Book Review: On Edge

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

On Edge     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Barbara Fister
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Dell, Dec 2002, $6.50, 288 pp.

Konstantin Slovo just had to get away from the mess his life has become. A Chicago police detective, he and his partner were setup in a trap with Robin getting killed and Konstantin very badly injured. To make matters worse, Slovo’s gun was missing from the scene of the crime and he is being investigated to see if it was his gun that killed his partner. Without asking permission, he leaves Chicago for Maine where he becomes involved in another brutal investigation.

Three young girls over the last few months in Brimsport, Maine were abducted, sexually abused, and murdered. Slovo, through a strange set of circumstances, finds the latest body and immediately becomes under suspicion from a town that is on the verge of hysterical erupting. Vigilantes break into Konstantin’s room and try to beat a confession out of him, making Slovo all the more determined to find the perpetrator before another child is killed.

ON EDGE is a dark gritty noir novel that is graphic in violence and profanity. One has to feel sorry for the protagonist, a beleaguered honest police officer who has to defend himself from those who want to take him down, which seems to be everyone. The perpetrator is the last person anyone would suspect; thus makings this book better than most police procedural novels.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner