Torn from the front lines of medical debate and the author's own experience with Lyme Disease, Over the Edge is riveting fiction, full of twists and turns—and powerful truths about today's medical field.
Janessa McNeil’s husband, Dr. Brock McNeil, a researcher and professor at Stanford University's Department of Medicine, specializes in tick-borne diseases—especially Lyme. For years he has insisted that Chronic Lyme Disease doesn't exist. Even as patients across the country are getting sicker, the committee Brock chairs is about to announce its latest findings—which will further seal the door shut for Lyme treatment.
One embittered man sets out to prove Dr. McNeil wrong by giving him a close-up view of the very disease he denies. The man infects Janessa with Lyme, then states his demand: convince her husband to publicly reverse his stand on Lyme—or their young daughter will be next.
But Janessa's marriage is already rocky. She's so sick she can hardly move or think. And her husband denies she has Lyme at all.
Welcome to the Lyme wars, Janessa.
Endorsements/Reviews:
" . . . a taut, heartbreaking thriller . . . Collins is a fine writer who knows how to both horrify readers and keep them turning pages. She'll gain new readers with this one . . ."
Publishers Weekly
"Over the Edge provides validation to any person who suffers from the long-term effects of Lyme Disease. While the story is based on Ms. Collins' own life experience, she builds a tense and dramatic novel that illustrates how a person can fall into the web of misdiagnosis and ineffective treatment."
New York Journal of Books
"This book stayed with me long after I put it down. Not only was it a page-turner, but the storyline about Lyme Disease was fascinating and eye-opening. I think Over the Edge will raise awareness about this horrible disease, and validate those who suffer with it."
Terri Blackstock, author of Predator and Intervention
"A frightening and all-too-real scenario. Very timely and meaningful book." (4 stars)
RT Book Reviews
"Over the Edge is an excellent mystery. [It] actively portrays the patient with the myriad symptoms seen in acute or chronic Lyme."
Dr. Nick S. Harris, president/CEO, IGeneX, Inc.
"Brandilyn Collins continues to impress . . . From start to finish, Over the Edge is a fantastic, multi-faceted novel."
The Christian Manifesto
"Five stars! Highly recommended: A real life witch-hunt scarier than any vampire or zombie tale . . . the parts of the book laying out spiritual phenomena were excellent, indeed among the best I've read."
Your Shelf Life
"Thrilling medical suspense . . . Over the Edge pits science against truth and will render readers shocked at what they learn."
Fresh Fiction
"Deep characters, an amazing plot . . . an absolute must read."
Read Great Fiction
"In this thrilling tale of vengeance . . . the pace is relentless, the suspense ramping up to greater levels as the pages fly by."
Mysterious Reviews
"The suspense is great! Reading a fictional tale about what every maligned, marginalized, and misunderstood Lyme patient has dreamt about in their darkest hours is such a huge mental come-uppance . . . a novel that hits a bull's eye in safely channeling the frustrations of the entire community of Lyme patients."
SpiroChicks.com
"This is my first Collins book; however it won't be my last! Her warm writing, true-to-life characterizations, compelling plot lines and taut suspense have made me a fan!"
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Over the Edge: A Novel
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Book Description
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About the Author
Brandilyn Collins is a best-selling novelist known for her trademark Seatbelt Suspense®. She is a three-time American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year Award winner and has also received Inspirational Readers' Choice and Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice honors. The Writer magazine named her nonfiction release, Getting into Character, among 2002's best books on writing. Brandilyn and her family have homes in California and Idaho.
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More About the Author
Brandilyn Collins is an award-winning and best-selling novelist, writing her trademarked Seatbelt Suspense®--fast-paced, character-driven suspense with myriad twists and an interwoven thread of faith. She also has written the distinctive book on fiction-writing techniques, Getting Into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn From Actors (John Wiley & Sons).
You can read excerpts from all her books at her Web site: www.brandilyncollins.com.
You can read excerpts from all her books at her Web site: www.brandilyncollins.com.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Buckle your seatbelt and head Over The Edge,
By
This review is from: Over the Edge: A Novel (Paperback)
Brandilyn Collins is my favorite suspense author. I read her books not only for the awesome stories but to enjoy her amazing writing. Her books are truly "Seatbelt suspense," and she takes her readers for a wild ride through plot-line twists and turns. If you like suspense, you'll love Brandilyn's books.
Over The Edge, was personal. A tick bite in 1999 started a spiraling decline in my health. As my body fell apart, twenty-three doctors resulted in twenty-three opinions. I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, lupus, and other equally worrisome diseases. Not until 2006 did we find the true culprit -- Lyme Disease. By that time, the disease was well rooted in my system. Even as every blood test confirmed my immune system remained horribly affected, and I was termed chronically ill, most doctors were either clueless or refused to believe Chronic Lyme Disease existed. I had just entered the Lyme Wars. Over The Edge is a must-read for suspense lovers as well as anyone who has encountered Lyme Disease. Suspense lovers and Lyme sufferers, buckle your seat belts and head Over The Edge. Over the Edge: A Novel
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Saving people from going over the edge,
By
This review is from: Over the Edge: A Novel (Paperback)
Janessa McNeil, Jannie to her friends, had a perfect life: married to a highly respected research physician, mother to a loving nine year old daughter, and living in such a protected community there was little need to set home alarms unless one left on vacation. But something has changed. Jannie, though seldom sick has had the flu for three weeks and wonders aloud if she might have Lyme's Disease. She only thinks to ask because her husband, Brock, is one of the most respected Lyme's researchers in the country. Then comes a day that she falls in the kitchen and later receives a fateful phone call from a mad man; he has secretly infected her with an extremely virulent form of Lyme's and she has 48 hours to change her husband's position on the reality of chronic Lyme's disease.
