Customer Reviews

On the Edge

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4 star:		(1)
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You can't really call this book a mystery because there's never any doubt about who's doing what to whom. It's more of a light psychological novel.

Rose and Antonia, former WW II plotters, (so named because they plotted the locations of troops on giant maps) meet a few years after the war and begin plotting again, this time to rid themselves of different enemies - their ill-chosen husbands. Rose married philandering Wing Commander Barry Bell, probably because he'd slept with nearly everyone but her, while Antonia chose Hector, a Czech manufacturing magnate into whose fat wallet she smacked during a rush for cover in an air raid shelter. After a few years of married life, each woman has decided that she'd like something else. While Antonia craves Vic, a sexy science lecturer bound for Princeton, Rose wants only to be without the abusive, niggardly Barry. Since neither can divorce (Antonia will lose access to Hector's money and Rose will lose her vicar father's respect), murder seems the only option.

Antonia suggests this and Rose agrees because, in her mind, Barry deserves to die for regularly cheating on her, lying to her, and fathering a child with another woman. It's not really murder, after all, more like extermination of vermin. When Antonia arranges for Barry to fall under a tube train, Rose is relieved until she realizes that she now has to uphold her end of the bargain, namely, by killing kind, gentle, wealthy Hector, whom she has come to like and respect.

At this point, there begin a few unexpected plot twists concerning Antonia's real aim and past extermination history, but generally, the book follows a logical sequence of events. It's only weaknesses concern just how much disbelief one is expected to suspend about things like death certificates and Croyden bomb sites.

It's a clever little book, not too deep, a good afternoon's read. For some, it may call to mind Highsmith's "Strangers on a Train", but I found it lighter and wittier. I bought it after seeing it adapted on Mystery! called "Dead Gorgeous" with the always excellent Fay Ripley as downtrodden Rose. While having seen the show might spoil it for some people, it didn't for me, as there are significant differences between the two, most notably, the ending. Although I don't believe it's the best example of Lovesey's talent, it will not disappoint.

I was looking for a new English mystery novelist to read and this exceeded my expectations. It is not a mystery where you try to figure out "who did it?" at the end, but all through the book there a twists and turns and you are never sure what the outcome will be until you actually finish the book. Once I started reading this book, I had to read it through. I will be reading another Lovesey mystery soon!

This is a good introduction to this author. It made me want more.

I believe one hallmark of good fiction is when you can say: yes, the protagonist was wrong to have done what she did, but oh I still wanted her to make it and to escape the consequences.

This story is a good spin on the "Strangers on a Train" scheme in which two people do the dirty work for each other. Unfortunately only one person tends to be serious about proceeding with matters. The result is that the other party gets drawn further and further into a nightmarish web with no good way of extricating herself.

Peter Lovesey is an exceptionally gifted writer. If you have never read his books before, I would encourage you to give this novel a try. So far as his fiction goes, you may find yourself getting hopelessly sucked in :)