by Kate Horan
Publisher: Harper Collins Australia
Reviewer: Carol Woeltjes
I cannot stress how on the edge I felt when reading On the Edge. As soon as I followed Nel into her hometown of Carrinya, I felt it. The atmosphere was tense and filled with foreboding. Watching Nel move around town I could feel the whispers and finger-pointing, I fully understood why she left, even though I didn’t yet know what had happened.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Nel, our protagonist, is a GP who is summoned back to the town she grew up in after the sudden death of her father. She has not been back for a long time, because 16 years ago her best friend died in suspicious circumstances and Nel was the last known person to see her alive and, well, the community needed someone to blame.
Nel’s reluctance to return to Carrinya was focused on her pain and the diligent avoidance of its cause, but an encounter with a patient while running her father’s GP clinic leads her to start pushing back. What if that upstanding member of the community lied all those years ago and continues to lie today? Did the police really do a thorough job investigating? Where is the ring? So many questions.
From the beginning I felt like I could trust Nel, she is such an authentic, yet slightly damaged person, that I wanted to be there for her and to shout at her when I felt like her biases were clouding her judgements. But it wasn’t just Nel’s biases that were a problem, my own were as well. Kate Horan very successfully manipulated me into making assumptions rather than await the evidence. Now I’m not going to tell you anymore, that would give away too much, but beware your own blinkers.
For me On the Edge was extra engrossing because of the relationships between the characters. They all struck me as real, whether they were between siblings, friends or parents. I could feel the unspoken pain that clouds their interactions, along with their fears and hopes, it almost hurt to witness some of the exchanges.
Horan’s skill shines through in this compelling read, not only does she explore subjects like coercive control and domestic violence with sensitivity, she had me desperate to know what happened all those years ago, and had me careening off in the wrong direction while hoping all the people I had come to care about were going to be okay. On the Edge is phenomenal, it will have you on the edge of your seat—sorry couldn’t help it.
Publishers blurb
A homecoming will shake this small town to its very foundations. The taut new mystery from the bestselling author of The Inheritance, perfect for readers of Sally Hepworth and Liane Moriarty.
Desperate people do desperate things…
Sixteen years ago, teenage Maddie Marshall’s body was found on a desolate beach near her hometown, Carrinya. Vibrant, feisty Maddie was the only daughter of a high-profile politician. The case was the talk of the town but was ultimately never solved.
Nel Foley, daughter of the town doctor and Maddie’s best friend, was the last known person to see her alive, and the Carrinya rumour mill was vicious. Nel fled the town and has never been back. Until now.
Now a 32-year-old city GP, Nel returns after her father’s sudden death, determined to get in and out as quickly as possible. Begrudgingly, she agrees to run his clinic for a few weeks, but during that time she meets local mum Sophie Warner and that changes everything.
Sophie’s husband Ryan, a prominent local real estate agent, was Maddie’s boyfriend and Nel is certain he played a role in her death. When Nel discovers that Ryan is not the loving husband and father that he seems, she decides she must prove what he did all those years ago. But as she starts to unravel the past, she discovers the truth is far more complex than she could have imagined.
A twisty, suspenseful mystery about the desperate things people do when they’re on the edge.