovac avoided many genre clichés.
The Cutaway certainly shows a lot of promise, and I’m definitely looking forward to reading Kovac’s next novel. (A sequel to this would be great.) If you’re a fan of thrillers and crime fiction, or novels with a political element, I think you’ll find plenty to like here.
Set in the backdrop of Washington DC, and combines politics with the cut-throat business of nightly news coverage. TV executive producer Virginia Knightly is investigating the disappearance of Evelyn Carney, a recent law school graduate, working for a prestigious firm.
On the night in question, Evelyn had dinner out with her husband before leaving alone, after asking him for a divorce. She had received a text to meet someone, but never turned up. Although this was labelled just a missing person case, Virginia felt that more was a play.
Virginia is determined to find Evelyn, whether dead or alive. With evidence pointing to an affair with a politician, could she have left her husband and disappeared with her lover? With no activity on her bank account, credit cards, or mobile phone, Virginia believes the latter could have happened to her.
The question is, if Evelyn has been killed, or kidnapped, who would want to do something to a likeable young woman, and why? As the investigation intensifies, Virginia becomes more and more determined to solve the case, even if that means risking her own life in the process.
The Cutaway, is a thriller mixing politics, an in-depth missing persons investigation, and a determination to get exclusives for the nightly news show.
Virginia is a ruthless character. She knows what she wants, and once she has set her mind on something there is no stopping her. She doesn’t understand why she feels compelled to discover what happened to Evelyn, only that she can’t get her out of her head.
The book centres mainly on Virginia and her news team, anchorman Ben, and cameraman Isiah. But with falling ratings at the station, its not long before Virginia is given a demotion. But that just makes her more determined than ever. She needs all the exclusives on the case that she can get, and with her ex-boyfriend, Commander Michael Ledger leading the investigation, exclusives are not hard to come by.
The story has a few secondary plots running alongside the main disappearance investigation. One of those is that the news channel is in trouble, financially, as viewer rates are dropping. This means that cuts are being made. Nick Mellay, the station boss is a nasty piece of work, and I can understand, slightly, why the author felt the need to add this information, I just didn’t care for it. It added nothing to the story, which would have worked just as well without it, and to be brutally honest, Mellay annoyed the hell out of me!
It felt like, with the missing person case, the news channel in trouble, men issues, and her dad wanting a reunion after many years of being missing from her life, there were just too many things going on for Virginia, and these issues slowed down the pace of the book. A thriller needs a good pace throughout, otherwise the tension drops. Less is sometimes more, as the saying goes.
The whole book is exceptionally believable, and you can tell that Ms. Kovac used to work managing newsrooms, producing crime and politics cases. When I read that Ms. Kovac was had worked on the case of missing DC intern Chandra Levy, and having read up on the case, I realised that there were a lot of similarities between ‘The Cutaway’, and the true-life missing persons case. This didn’t spoil my enjoyment, though it did give me a big clue as to what had happened to Evelyn.
The book is gripping, it has you eager to know more, and a desire to stand shoulder to shoulder with Virginia, and work the case alongside her. It is a brilliant read, with plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing whether Evelyn is dead or alive. Plus it has an ending that I certainly didn’t predict. Ms. Kovac certainly knows how to keep her audience guessing.