Audible announces new thriller from Armitage

Audible has announced The Cut, the second fiction title written by actor Richard Armitage.

Robin Morgan-Bentley, director, originals and acquisitions at Audible, acquired world English audio rights from James Gill at United Agents.

In The Cut, which will be released as an Audible Original in 2024, listeners are welcomed to Barton Mallet, a remote village in the Midlands that has been chosen as the unlikely location for a new feature film from Hollywood producer Max Crow.

Teenagers from the local drama group are encouraged to audition for a story about the trials and tribulations of growing up. Benjamin Knot, the c.e.o. of a well-known architecture firm, discovers that his children, Lily and Nathan, have each been offered a role.

But Barton Mallet has a deep wound that has never truly healed. Once upon a time, the notorious Cheney End, a secret trail leading to Blackstone Mill, was the scene of a brutal murder. The synopsis goes on: “A young girl was killed, and a group of school friends had their lives shattered. One of them went to prison. Thirty years later, the truth of what really happened in Barton Mallet is dragged out of the dark and brought into sharp focus. Committed to film...forever.”

Aurelie De Troyer, Audible head of content UK and Canada, said: “Following the success of Richard’s debut novel Geneva, we are delighted that he has chosen to release his second novel, The Cut, as an Audible Original, available in audio before any other format. The concept for this one is truly chilling, and we can’t wait to bring Richard’s dark imagination to life with a full soundscape.”

Armitage, whose previous novel Geneva was first released as an Audible Original before being picked up by Faber, commented: “I’m thrilled to be releasing my second novel as an Audible Original, given my longstanding relationship with them as a narrator and now as an author. The Cut is a story of misplaced adolescent obsession and the damaged roots that reach from the past into the present. It’s my new passion project.”

Geneva was shortlisted for the British Book of the Year in the Audiobooks: Fiction category.