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Edge

by Jeffery Deaver (Goodreads Author)

3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 · rating details · 4,041 ratings · 399 reviews

Behind the well-known U.S. security organizations-- the FBI and CIA among them--lies a heavily guarded, anonymous government agency dedicated to intelligence surveillance and to a highly specialized brand of citizen protection. Shock waves of alarm ripple through the clandestine agency when Washington, D.C., police detective Ryan Kessler inexplicably becomes the target of...more

Paperback, 416 pages

Published by Simon & Schuster (first published November 2nd 2010)

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Apr 11, 2011 Maddy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010-reads

PROTAGONIST: Corte, Federal protection officer
SETTING: Washington, DC; Virginia
SERIES: Standalone
RATING: 3.5

EDGE is a standalone by thriller expert Jeffery Deaver which introduced me to a few different kinds of characters than I’ve met before. The protagonist of the book, Corte, is a Federal protection officer who is known as a “shepherd”. His assignments are to protect people who possess information that a criminal desperately needs. Often, the criminal will hire someone known as a “lifter” wh...more PROTAGONIST: Corte, Federal protection officer
SETTING: Washington, DC; Virginia
SERIES: Standalone
RATING: 3.5

EDGE is a standalone by thriller expert Jeffery Deaver which introduced me to a few different kinds of characters than I’ve met before. The protagonist of the book, Corte, is a Federal protection officer who is known as a “shepherd”. His assignments are to protect people who possess information that a criminal desperately needs. Often, the criminal will hire someone known as a “lifter” who will resort to any means necessary, including torture, murder and attacks on loved ones, to learn what the target is concealing. In this case, the lifter is a man whom Corte has dealt with before. Henry Loving lifted information from Corte’s former boss and mentor. Within less than ten minutes, this seasoned professional revealed everything that Loving wanted to know. In reality, there is no one that could manage to keep their secrets when faced with Loving’s approaches to getting information.

The primary that Corte is assigned to protect is a DC police detective named Ryan Kessler. It’s difficult to determine why Kessler is a target; after an incident several years earlier where he performed a heroic action, most of his cases have been relatively low key. The stakes are high; Loving immediately goes after Kessler’s daughter. Corte spirits the family away into safe houses; however, he knows very well how difficult it is to keep Loving off the trail.

I really enjoyed the book until Deaver introduced a whole series of twists that caused the dramatic tension to lag. Corte begins to feel that Ryan Kessler is not the actual target after all; as the narrative proceeds, he switches between several characters who may be the real principal that Loving is after. I don’t know about you, but I can only play the shell game a few times before I lose interest. If I’ve incorrectly guessed where the pea is 2 or 3 times, I no longer want to play.

On the other hand, there were some really interesting characters. Loving and Corte are like two sides of the same coin, both enigmatic and skilled at what they do. In fact, Loving seemed to me to have the edge over Corte. Unfortunately, Deaver never reveals very much about his motivations and how he thinks. Each of the members of the family group had their own troubles to deal with. Although I didn’t care for a few of them, they all had their moments.

Jeffery Deaver is an author whose works I almost always enjoy. I like the Lincoln Rhyme series—THE BURNING WIRE which was released earlier this year was excellent. Both his series and his standalones generally introduce fresh plot points and are full of twists that baffle and confound the reader. I never know what to expect when I pick up a book by Deaver, and that is a very good thing! In this case, my reaction was mixed. I thought that the prologue (a device I normally don’t care for) was wonderfully integrated into the first chapter. The aforementioned twists resulted in a narrative that was too long to sustain tension; however, the final section of the book where Corte cleaned up loose ends and revealed some surprising personal information was excellent.

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Apr 07, 2011 Linda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-thriller

I am a big fan of Jeffery Deaver and this book, "The Edge," with Corte, who calls himself ‘the shepherd,’ a protector, as the main character, this book was no exception. Loving is a return character for Deaver and an old enemy his stories. It is not Deaver’s best book but as I listened to it on audio and it was easy to follow and had both action and suspense. I had a bit of confusion at first with “the lifters,” the hitters” and the cutters and what all of that meant.

