The Book: The Edge of Sanity

The Author: Sheryl Browne

The Story: Sheryl Browne’s latest novel The Edge of Sanity,tells the story of a psychological battle between everyman Daniel Conner, who is forced into becoming a hero, after being tortured and forcibly drugged, and drug addict Charlie Roberts, who has taken Daniel’s wife and daughter hostage.

Asked whether she’s changed genres, Sheryl says, “Not really. I’m more exploring – as ever, the fragility of love, life and relationships. If a character calls to me, I simply have to write his story. My books will always tend to turn around the family unit, looking at family dynamics and the tenuous bonds that hold people together. My more recent books would be better described as poignant romantic fiction, usually having a strong, but flawed, male lead. I think The Edge of Sanity, though most definitely more edgy, does fall into that category.

The Edge of Sanity

How far would YOU go to protect your family?

A decent, ordinary man, a man who has already suffered the loss of one child, Daniel Conner is forced by extraordinary circumstances into being a hero. Tortured, forcibly drugged—heroin still pulsating nauseatingly through his veins—his wife and daughter degraded, Daniel knows their kidnapper is beyond reasoning with.

But does being pushed one step beyond endurance justify doing the unthinkable?

High on drugs, indebted to his supplier, and desperate, Charlie Roberts takes Daniel’s wife and daughter hostage. Daniel does everything within his power to rescue the situation bloodlessly. Eventually though, Daniel realises that with or without violent mood swings induced by amphetamines and cocaine, Charlie Roberts is a psychopath. He wants more than Daniel’s money.

He wants him.

The Edge of Sanity is a harrowing story of hope amid loss and betrayal.

Excerpt:

Daniel slowed the car in the lane, glimpsing the bedroom light through the gap in the trees. No surprise there. Lights on the blink? Jo being fazed by the fuse box? About as likely as snow in June. She’d been forced to make that call. Daniel knew it with absolute certainty. He also knew she’d been trying to warn him. There was someone, maybe more than one, there with her.

So what the hell did he do now? Park the car and creep up to the house in the hope of gaining entry without alerting them? No. Whoever it was, they were obviously expecting him. And they were holding Jo. His blundering in not knowing how many they were, or where they …

Daniel stopped in his deliberations, swallowing back a hard lump in his throat as it occurred to him to wonder … Why was the only visible light, the one in the bedroom?Christ! Fear clutching at Daniel’s heart, he rammed his foot down, swung the car through the gates and skidded to a halt, full beams bouncing off the lifeless lounge window, and right outside the open front door.

~~~

Heartache, humour, love, loss & betrayal, a little romance, and thrills! Sheryl Browne brings you poignant, witty modern romance. A member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and shortlisted for Innovation in Romantic Fiction.

Review by thinknicethoughts: This is a page turner where you never know where you are going next. From the outset, Daniel Conner drew my sympathy. You kinda know that things are going out of control in a life that has already known tragedy. This is a dark story yet among it all there is a thread of hope and almost humour in places.

Few authors would risk a chase involving police on bikes and a canal boat in the middle of a terrifying drama. The writer has obviously studied or experienced teenage psychologies and the haphazard life style of detectives. As I was reading I identified so much with the characters that I kept asking myself what I would do in their place.

At times I felt quite anxious and had to assure myself I was just reading. The ending is not a cut off but rather a jagged tear or rip. Life is uncertain – an edge may fray or not. This is a tight tense read that is never quite finished with you.