Final Cut

Bastei Lübbe
, Paperback, 447 pages
First Release: 05/18/2012

ISBN: 978-3-404-16687-9

Thriller – Final Cut

You have 438 friends on Facebook. And one enemy. The friends are virtual; the enemy is real.
He will look for you, find you, and kill you.
You have 438 friends on Facebook. And not one of them will notice.

A killer who operates like a computer virus: ubiquitously, invisibly. Stephan Schwarz, who calls himself The Nameless One, murdered his sister out of envy when she had her first boyfriend at age fifteen. For years he has been driven by the idea of sacrificing 15 other women who resemble her closely as a way to atone for his deed. Schwarz is a computer whiz and has found a way to select and track down the right victims using online resources, particularly networking and dating websites. The nameless killer assumes the identity of men he meets at gay SM chat rooms, visits, and then murders. As a result, the homicide squad and chief detective Clara Vidalis are not even close to picking up the trail of the actual killer and constantly chasing perpetrators who are long dead. Just as the murderer is terrorizing the entire city of Berlin with his unseen, Web-supported killing spree, media mogul Albert Torino of Integrated Entertainment launches a new star-search format called She-Bay. Viewers can use an online auction platform to choose their favorite females who are then cast in the show. The person who chooses the right favorites gets to spend the night with the winner. While critics are still ranting about having the broadcast banned, Clara gets wind of the killer’s horrible plan. The Nameless One has kidnapped Elvira, the show’s top model, and intends to stream the murder of his 15th victim live on the Internet. Rescuing Elvira becomes a sacred mission for Clara. She herself lost her six-year-old sister to a child molester when she forgot to pick up the girl one evening after music school. She has been tortured by nightmares and guilt feelings ever since. Due to a shared history of which Clara suspects nothing, the killer has chosen the chief detective to witness his string of murders and in the end absolve him of his guilt.
For Clara it’s do or die. The invisible, ruthless slayer appears dangerous enough to threaten her life, but if she succeeds in tricking him and saving Elvira, she could free herself of remorse forever.

  • a highly topical subject; the dangers of social networks
  • uses “first-hand” forensic details; the author was advised by the director of the Institute for Forensic Medicine at Berlin’s Charité Hospital
  • the reader receives spectacular insights into police investigation work à la CSI
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