It is a fast moving book an...more

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Feb 13, 2013 Susan rated it 1 of 5 stars

As other reviewers have suggested, the protagonist seems to be a stand in for the author, And if this is the case, the author must be, as the protagonist is, a total bore.He wants to provide little grammar lessons along the way. Only problem, Deaver can't come close to Strunk & White or Eats, Shoots & Leaves. He begins on p. 18 by giving the grammar once over to an email. "Grammar, spelling and punctuation are good," he says. "Proper use of "per." , , , I didn't explain that 'as per,' wh...more

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Jan 26, 2013 David rated it 3 of 5 stars

Edge is the first Deaver book I've read that was not in the Lincoln Rhyme series. I was pleasantly surprised by a slam bang action packed thriller with plenty of curves in the road.

The story revolves around a special witness protection detail. They are attempting to protect a family from a guy known as a lifter. A "lifter" is a mercenary who extracts information. He is willing to use any "edge" he can get. He will kidnap, torture, threaten, blackmail. The bad guy in this story is an expert at k...more Edge is the first Deaver book I've read that was not in the Lincoln Rhyme series. I was pleasantly surprised by a slam bang action packed thriller with plenty of curves in the road.

The story revolves around a special witness protection detail. They are attempting to protect a family from a guy known as a lifter. A "lifter" is a mercenary who extracts information. He is willing to use any "edge" he can get. He will kidnap, torture, threaten, blackmail. The bad guy in this story is an expert at kidnapping and torture.

The author does a good job providing plenty of action and an aura of mystery. He skillfully dances out a number of red herrings to distract the reader. At one point, I fell for one of those herrings, hook, line, and sinker. It was dropped so deftly, so nonchalantly, I thought I had it all figured out. IN the end, the mystery was solved, but the clues had been there all along for the reader. So, Deaver, as a mystery author plays in a fair manner.

The conclusion (called endgame) was not unexpected. I'd picked up clues throughout the book that his life circumstances were not exactly what we expected.

This novel was made even more interesting to me because of the author's references to boardgames. He names a number of titles that would be familiar to Eurogamers and hints at liking wargames. I'm not sure how deeply the author delves into gaming. Most people who play wargames don't like the Euro games, and vice versa. It would be odd to find an exception, though one might exist. In places, he quotes from game rules, and like me, he enjoys collecting older games, though not the same types. So the character's hobby was interesting.

He also uses GAME THEORY to drive his hero's cognitive thinking and strategic planning. I never had the impression that the author fully understood what he was using to create a fictional thought process, but it made for interesting reading and depth of characterization.

In places, the author chose to annoy me by making his hero sort of a super brain. There was constant discussion of multiple college degrees and after awhile, it was like the hero was bragging to the reader, rather than just telling the story.

Overall, I thought Edge was a pretty decent book with some interesting characters, some well plotted mystery, and some decent action, with a resolution that was satisfactory and didn't leave me feeling cheated. (less)

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Aug 21, 2012 Tony rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jeffery Deaver- Edge 4.25 Stars

Corte is a federal agent responsible for the protection/hiding of people who have information that lifters want to extract for their bosses. Henry Loving is one such lifter, the most ruthless of these lifters, and Corte has come across him once before. The last time Loving killed his mentor, this time Corte will be out for revenge, he just can’t let it cost him his charges. His current charges that Loving is after are the Kesslers. He must protect them from this ma...more

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Aug 19, 2012 Dodol Surodol rated it 4 of 5 stars

Deaver seems to have gotten better with technical terms and the teenage character says "like" a lot less, so that's good. I'm not that crazy about the protagonist's extreme love for board games. Deaver does this a lot with his protagonists, tying every thought and action with whatever interest they have, and while it's nice to learn about things you wouldn't otherwise know, it tends to render the characters one-dimensional.

As writers are prone to, Deaver exaggerates the I.T. stuff quite a bit, w...more

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Apr 16, 2011 Megan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Megan by: liked other books by author

Shelves: suspense

good read...

