The Cut-Out

The true story of how British journalist Jon King was groomed, recruited and used as a 'cut-out' by MI6 in the operation that led to Princess Diana's death, and the cover-up that followed. Fast-paced, chilling, and terrifyingly true.CUT-OUT: A mechanism or person(s) used to pass information from one agent to another. An intermediary. A go-between. A courier. In more general terms a cut-out is a person or agency used as an unwitting pawn by intelligence services. LOGLINE: When The American called me up and said he wanted to talk, I never imagined he would tell me what he did: that someone of global renown, "within days from now," would be assassinated, and that the assassination would be made to look like an 'accident'. Why tell me? A front-line conspiracy journalist? I didn't know. And quite frankly I didn't believe him, either-until a week later, when the 'accident' happened. That's when the nightmare began... SYNOPSIS: Britain in the nineties was obsessed with the X-Files. The high street was awash with X-Files-style magazines, and as senior editor of the most popular one on the market I was accustomed to receiving phone calls from anonymous sources, most offering what they claimed was 'inside information' about some or other military or government cover-up. So when The American called me up and told me he wanted to talk, that he was a former Special Forces Green Beret, a CIA runner, and that the information he had was best not divulged over the telephone, I took it in my stride. We arranged to meet. Nothing unusual in that. What was unusual, though, was what The American told me, not at our first meeting, but at a subsequent meeting some months later. On this occasion he said he'd been made aware of an imminent prime-target assassination, that "one of the most prominent figures on the world stage" was about to be taken out, "within days from now." Though he claimed he was unable to reveal specifically who the target was, he described them as a "loose cannon on the world stage" and said the event would be "bigger than Kennedy." "Watch the news networks," he said. "You'll know who it is soon enough." He added: "The media will tell you it was an accident. You'll know it wasn't." I came away not knowing if I'd been fed a line or let in on the world's darkest, most terrible secret. And I had no way of finding out, either, other than to wait, and watch the news. I didn't have to wait long. Because a week later the news told me that Princess Diana had been killed in a highly suspicious car crash in Paris-"an accident." At which point the terrifying truth kicked in. What The American had told me was true, I all at once realised. The assassination he'd forewarned me about had happened. Of course, at this stage I had no idea I'd been set up. Only that I'd been told something I wished I'd never been told. And that, because I had, I now faced the most terrifying challenge of my life... WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: "Compelling, intensely personal throughout - and terrifyingly true - The Cut-Out is probably the most important spy novel I've ever read." Richard Collins, Onside Review." This really is a remarkable story, brilliantly told. For the first time I can now understand exactly how and why Princess Diana could have been murdered." Amazon UK reader." If you only read one book in your lifetime let it be this one." Amazon US reader.

Jon King is the bestselling author of ’Princess Diana: The Hidden Evidence’ and ’Princess Diana: The Evidence’, both written with co-author John Beveridge and published by SPI Books New York. As well as being an author he is also a journalist, screenwriter and music producer. He lives with his wife in Somerset, England.