In Over the Edge, Brandliyn Collins brings us yet another installment of her Seatbelt Suspense with an intensely personal spin. For those who don't know, Collins had her own encounter with Lymes and knows first-hand the battle those who suffer from it must face not only from the disease itself but from a medical community that for all too long refused to acknowledge the disease even existed in any chronic form. Her understanding of the disease and empathy with those stilling fighting in the trenches of the Lyme Wars bleed through on every page. Over the Edge does something that few novels successfully accomplish. It keeps the suspense clock ticking in a situation that can often seem endless. Any battle with a disease like Lymes has its dramatic moments but is also filled with tedium few could tolerate. There are hours in physician's waiting rooms that often lead to yet more hours in some other waiting room. Batteries of hospital tests are initially filled with nervous anxiety. After that, the poking and prodding and even the pain meld into mind-numbing sameness. Each day becomes like the day before until time all but losses any meaning. So how to maintain the intensity Collins is known for? That is accomplished through a deadline to meet, a villain to confront, and a husband who doubts the severity of Jannie's illness. Suspense is Collins' game and she doesn't abandon it in the process of relating the very real facts about this crippling and frustrating disease. There is still a bad guy to worry about and seek to understand. Collins uses a technique from her other novels by contrasting the 3rd person detachment of the tortured antagonist with the 1st person immediacy of the plight of Jannie McNeil. Though the villain claims his actions are to change people's minds he is so anchored to the past he is a prisoner to it. Jannie, on the other hand, is locked in battle for the now. Just. One. More. Breath. Just. One. More. Step. And, there is nothing more immediate for Jannie than simply trying to remember what the next word is she needs to say. The result is an unknown enemy threatening from a distance and an ever more terrifying enemy that is present with every breath Jannie takes. If you know someone fighting a chronic disease, if you are that person, if you just like a good story, read this novel of suspense from Brandilyn Collins. It entertains in a way you will forget you are being taught and teaches in a way you'll be thankful it was more than entertainment.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly recommended: A real life witch-hunt scarier than any vampire or zombie tale,
By
This review is from: Over the Edge: A Novel (Paperback)
In Over the Edge, Brandilyn Collins tackles the natural human tendency to attack those least able to defend themselves. This goes along with the propensity to blame innocent people for their disabilities. In the old days, this tendency expressed itself in witch-hunts. Now we see it with cries to balance public budgets by cutting support to mothers and children.
Collins points out a new form of persecution: The unwillingness of influential portions of the medical profession to acknowledge that Lyme disease can have long-term debilitating effects. The refusal has resulted in insurance companies cutting off payments for long-term treatment. Some doctors who have continued to treat chronic cases of Lyme have lost their licenses. It's such a crazy scenario to anyone who's seen people suffering from chronic Lyme disease that it seems like something out of Kafka. Yet it's true. Collins' fights the insanity around Lyme disease with an imaginative, totally believable story that thrills as it imparts information. I could have read about the disease for days without understanding its impact on those who have it. When I see her main character, Janessa McNeil, struggling to get off the floor in her own kitchen or trying to remember a few words, I get it. The plot is complex, fine-tuned and surprising. Collins' writing is simple and elegant. It conveys the emotional impact of the disease powerfully. Heroine Janessa McNeil presents herself as a strong woman in the direst circumstances. I'm not going to say anything more about the plot; I don't want to spoil its surprises. In writing Over the Edge, Brandilyn Collins neatly handles a couple of potential writing snafus that drive me nuts. The book is sited in Palo Alto, CA, the Stanford Medical Center, and the vicinity. I lived in Palo Alto for six years and in towns within twenty minutes of it for most of my life. I've been treated in Stanford Hospital several times; I've worked at Stanford University. When an author locates a book in an area I know well, I want to feel like I'm back on my home turf, driving down the streets with her as she describes the scene. I want to feel a jolt of recognition when the landscape and sociological terrain is depicted accurately. Some authors make mistakes that any local resident will pick up, citing highway names incorrectly and portraying routes that don't exist. That inaccuracy makes me doubt the writer and the story. Collins gets it right. I felt like I was cruising down El Camino Real as she describes Palo Alto's major thoroughfare. I felt secure with the book's deftly handled details and relaxed into the story. I was not aware that Collins was a Christian writer when I began this book. As a Christian and a writer, I have strong feelings about the way Christianity and spirituality are portrayed. I hate it when a writer takes me 300 pages into a novel only to turn the book into a vehicle for talking about Jesus. That feels like a con. Just as bad are "spiritual" authors who have angels, devils, miracles, and divine interventions hopping out on every other page. That's doesn't fit my religious experience at all. Collins's description of her character's interior state as she reaches for the Bible is absolutely spot on. The way Janessa uses Scriptural passages and holds on to particular words or phrases in her despair fits my experience. I felt the parts of the book laying out spiritual phenomena were excellent, indeed among the best I've read. Why would physicians behave like this? Brandilyn Collin's book shows us a few compelling reasons: professional jealousy, excessive ambition, and the desire for professional advancement. Financial gain if a vaccine or treatment that solves "the real problem" can be created. Or maybe it's just plain viciousness and evil. Sandy Nathan The Angel & the Brown-eyed Boy (Tales from Earth's End)
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