Review: Cutout: White Knight Dark Knight by Don Helmig & Scott Robertson

Following the prophetic writing of Cutout: Government Conspiracy, authors Don Helmig and Scott Robertson have expanded this series with Cutout: White Knight Dark Knight. Diving deeper into the global cabal of shadowy powers directing us towards doom, this dystopian allegory is frighteningly timely, given the state of the world.

With events set after the pandemic our real world has yet to handle, this is a near-future horror story of China’s rise to global power, and the struggles of an American president facing mounting pressure from all sides. From exploding lake houses and murderous Aussie intelligence agents to delicate moments of personal resilience and intricate schemes on an international scale, this is a non-stop ride of a novel, demonstrating the authors’ storytelling flexibility.

Mirroring the perpetual chaos of our present reality, this novel ups the ante even further, predicting what an imminent global downfall could look like. It reads like a 007 movie script, at times, and could certainly do well on the big screen. Every scene seems to move along at a feverish pace, including a great deal of procedural action and tiny pieces being placed into a larger puzzle.

The writing has the gritty tone of a thriller, without an excess of flowery prose, and the sentence structures are varied, effective, and suspenseful. The narration tends to come in large chunks, which can get monotonous, particularly if the scene could better progress the plot through dialogue. The authors don’t take advantage of these long passages for extensive or unique character development, relying instead on fairly simplistic prose. Additionally, the conversations between characters are unnatural; exposition-laden dialogue is far from realistic, and it is a common trend in the interactions.

The pace can be exhilarating, with something important on every page, but it also can rob the writing of many emotional peaks and valleys. The story moves along at a rapid clip, and while the stakes are astronomically high, as far as the plot goes, the writing fails to capture that same intensity. Tense moments are often undercut by the narrator explicitly telling readers what is happening or what a character is thinking.

On a technical level, there are many areas that could use polishing; there is repetitive language throughout, often within a few lines of each other, various typos and misspelled words, run-on sentences, awkward syntax, and grammatical errors. Complex thrillers like this can be expected to have a lot of characters, but some figures seem unnecessary, populating scenes that feel redundant or tangential. Some chapter endings achieve a cliff-hanger feel, but others fall short, sometimes even interrupting a climax or closing with a heavy-handed line. The chapter titles also vary from dramatic to clichéd, and could do with more consistency or creativity.

Though the plot is original and carefully crafted, Helmig and Robertson should improve the execution, pacing, and narrative authenticity. That said, the big picture of this series is undeniably ambitious and addictive, making it a great rabbit hole for political readers and fans of conspiracy fiction.