Behind the well-known U.S. security organizations— the FBI and CIA among them—lies a heavily guarded, anonymous government agency dedicated to intelligence surveillance and to a highly specialized brand of citizen protection.
Shock waves of alarm ripple through the clandestine agency when Washington, D.C., police detective Ryan Kessler inexplicably becomes the target of Henry Loving, a seasoned, ruthless “lifter” hired to obtain information using whatever means necessary. While Lovin...more

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Feb 15, 2011 Maggard rated it 2 of 5 stars

Yikes. I've read nearly all of Deaver (although I don't much care for his Lincoln Rhyme character) and am generally pretty taken with his pulpy twists (which I tend to read with a dun-dun-dun sound as they occur). But wow did this seem like a cariacature of himself. I kept hoping with all the high-brow game theory references (which, btw, I've never quite interpreted "game theory" as dealing, quite literally, with GAMES such as risk and candyland(?)(!)) that there would be some payoff, but it nev...more

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Dec 02, 2010 Giovanni Gelati rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I just need to get this out from the start: I loved this novel, seriously, loved it! This will definitely be in my top five reads of the year, not the quarter, the year. Synopsis first then let the love fest begin:
“When Washington D.C. police detective Ryan Kessler is targeted by Henry Loving, he and his family are immediately put under government protection. Loving is a ruthless "lifter", hired to extract information from his victims, and he will use whatever means necessary including kidnappin...more I just need to get this out from the start: I loved this novel, seriously, loved it! This will definitely be in my top five reads of the year, not the quarter, the year. Synopsis first then let the love fest begin:
“When Washington D.C. police detective Ryan Kessler is targeted by Henry Loving, he and his family are immediately put under government protection. Loving is a ruthless "lifter", hired to extract information from his victims, and he will use whatever means necessary including kidnapping, torturing or killing their family.
Assigned to the Kesslers is protection officer Corte: uncompromising, relentlessly devoted to protecting those in his care and a brilliant game strategist. He also knows just how brutal the lifter can be – six years earlier, Loving killed someone close to him. As tension increases between the family, the situation escalates into a deadly contest between protector and lifter as each tries to outwit the other. And as the lifter closes in on his prey, Corte must decide whether to protect his charges, or expose them to a killer in the name of personal revenge . . . “
I have read many thrillers and not read about a “lifter” or a shepherd. The originality in the characters, their jobs, the inner workings of the agencies they work for kept me enthralled, check it out, I used the word enthralled, first time this year. I have read many Jeffery Deaver novels and was ready for the usual quality work and good read, but he hits this out of the park, grand slam. Edge has just that to it, and it is an amazing plot twister. Just when you think you have it figured out, BAM, right up to the last page. This is great stuff from an author that has pumped out some of fiction’s best characters. The character of Corte is a winner, a game geek, a manipulator, and a shepherd all rolled into one. The plotlines were amazing, the narrative intense; this is one novel that is hard to put down.
Basically I cannot use enough adjectives to describe my enjoyment of this novel. Do not pass this read up, there is too much fun contained in the pages. For those of you that have not read a Jeffery Deaver novel, this is an excellent place to start. I was considering putting up the author’s biography, but honestly it is long and incredible so I am going to leave the link to his official webpage, go for it and enjoy. One note, Jeffery Deaver’s next project, the next James Bond novel. I am sure he will take James Bond to the next level.
http://www.jefferydeaver.com/index.html
What are you reading today? Check us out and become our friend on Shelfari & Linkedin. Go to Goodreads and become our friend there and suggest books for us to read and post on. You can also follow us on Twitter, Wattpad and the Gelati’s Scoop Facebook Fan Page. Did you know you can shop directly on Amazon by clicking the Amazon Banner on our blog? Thanks for stopping by today; We will see you tomorrow. Have a great day. http://www.gelatisscoop.blogspot.com

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Apr 29, 2012 Marianne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Edge is the 12th stand-alone novel by Jeffrey Deaver. Set in Washington DC, this gripping tale starts with a prologue in which a lifter, Henry Loving, tortures and kills a government personal security officer, Abe Fallow, for information about locations of people in the witness protection scheme. Fast-forward six years, and Loving has targeted DC police detective, Ryan Kessler and his family; Fallow’s protégé, Officer Corte is the one assigned to protect (shepherd) the family. Under Corte’s care...more

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Jan 16, 2012 Myra rated it 4 of 5 stars

From Amazon: "Shock waves of alarm ripple through the clandestine agency when Washington, D.C., police detective Ryan Kessler inexplicably becomes the target of Henry Loving, a seasoned, ruthless “lifter” hired to obtain information using whatever means necessary. While Loving is deft at torture, his expertise lies in getting an “edge” on his victim—leverage—usually by kidnapping or threatening family until the “primary” caves under pressure.

