On the Edge [Hardcover]

C. E. Poverman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1997

Stay clean. Pay the bills. Keep the marriage together. Get the career off the ground. Frank August's is not your average laundry list--and Frank is not your average guy. He wants the White Picket Fence, but sometimes self-destruction is just too damn seductive. As soon as he passes the California bar, he'll become a lawyer, make six figures--sit on the other side of the desk for once. In the meantime, he's a San Francisco investigator, and he's just been handed a case that hits way too close to home.

Frank's old friend Ray has been hauled into jail on a major drug bust. Someone tipped off the DEA, and Frank's entanglement with Ray could have him behind bars, too. And as the pressure mounts to get to the bottom of Ray's case and make peace with his own complicated past, Frank teeters on the edge of a huge chasm--one which could pull him in and bring him down for good...

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Frank August is a 40-year-old legal investigator in San Francisco, working hard but not quite making it. If he could just pass the California bar exam, all his problems would be solved: he would be on the other side of the desk--one of those slick, rich guys who never pay Frank's bills on time or in full. Then he wouldn't have to worry so much, drink so much to ease his mind, or irritate his successful artist wife with his rampant angst and incipient failure. In his first mystery, heralded short story writer C. E. Poverman involves us so quickly and so deeply in Frank's dilemma that we even buy into the myth that practicing law can save your life. Frank is an inspired mess--good at his job but apparently crippled from childhood by a lack of judgement about himself and his friends. One of these, an upscale marijuana dealer named Ray Buchanan, brings all of Frank's strengths and failures into focus when he's arrested in a DEA sting operation.

From Library Journal

Overworked legal investigator Frank August isn't surprised that he failed his latest bar exam. He simply had no time to prepare. Next time will be different: Frank has given his life savings to his drug-dealing friend Ray, who promises huge returns on the investment, enough to enable Frank to take time off to study. But Frank panics when Ray's sensational bust makes front-page news and a left-wing defense attorney hires him to dig up some background information before the preliminary hearing. How long can he hide his own involvement? Frank turns to alcohol to steady his nerves, then vainly tries to keep the drinking, his lost savings, and his bar exam score a secret from his increasingly suspicious wife. After a nail-biting beginning, Poverman (Skin, Ontario Review Pr., 1992) abruptly changes his focus from the convoluted drug case to Frank's sordid personal life. Legal thriller fans will feel cheated by the book's surprisingly tame conclusion. For larger fiction collections only.?Edward B. St. John, Loyola Law Sch. Lib., Los Angeles
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 311 pages
• Publisher: Ontario Review Pr; 1st edition (May 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865380872
• ISBN-13: 978-0865380875
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,507,533 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Suspenseful, fast paced read., August 29, 2003

By 

John Willis "KosM" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On the Edge (Mass Market Paperback)

I have read many, many thrillers and law novels and "On the Edge" is one of my favorites. It has been a year since I read it and various lines and scenes from the novel still come to me. It is not depressing but a mystery type thriller. The characters have real flaws that I found intriguing. I particularly enjoyed the "friendship" between the drugdealer and Frank August. Overall its a great read. 5 stars.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PHENOMENAL, November 20, 1999

By 

Carol Haas - See all my reviews

This review is from: On the Edge (Mass Market Paperback)

One of the best books I've read in a long time. Once you start reading it, there's no putting it down.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars well done, October 20, 2004

By 

Kirk Alex - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On the Edge (Hardcover)

Nice job all around. Apparantly the author worked as a P.I.
for a while back in his past, etc., and it shows. I think he ought to consider writing another Frank August adventure.

As far as that one reviewer giving this a single star...totally
unfair.

This is not a hack work. Recommended.