The Edge by Lucy Goacher
Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense
Read: 9th February 2023
Published: 1st November 2022
★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
Sometimes it’s easier to believe the lie. But is the truth right in front of you?
Everyone says Poppy jumped. My beautiful, creative sister, with her paint-splattered dresses and sunshine smile, took her own life. And I think they’re right. Until the day I get a call from a man with a very similar story.
Everyone says his sister jumped too. But he has proof that she was pushed. And if she was, I have to ask myself: could the same thing have happened to Poppy? In the moments before she died, was she really calling me to say goodbye, or was she calling for my help? Was she really alone on that cliff edge?
When Poppy’s friends tell me she had a serious boyfriend, I feel like I’m losing my grip on reality. If they were so madly in love, wouldn’t she have told me? Wouldn’t there be pictures of them together? And when I find the silver heart necklace he gave her, I feel sick. It’s the same silver heart another murdered girl was given in the weeks before she died.
This can’t be a coincidence. Either I’ve lost my mind, or the man my darling sister loved killed her. And if he could charm his way into her life so easily, what’s to say he’s not already in mine?
MY THOUGHTS:
Who pushed her sister...and is she next?
“I didn’t check the voicemail until the next morning, after I already knew she was dead. The sound of it taunts me again: wind on a phone receiver; the churning of waves. Silence.
Whatever she wanted to say to me, she never got the chance. Her last words died with her.”
This is a debut? Seriously? But it is soooo good! THE EDGE has all the hallmarks of an accomplished writer who has already made their mark on the genre. It is gripping, it is intense, it is pacy and it is skillfully plotted with twists and red herrings that leave you questioning who to trust...
Clementine Harris has returned from her studies in the US after the death of her sister Poppy, whose body was found on the beach below Hope Gap after a dogwalker came across her phone and backpack on the cliff's edge. An open and shut case, Poppy's death was ruled as a suicide. And Clementine accepts that but she blames herself. Because Poppy had tried three times to contact her on that last day and she ignored all of her attempts. What if she could have stopped her? What did she want to say in that last phone call before she jumped? She will never know because she never answered it.
So now, Clementine volunteers at a helpline for those who want to talk, who need to talk, to help talk them down from the edge. To be there, to be a voice in the night (or day) at the other end of a phone...to listen. If she couldn't do that for Poppy, at least she can do that for someone else. It's there she meets fellow helpline colleague Jude, who sketches out his callers as he pictures them whilst talking to them. He is sympathetic and caring but Clementine tend to shut down to the hands of friendship extended to her. She does with housemate Liam, with his exuberant pink hair, who does everything in his power to get her out of herself and to live!
She gets a call one night from a man whose sister had died two years before, having been ruled as a suicide. But he believes different. He knew his sister and she was murdered. But no one believes him, no one will listen to him writing him off as delusional. And now he can't imagine a life without his sister in it. But at the other end of the line, Clementine tries her best to talk him down...and fails. Or at least, she thinks she has. But if someone has decided to take their lives, they have already made that decision and nothing you can say will change that. But Clementine feels this failure as much as she did when she heard of Poppy's suicide.
When the inquest draws a line under Poppy's death, ruling it as suicide, Clementine thinks that's it. She had expected closure but all she has are more unanswered questions. She takes herself off to a suicide bereavement support group where she meets newcomer Daniel. And something in him, and his story, resonates with her. This chance meeting then throws into question everything she thought she knew about Poppy's death. Maybe Poppy didn't take her life. Maybe she was pushed... And if she was, then who pushed her? And why? What did sweet, sunny, smiling Poppy do to make someone want to kill her?
So Clementine and Daniel go in search of answers into their respective sisters' deaths to see if they can dig up any new information, anything that will cast doubt to it being suicide and pointing towards murder. Someone somewhere must have seen something, known something...surely? But as she investigates it seems every obstacle is being thrown in her path, which begs the question...does she know the killer already?
"For the rest of my life, I won't be able to trust any man – because any man could be him."
If this is indeed fact...then who could he be?
THE EDGE is an intense psychological thriller that is at times heavy in subject matter. The story unfolds from Clementine's perspective with the odd inclusion of a random woman that will all make sense by the end. It begins with Poppy in the prologue with various others peppered throughout. Who are these women and what do they have to do with the story? Well, it's not hard to figure out but it does add another dimension to an already complex mystery.
There are a handful of characters within Clementine's life that could be the villain and, as a scientist who deals in hard facts, she carefully and methodically lists everything surrounding Poppy's death and gathers whatever evidence she can. But the closer she gets the more obstacles in her path. And pretty soon, she begins to doubt just about everyone. She can't trust any of them because it could be any of them!
As readers, we are given a handful of suspects and by a process of elimination, are we able to figure it out? I had two solid suspects, owing to Clementine's theory about the killer - which I won't reveal but it does give you cause to really look at everyone. And it was by that theory that I eliminated one of them on that very basis. But it did ruin the twist at the end that I had already figured out by this point. Lucy Goacher threw in a ton of red herrings to throw you off track but I would not be swayed.
THE EDGE is compelling and complex but an addictive read that will have you turning the pages. My only complaint is that it was a little long and dragged a little in places but as a debut, it totally rocks. I felt the similarities to John Marrs' "The Good Samaritan" in part, particularly with the mention of Beachy Head (a paramount location to Marrs' climax) and yet it was different. The chemistry between Clementine and each of the male counterparts was intense. Even the scenes with her parents were.
Overall, THE EDGE is fantastic debut psychological thriller. It is addictive, complex, dark, gripping, intense...everything I love in a thriller. I'd certainly be interested to see what the author offers us next.
I would like to thank #LucyGoacher, #Netgalley and #AmazonPub for an ARC of #TheEdge in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Her time is split between writing, pampering her two cats, and photographing the family of urban foxes who visit her garden every night for dinner – much to her cats’ annoyance.
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