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Click here to buy Alison Reynolds is in her mid 40s, an age that places her at risk of replacement in the television news industry. Having won her job years before when another 40-something female news anchor was released by the network, Alison should have seen it coming when her boss approaches her with the news that she’s being let go. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, though, especially since Alison’s husband Paul works for the same network and was apparently privy to news of the firing before Alison was told. Alison’s displeasure with Paul turns to anger when soon after leaving the station, she learns that her husband is having an affair with a network secretary. Alison hires both a divorce attorney and a lawyer specializing in age and sex discrimination cases before packing her bags and taking off for her parents’ home in Sedona, Arizona, along with her college-aged son Christopher. Alison arrives in Sedona a day after the death of a childhood friend. Reenie Bernard had recently been diagnosed with ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Found in her car after a plunge off a snowy mountain road, Reenie is assumed to have committed suicide. Alison doesn’t believe her friend would take that way out of her troubles. She immediately begins questioning Reenie’s family members and co-workers, convinced there’s information being withheld from the police. After moving into her dead aunt’s doublewide trailer with Christopher, Alison goes to work in her parents' café as a waitress. There she meets Dave Holman, a friend from high school who’s now a policeman in Sedona. She shares her doubts about Reenie’s death with Dave, who promises to look into the matter more deeply. She also takes up blogging after Christopher sets her up with an Internet site. On the blog she talks about her firing, Reenie’s death, ALS, and unfaithful husbands. Hundreds of fans respond to her daily comments after the subject turns to spousal abuse, with one woman actually taking Alison’s advice to leave her husband. When Alison learns that Reenie’s husband has a girlfriend on the side, she begins to suspect he murdered his wife. She continues to ask questions and eventually discovers a clue that leads to the killer’s identity. JA Jance is the talented author of the JP Beaumont and Joanna Brady novels. Both series have met with much success in the mystery field, but Jance now turns to a new protagonist, one that may or may not turn into a series character. Given the quality of this novel, one hopes that EDGE OF EVIL is a standalone. The book features a rambling style of writing with way too much paper wasted on blog comments made by Alison and her readers. Jance seems obsessed with ALS, dishing out so much information on the subject that one begins to wonder if she had personal reasons for giving Reenie this disease. The same can be said for spousal abuse, which becomes a sub-plot totally unrelated to Reenie’s death. Jance leaves a lot of threads hanging at the end, not the least of which is Alison’s relationship with Dave Holman, that makes this reviewer think the author plans further tales featuring the ex-reporter. One only hopes they’re crafted in the tighter manner of her previous work. Kris Faulkner did an excellent job of reading this audio version of EDGE OF EVIL, but even her talent can’t pull the book away from the edge of disaster.
Reviewed by Mary V. Welk, December 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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