The job of keeping the Kessler family alive falls to a...more

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Dec 12, 2012 Mark Soone rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I struggled in rating this book.....I would probably call this a 3.5 read, and after some difficulty felt the 3 stars was slightly more justifiable than 4, but I don't say this with great conviction. Perhaps it is the time frame in which I am reading this on the heals of some very fine and exciting thrillers, perhaps at another time during the year I would have gone 4...I certainly liked it!

Corte is a very cool protaginist, and his fascination with game theory combined with the way he implements...more I struggled in rating this book.....I would probably call this a 3.5 read, and after some difficulty felt the 3 stars was slightly more justifiable than 4, but I don't say this with great conviction. Perhaps it is the time frame in which I am reading this on the heals of some very fine and exciting thrillers, perhaps at another time during the year I would have gone 4...I certainly liked it!

Corte is a very cool protaginist, and his fascination with game theory combined with the way he implements strategy into the way he protects PRINCIPLES under his protective care. He was a very complex lead character....kind of close to the vest with those around him, but since the story is told from his perspective he is also very deep and complicated. It is not untill the very end that we realize he lives a double life of sorts, and that might be my only disappointment with this man of seemingly high honor....Also for a man who loves his wife he was all to willing to give into a moment of a passionate kiss with one of his principles.

The plot was pretty cool loaded with layers of duplicity, subterfuge, deception and twists. Corte is assigned to protect a family from a LIFTER hired to get information out of one of them at any costs. Along the way we meet his diabolical and brilliant advesary, who also tortured and killed Corte's mentor. The back and forth cat and mouse game unfolds slowly and methodically with a number of tense climax type of scenes, loaded with action and strategy. The big mystery unfolds as to who the real principle it is that the Lifter Loving is really after...the twists here as well as the finale climax are very intriguing. The principle family Corte is hired to protect, as well as his co-workers are an enjoyable bunch....along the way are some gruesome and unethical villians, and it is quite fun to see not who the target is but who is reallly behind the plan....want to know more....well ya gotta read it to find out!

I would recommend this to all Deaver fans as well lovers of thriller, suspense, mystery novels...well worth the 10 hours or so I invested into it.(less)

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May 01, 2012 Rebekah Scott rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010

Readers hoping to catch up with Lincoln Rhyme or Kathryn Dance might be temporarily disappointed in Jeffery Deaver’s latest novel, but not for long. “Edge” is a standalone thriller starring government super-bodyguard Corte, a man tasked with protecting those that no one else can.

Corte’s newest assignment is to safeguard Washington D.C. police detective Ryan Kessler who has inexplicably been targeted by an utterly ruthless “lifter” – an expert at extracting information by any means necessary incl...more Readers hoping to catch up with Lincoln Rhyme or Kathryn Dance might be temporarily disappointed in Jeffery Deaver’s latest novel, but not for long. “Edge” is a standalone thriller starring government super-bodyguard Corte, a man tasked with protecting those that no one else can.

Corte’s newest assignment is to safeguard Washington D.C. police detective Ryan Kessler who has inexplicably been targeted by an utterly ruthless “lifter” – an expert at extracting information by any means necessary including kidnapping and torturing a target’s family members.

But what makes this case so very personal for Corte is the identity of the lifter, Henry Loving, the man responsible for the torture and murder of his mentor six years previously and who was believed to be dead. Not only must Corte protect Ryan Kessler and his family, but he is now determined to stop a man who will stop at nothing.

As Corte and his colleagues race to discover both what Kessler knows that could be worth killing over and who is behind it all, they must also be wary of the fact that Loving is an expert at manipulating people everywhere into doing exactly what he wants. And they must do it all in the next few days.

A back and forth cat and mouse game ensues with both Corte and Loving alternately chasing and being chased as they try to anticipate the other’s moves and ultimately outwit their opponent. With the deadline fast approaching, Corte is torn between keeping the Kesslers safe and using them to draw out the killer he so desperately wants caught.

