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The Edge

The Edge

List Price: $7.99
Your Price: $6.83
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Breaks cardinal rule of romantic fiction
Review: I opened the cover of Ms. Coulter's latest creation with my usual sense of excitment and anticipation. The prologue was vintage Coulter and I snuggled down in my chair, prepared for a nice exciting read. Imagine my surprise(and disappointed amazement)when I turned to the first chapter and realized that she had written this story in first person point of view! Worse still, it was written from the male point of view! This breaks the first cardinal rule of the romance genre - no first person, please! Quite frankly, her character, Ford "Mac" MacDougal, just isn't a strong enough character to intice me into his head, which is how first person works. I, as a reader, don't care enough about this man to want to know his every thought at the expense of everyone elses! What I want and expect from Ms. Coulter is an exciting story mixed with just the right blend of mystery, intrigue and romance. I don't find that here. What I do find is a story that lacks character intimacy because the thoughts and feelings of Laura Scott(the female protagonist)are blocked from the reader. In fact, this character isn't even mentioned in the fly leaf of the book! Imagine that! A romance novel in which the female point of view is deemed so unimportant that it is literally withheld from the reader! Excuse me? Is the new face of romantic fiction that of a man's? Curious, don't you think? Not only is the real world a man's world, but now the romance world is becoming a man's world! I'm sorry, but that is how I see this latest attempt by Catherine Coulter. As a reader, I have certain expectations. One of those expectations is that I live vicariously through the female character in the story. I can't do that if the thoughts of that character are kept from me. Romantic fiction doesn't work that way. When it does, it's called selfish and thoughtless and we, as women, have lived with that reality for eons. That's why we turned to romance novels in the first place! They give us the fantasy that eludes real life. But it's alittle hard to enjoy a fantasy when it is viewed entirely through a man's eyes!

Perhaps if Ms. Coulter had used this device in the other books of this series, I wouldn't have found it so jarring. But she didn't. Why the sudden change? Was Mac MacDougal such a strong character that his view point alone carried the story? Was Laura Scott's character so weak that she couldn't carry the story at all? Maybe there was something in the story itself(I can't imagine what)that precluded the third person voice. Or perhaps it's just a case of the author wanting to try something new at the expense of her readers. I guess only Ms. Coulter and her editor know for sure. As for me, I'll continue to plow through "The Edge", but I can't promise to like it much. I just hope that in the future, Ms. Coulter returns her female character to center stage. It's where she belongs.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Easy summer reading
Review: Fast paced and a bit far fetched, but still fun to read. This tale of four government agents tracking down a missing person and a possible drug operation in a close knit Oregon town. The villians in this summer soap opera are too one dementional and sterotype. But what the heck! Enjoy the ride! The plot moves along at a quick predicable pace. The ending is a bit abrupt and unsatisfying.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: DISAPPOINTING
Review: Catherine Coulter is definitely better than this. If I didnt know any better I'd say someone else wrote this book. If you want to read a good suspense novel by C.C., don't bother with this one, instead get one of her older books, either "The Cove" or "The Maze".

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: could not put this book down .
Review: I enjoyed this book tremendously.Am hooked on thrillers laced with good old romance.Sorry to say I have missed her previous book(The Target) and must get my hot little paws on a copy. I finished this book in two nights and finally had to put it down because my eyes were slowly closing.. Keep up this type of romance/thriller.Just loved it Carla Silver Toronto,Ontario Canada

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Worst Coulter Ever!
Review: If I hadn't read most of the other books Catherine Coulter has written, and loved them, I would be hard pressed to ever pick one up again.

Did someone else write that first half of the book? The whole thing was choppy and horribly edited, but the begining was far worse than the end. At one point Mac was at a deli with a woman. He ordered meatloaf and she ordered salad. Suddenly, he was served the salad, as if he had ordered it, and he ate it. Then, stuff about the meatloaf comes up, and it seems that he ordered that as well. Needless to say, I'm betting the woman he was with must have been crash dieting, because as far as I can figure she didn't ever eat a thing. Things like this crop up all throughout the book. (At one point he puts the lid of a toilet down while someone else is holding it across the room. Pretty talented.)

