While chasing a suspected stalker, LAPD Captain Dan Jarrett (who previously appeared in the author’s A Hunting We Will Go) catches a glimpse of a face he has not forgotten in seven years. Immediately, Jarrett switches his target and pursues Julio Vasquez, the man who murdered his friend and partner, into a TV talk show studio. While the camera rolls, Jarrett brutally beats Vasquez.

Meg Foley is hired to replace the teacher so tragically lost while on a class trip. The school is one of the most academically and economically advantaged in the state of New Jersey. In a short time, Meg becomes uneasy with her situation. Several of her students seem nervous and overwrought, a sympathetic science teacher is severely injured in a suspicious lab accident, and the school administration seems strangely hostile. Was Mrs. Wilkens’s death really an accident as believed by the police, or was the cause something more sinister? When Meg is terrorized, probably by some of her students, she calls her late father’s friend, Dan Jarrett.

As a result of the on-camera beating, it is deemed prudent for Jarrett to make himself scarce for a while. He agrees to travel to New Jersey to lend support to Meg, the daughter he promised his dying partner he’d look out for.

His investigation will uncover a hidden crime and secret perversions and will ultimately lead to even more violence.

This book will confirm the worst fears of every person who has ever believed that the lowest form of human life is a pre-teenaged boy. Rarely have I encountered so many underage characters with no redeeming social value.

In spite of the apparent juvenile wrong-doers, the mystery goes off onto several unexpected tangents. Readers who think they’ve figured it all out are in for a surprise.

The book’s biggest failing is its formulaic, by-the-numbers plotting. Of course, the beautiful young woman is going to be victimized by the evil villain. Of course, she’ll fall for the rough-edged but oh-so-masterful police captain. Of course, there’ll be red herrings galore. Of course, our hero will let nothing stop him in his crusade to discover the truth. Of course, there’ll be a climactic fight-to-the-death showdown. Of course, our hero will prevail in the end.

In the process, readers are shunted from one crisis to another. The book’s many short chapters, abrupt changes in focus, and minimal attention to character development make for a choppy reading experience. With so little to arouse the reader’s sympathies (my sentiments concerning those repulsive kids is anything but sympathetic), I could never become fully immersed in the story.

Over the Edge is an acceptable mystery, but it’s not one I can recommend.

--Lesley Dunlap