Set over a few days, “Edge” is a fast paced, exciting read filled with the twists and turns that Deaver is so well known for. A savvy reader might try to see if they can anticipate just where he is setting up for a quick turnabout in the plot, but like any great magician, Deaver dexterously misdirects his audience, and his tricks are spellbinding. For a hard to put down, completely compelling read, pick up “Edge,” but remember that in Deaver’s world, almost nothing is ever as it seems.
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Jan 27, 2013 Mary rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: listened-to

A unique US govt agency specializes in a certain brand of high security citizen protection. Shock waves of alarm ripple through the clandestine agency when Washington, D.C., police detective Ryan Kessler inexplicably becomes the target of Henry Loving, a seasoned, ruthless "lifter" hired to obtain information using whatever means necessary. While Loving is deft at torture, his expertise lies in getting an "edge" on his victim--leverage--usually by kidnapping or threatening family until the "prim...more

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Dec 19, 2012 Maria rated it 1 of 5 stars

This was the worst book I've read for a very long time. The problem was that in order to enjoy a story I have to actually care about the characters and in this book I was given absolutely no reason to do so. We are given no back story at all for the maim character except that his mentor was murdered so all we know is that he is motivated by revenge. Not exactly sympathetic. Then we have the bitter ex street cop, his numb wife, her extremely annoying sister and a cardboard cut out teenager.
Not e...more

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Mar 03, 2012 Marca rated it 5 of 5 stars

Wow! What a wild ride. A federal officer named Corte is assigned to protect a police officer and his family from one of the most diabolical paid assassins on the earth. The assassin, known as Loving, killed Corte's mentor years earlier so Corte has a score to settle, in addition to protecting the family. The cat and mouse games keep the reader guessing throughout the book. I could not come close to figuring the ending of this novel. The sympathetic characters are reasonably likable, although fla...more

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Apr 17, 2011 Algernon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

[7/10] my first Jeffery Deaver - probably not his best, but the most accessible right now. A well paced procedural, a little too smart and intricate for its own good: I ended up not feeling a connection with any of the characters and while I admire the author's skill in maintaining tension, the book felt contrived and the characters like pieces on a chessboard [in tone to the game theory dissertations in the novel]

The story is pretty standard : a federal protection agent must gain an edge over a...more

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Dec 12, 2010 Marleen rated it 4 of 5 stars

A stand-alone thriller by Jeffrey Deaver, set in the world of protection officers.
A lifter is a professional who can be hired to find people, get information from them by any means, and kill them and anybody they have to go through to get to their target.
Henry Loving, is such a lifter and has targetted to family of police detective Ryan Kessler. Appointed to protect Kessler and his family is protection officer Corte, who had to listen powerlessly six year ago while Loving tortured and killed his...more A stand-alone thriller by Jeffrey Deaver, set in the world of protection officers.
A lifter is a professional who can be hired to find people, get information from them by any means, and kill them and anybody they have to go through to get to their target.
Henry Loving, is such a lifter and has targetted to family of police detective Ryan Kessler. Appointed to protect Kessler and his family is protection officer Corte, who had to listen powerlessly six year ago while Loving tortured and killed his colleague and mentor.
Corte now has several goals. He needs to protect the Kesslers, find out why someone has set Loving on them, stop Loving and discover who hired Loving.
Corte is a true professional, dedicated to his job of protecting those targetted and finding those who want them. He is also a man on a mission, determined to not only stop Loving but to capture him as well. Corte is a man who doesn't smile, doesn't get personally involved with those he protects, and appears to have no private life.
But, Corte has a problem since it is not clear why the Kessler family is being targetted, or even which member of the family is the one with knowledge that could be harmful for someone. And while Corte is good at playing the protection game and staying one step ahead of his opponents, Loving is just as good. With the personal history between Loving and Corte, the stakes in this game are even higher than they normally are.
This is not a mystery in the strict sense of the word since it's clear from the start that Loving is the man who must be stopped. The mystery here is who Loving is actually after, and why. Once that has been established, the rest will fall into place.
This was a good thriller; I don't think Deaver is capable of writing a bad thriller. But, although I liked the story I didn't feel any attachment to it or the characters while I was reading the book. I also found the book surprisingly easy to put down and ignore at times. Still, it's not so much that there is anything wrong with this book, but rather that it isn't quite as good as de Lyncoln Ryhme or Kathryn Dance books.(less)

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Sep 27, 2011 Terrie Purkey added it

Though he's a favorite author, not my favorite book. A story about private protection of a family against a "lifter" or person hired to kidnap a family member for the purpose of finding information, it never really grabbed me.

