"The Cutaway"

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 Washington, 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, Kovac left television to start a writing career. Now she writes psychological thrillers set in Washington, DC.

Kovac applied the Page 69 Test to The Cutaway, her debut novel, and reported the following:

From page 69:

The conference room was crowded. Ben was at the far end of the table, his head down with his ball cap flipped backward, scribbling dark lines across his reporter pad. Nelson slouched next to him, chin on palm, half asleep. In my chair was the blond beauty queen from the lobby the day before.

“We haven’t met,” I said.

She took my hand. “Heather Buchanan.”

“You’re new, so you probably don’t realize you’re in my chair.”

“There are others,” she said, looking through me.

She had TV starlet written all over her, and I was pretty sure, Mellay wrapped around her finger. Maybe I couldn’t help my meeting being stolen by Mellay, but I’d damn well keep my seat at the table.

This is the beginning of Chapter 10, a catch-up chapter. The reader has just come from a chapter with a lot of information about the case of a missing woman, and now, the main character sorts through it with her news team. What’s interesting is that while there’s no plot movement, but the attitudes and motivations that create the plot are apparent: The Cutaway takes place in Washington DC, a city that seethes with ambitious people constantly maneuvering for position, trying to take or hold onto their place at the table, and where it’s very easy to lose everything very quickly. There are a lot of nasty tricks. And it’s also a place where people in politics, law enforcement, and media are willing to use the disappearance of a missing woman to further their career goals. Of course, there’s still that person who cares about the truth and is willing to fight for it. That’s Virginia Knightly.

Visit Christina Kovac's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Cutaway.

--Marshal Zeringue