The Face on the Cutting Room Floor
by (Ernest Borneman writing as) Cameron McCabe
1937
2/5 stars
Going into this novel, it's best to know as little as possible about the plot, so as to preserve the surprises. The premise is that the book's author, Cameron McCabe, is narrating his experiences in the investigation of the murdered of an actress. After McCabe's manuscript ends, an epilogue follows, written by another character in the drama.
This book starts off at a frantic pace, pushed on by a stream-of-consciousness-narrative that doesn't always make sense and rarely stops for breath during McCabe's portion. Borneman does an admirable job of giving the epilogue author a distinctive voice, and that portion feels entirely different, though it felt entirely too long. There are many twists and turn in this bizarre and original mystery, but it was impossible for me to enjoy the story due to McCabe's prose.* The brief wrap up of the plot was too abrupt and, anyway, by then I was just so relieved to be nearly finished that the ending fizzled instead of shocked.
*Note: I say this as a fan of earlier stream-of-consciousness authors such as Woolf. It's not the style Borneman chose that is the problem -- it's his execution of it.