The main character, Corte, never engaged me - he seemed flat, cold, and distant. The story is told from his perspective but you never really learn much about him. Even the bad guy, Henry Loving (really?!), wasn't well developed and seemed a cardboard character. He was alway...more

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Nov 09, 2010 Simon Gosden rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Jeffery Deaver writes some of the cleverest, well constructed crime novels to be found anywhere and this really hits the mark.
When Washington D.C. police detective Ryan Kessler is targeted by Henry Loving, he and his family are immediately put under government protection. Loving is a ruthless ‘lifter’, hired to extract information from his victims, and he will use whatever means necessary including kidnapping, torturing or killing their family. The hero of this tale is Corte uncompromising, rele...more

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Aug 12, 2012 Ashley rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: thriller, 6-in-12

I've been told this isn't Deaver's best work but the book was on the Most Requested Author table at my local library. I'm not going to spoil this but I was very sucked in. Sometimes the game theory got a bit overdone I thought but it also helped explain the protagonist's motives. Part of me would have liked to not have the very last chapter. It seemed to wrap things up very neatly when I would have liked to be left with more flaws and uncertainty but maybe that's because I like to keep my charac...more

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May 31, 2011 JoAnne Pulcino rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-fiction, adult-thriller

EDGE By Jeffrey Deaver This excellent twist filled thriller features Corte, a “shepherd” in the Strategic Protection Department, which is a secret government agency assigned to protect high profile targets. Corte is once again pitted against Henry Loving, a “lifter” who specializes in extracting information from human targets by extreme measures and torture. A Washington D C metro detective is identified as the “primary” or target that Loving is trying to capture to get his “edge” and the inform...more

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Dec 12, 2010 Mickey Hoffman rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Although the book has a clever plot, just as you'd expect from Deaver, there were
several spots where I felt manipulated. After a while I was able to guess the
next twist just because I was expecting the manipulation. The book also suffers
badly from poor or nonexistent editing: lots of typos and some situations that
didn't make sense, even to a reader like myself who isn't completely savvy about
FBI protocol or criminal behavior. For example, I can't believe that even the stupidest
criminal would kid...more

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Jan 07, 2013 Tomerobber rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-2013

I have read most of J. Deaver's offerings and always await announcement of new books . . . but this is the first time I have listened to an audiobook and found myself wishing for it to be over.

My complaint is with the person doing the narration . . . . and his mispronunciation of several different words . . . principally with weapon pronounced as wheapon and he doesn't even consistently do that . . . Anyway the enjoyment I usually get in reading became a painful experience . . . as though someon...more

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Oct 12, 2011 Lakis Fourouklas rated it 5 of 5 stars

Is this going to be a stand-alone novel for Corte, the hero of Jeffery Deaver’s latest outing? Well, if I can judge from the character I’d say no. Corte, plain, simple Corte, seems to have in him a lot of stories, too much juice, and I really wouldn’t mind if he came to replace Kathryn Dance who, unlike Lincoln Rhyme, his other favorite hero, seems to have run out of steam already.
Corte works at a witness protection service, a private company. His latest assignment is to offer protection to Rya...more Is this going to be a stand-alone novel for Corte, the hero of Jeffery Deaver’s latest outing? Well, if I can judge from the character I’d say no. Corte, plain, simple Corte, seems to have in him a lot of stories, too much juice, and I really wouldn’t mind if he came to replace Kathryn Dance who, unlike Lincoln Rhyme, his other favorite hero, seems to have run out of steam already.
Corte works at a witness protection service, a private company. His latest assignment is to offer protection to Ryan Kessler, a decorated police officer, who seems to be the target of a yet unknown hitman. He and his family seem, for no apparent reason, to be in a life-threatening situation and Corte has to work really hard to save the day. But he has more than one reason for taking this assignment, since the man posing the threat is none other than Frank Loving, an expert interrogator and remorseless killer, who was behind the murder of Corte’s mentor, a few years back.
The two men, during the long and fascinating course of the story, seem to involve themselves into a game of cat and mouse, exchanging roles time and again. As each of them works hard to get into the head of the other and guess his next moves, the pace gains momentum and the twists and turns just keep the reader guessing about what’s coming next. However, Loving definitely has the upper hand in this game and Corte, even though he hates him, finds himself every now and then, admiring the criminal for the analytical capabilities of his twisted brain; capabilities that are not quite out of his league since he’s quite familiar with them; an extra bonus of playing strategic games.
As time goes by, painstakingly slow for the Kessler family, the heat keeps rising and a lot of secrets and lies come out in the open. As it seems one of them has a secret history, while the rest are so stubborn and obviously clueless that it looks like they want to die. Thus Corte, having no another option, just needs to rush from the one place to the other, in order to keep the fragile bonds between the members of the family tight, while at the same time trying to find Loving, and also figure out who’s the person working so hard to get him fired. In this fierce and lonesome battle, he only has two people he can turn to: Dubois, his highly intelligent assistant, and his boss, who despite everything still has his back.
From the first explosive moment until the very last, everything seems to hang from a weak thread: Corte’s career; the Kessler family’s survival; the wishes for revenge and redemption of some of the heroes. Deaver looks deep into the psyches of these people and what he sees is a world made of glass that could explode and turn into pieces at any given moment. The psychological portraits he creates are nicely crafted, and the characters really seem to come alive on paper; with all their faults and their never-ending passions.
Perhaps this is one of the very few books by the writer that could make a good movie. His world is not easy to adopt for the big screen, but maybe, just maybe, this is about to change.
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May 13, 2011 Debra Chapoton rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Debra by: bigpinelodge@gmail.com