I also hated the poorly done 1st person perspective. Sometimes 1st person can be fun to read; this was not one such instance.

I do not recommend buying this book. If you really must read it, get it from a library, or go to a used bookstore (there will soon be plenty of copies there.) This sounds harsh, but I never would have gotten to the decent 2nd half if I hadn't been bored enough sitting at home to keep on ploughing through the first half.

Hopefully Coulter will try to write a new book next time rather than relying on previous characters to carry her work.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Terrible writing
Review: I'm really sorry, but the charm and skill of this writer completely elude me. I barely made it through one chapter of THE EDGE before tossing the book aside. I swear I'm not just trying to be mean, but I've seen better and more competent writing in an elementary school notebook. To each his own, but I remain baffled by the continued success of this author. Don't not buy this book because I didn't like it. Maybe you'll have better luck with it!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Coulter's best romantic suspense to date
Review: While recovering in Bethesda Naval Hospital from a terrorist incident, FBI agent Ford "Mac" Macdougal mentally connects with his sister Jilly as she drives her car over a cliff near Edgerton, Oregon. He learns the act is genuine and she is in a coma.

Mac goes to Oregon to see Jilly, who awakens soon after hearing his voice. However, while Jilly was comatose, Mac learns from her that she feels betrayed by someone named Laura. He finds out who Laura is and soon realizes she is an undercover DEA. When Jilly finally recovers, she almost immediately disappears. As Mac and Laura work together to discover the truth behind the marketing of a new illegal drug that makes people act crazy, they fall in love. However, he still has doubts about Laura due to the ramblings of his beloved sibling and another incident involving laced coffee.

Best selling author Catherine Coulter is renowned for her powerful romantic intrigue novels. Her current novel, THE EDGE, is an interesting tale starring two Feds struggling to trust one another even as the two law enforcement officials fall in love. The secondary cast augments the tale even though the villains seem a bit weak. Still, Ms. Coulter scores another big success with this story that takes readers to the edge.

Harriet Klausner

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Tremendous romantic intrigue
Review:

While recovering in Bethesda Naval Hospital from a terrorist incident, FBI agent Ford "Mac" Macdougal mentally connects with his sister Jilly as she drives her car over a cliff near Edgerton, Oregon. He learns the act is genuine and she is in a coma.

Mac goes to Oregon to see Jilly, who awakens soon after hearing his voice. However, while Jilly was comatose, Mac learns from her that she feels betrayed by someone named Laura.

Best selling author Catherine Coulter is renowned for her powerful romantic intrigue novels. Her current novel, THE EDGE, is an interesting tale starring two Feds struggling to trust one another even as the two law enforcement officials fall in love. The secondary cast augments the tale even though the villains seem a bit weak. Still, Ms. Coulter scores another big success with this story that takes readers to the edge.

Harriet Klausner

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: It worked - mostly
Review: I listened to the audiocassette version of this story (abridged) on a recent road trip.
I must say that the plot kept my attention, although it wasn't particularly original (a drug scandal and a DEA agent? go figure). There were definitely some holes in the details. Where did the second toilet seat come from, for example?
The dialogue was really weak, to the point of being hilarious in and of itself. After knowing the woman for just a few days, the hero professes his love, and his surprise at finding this woman he's been looking for all his life. She responds matter-of-factly with "I wasn't expecting this either." Charming.
The point of this book was to provide some drive time diversion, and it certainly did do that, even if the diversion was along the lines of laughing at the quality. Since it did at least provide that much diversion, I offer two stars.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Disappointed...
Review: I ordinarily really enjoy Coulter's books (as far-fetched as they may seem). But I had a terrible time getting into this one because it's written in first-person from the male perspective. That and the story just didn't interest me. I read the whole thing anyway (how can you not?), but this is not one that I will read again.


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