Jen Shaw has climbed all her life: daring ascents of sheer rock faces, crumbling buildings, cranes – the riskier the better. Both her work and personal life revolved around it. Until she went too far and hurt the people she cares about. So she’s given it all up now. Honestly, she has. And she’s checked herself into a rehab centre to prove it.
Yet, when Jen awakens to find herself drugged and dangling off the local lighthouse during a wild storm less than twenty-four hours after a ‘family emergency’ takes her home to Cornwall, she needs all her skill to battle her way to safety.
Once safe, the real challenge begins. Jen must face her troubled past in order to figure out whether something triggered a relapse to this risky behaviour, or if there is a more sinister explanation hidden in her hometown. Only when she has navigated her fragmented memories and fraught relationships will she be able to piece together what happened – and trust herself to fix it.
On The Edge is a cracking atmospheric thriller which kicks off with a bang and doesn’t really let up. Set in Cornwall, the story features Jenifry Shaw, ace climber and risk-taker, fresh out of rehab following an accident involving her friends which she blames herself for.
She’s summoned back to the family home and reluctantly returns, only to find herself drugged and dangling from the edge of a lighthouse in a storm. Who put her there? Did she relapse and take things too far?
Before too long she finds herself digging into the mysteries surrounding her family and her supposed abduction. Who is the mysterious stranger who rescued her on the road from the lighthouse? What’s going on with her brother and his wife?
I’ll leave that for you to find out, dear reader. Suffice it to say that On The Edge is an impressive thriller by a debut author, with a taut plot, brilliant location (I love Cornwall) and a cast of characters that you’ll end up suspecting and forgiving and suspecting again. It’s a tribute to Jesmond’s plotting that it kept me guessing most of the way through the book.
Deliciously twisty, full of suspense and action. Strap yourself in!
On the Edge by Jane Jesmond is published by Verve Books and is out now. Many thanks to the publisher and to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in the blog tour.
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