Definitely 5 stars! If you like Jack Bauer and the TV series "24" then you'll like Deaver's fast and intricate plot in EDGE. Corte is a "shepherd" whose job is to keep his clients safe and figure out who is after them. Like Bauer, Corte has myriad techies, weapons, safe houses, etc., at his disposal. And just like in the show "24" there are bad guys, mercenaries, moles, and fake leads. As a character, though, Corte is much more believably human than the indestructable Bauer and the time frame is...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Deborah Bobo added it

Jeffery Deaver is the master of suspense and does not let the reader down in this novel. Corte, a shepherd who protects targets is assigned the Kessler family. Police officer Ryan Kessler appears to be the obvious target, but it is important to uncover exactly who the threat is in order to eliminate the threat. Henry Loving, the “lifter” hired to obtain the information from the target is willing to go to any length to obtain his information. Corte is a seasoned strategist and game player and has...more

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Feb 13, 2011 Cindy Meilink rated it 4 of 5 stars

Once again Jeffery Deaver has crafted the perfect thriller.

As we follow a protection officer, also referred to as a "shepherd", named Corte on his assignment to protect a police officer and his family, we, like Corte, attempt to pull together all of the clues to determine the identity of the threat.

As Corte engages in a strategic battle against Loving, the "lifter" hired to extract information from one of the family members on behalf of his mystery client, we methodically try to determine the f...more

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Dec 29, 2010 stephanie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, mystery

classic twists, brilliant kind of mind-boggling ending, but i thought things dragged in the middle a bit too much. also, deaver normally seems to be able to completely inhabit the role of the main character so that you believe everything about their job - i didn't really get that feeling as much this time.

the throwback to abe seemed forced, and there really wasn't much character development (though one could argue that was the entire point, especially with corte). but i felt cheated with loving...more

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Aug 10, 2012 Donna Mcnab rated it 3 of 5 stars

When Henry Loving targets a Washington, D.C. police detective, Ryan Kessler, Corte (who prefers to go by the one name) is put on the case by his pretty much unknown government agency. Corte has a history with Henry Loving, a "lifter" who hires out to obtain information by any means, including torture. In this roll Loving previously tortured and killed Corte's mentor, and it is important to him, not only to protect Ryan Kessler and his family, but also to run down Loving. Every time you thought t...more

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About Jeffery Deaver

Jeffery Deaver was born outside of Chicago in 1950. His father was an advertising copywriter and his mother was a homemaker. Deaver worked as a magazine writer, then, to gain the background needed to become a legal correspondent for The New York Times or Wall Street Journal, he enrolled at Fordham Law School. In 1990 he started to write full time. Deaver has been nominated for six Edgar Awards fro...more

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Quotes from Edge

“That's the past for you. Not only does it come back at the most unexpected, and inconvenient, times but it's set in stone.” — 6 people liked it

“It's becoming apparent that I like bad boys. That's one of my problems. They've all been bad boys. You're one too. You're a bad boy. But, I think you're a good bad boy.” — 4 people liked it

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