I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
Living on the Edge
by
Shannon K. Butcher
romantic suspense in a paperback edition that was published by Signet Eclipse on March 2011 and has 359 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Dark and Stormy Knights, Razor's Edge, Burning Alive, Finding the Lost, Running Scared, Living Nightmare, Blood Hunt, Edge of Sanity, Dying Wish, Falling Blind, Kicking It, Rough Edges
First in the Edge action romance series based on the employees working at The Edge, a mercenary group. The couple focus here is on Sloane Gideon and Lucas Ramsey.
My Take
A simple but compelling tale of a young woman driven to prove herself to her father, the General, and a military man of honor and compassion who fall in love. Just why they fall in love, I’m not really sure except that that’s how Butcher writes it. I’m not really sure why Sloane accepts Lucas’ rebukes about her dad unless the heat of battle and Lucas’ skills have opened her up to the possibilities.
Butcher does provide a very real feel to her action sequences and certainly creates some compelling characters you can’t help but love or hate. In addition, Butcher has set up a number of teases to compel our return to find out just what this “List” is all about, why Brink is hun ting for his brother, who is Dr. Stynger, and what is the hold she has over Mr. Brink.
If you enjoy action and conspiracies, you’ll like the action in Butcher’s Edge.
The Story
Lucas has but one goal: prevent Sloane Gideon from getting on that private charter to Colombia. Unfortunately for Lucas, he doesn’t know Sloane very well. Yet.
It’s a case of find and elude until Lucas helps Sloane out in that first firefight in Colombia, and they begin to what each brings to the table.
There was something really nasty, the Threshold Project, in which the General, Payton, and Senator Gregory Kerrington III were involved. A project that resulted in the List and that twisted Soma badly. Now Soma is determined to live up to his father’s legacy to be the meanest badass in Colombia, kidnapping and selling women and babies, trafficking with Mr. Brink. A legacy that requires a small army that Sloane and her Edge team and Lucas and the general’s men must shoot through to rescue Gina.
The Characters
Sloane Gideon is the unacknowledged daughter of General Robert Norwood, a man who has ignored her existence her whole life. Gina Delaney has been Sloane’s best friend since school with a history of always choosing the wrong man; her name is on the List. Sophie Devane is a prisoner just as Gina is except that she’s pregnant; once the baby arrives, Sophie is history.
Lucas Ramsey is washed-up. His knee injury prevents his ability to function as a soldier, so he’s retiring…right after he does this little job for the Old Man. Justin and Lucas are the men the general has lent to Sloane’s Colombian operation.
Bella Bayne started The Edge with the help of Payton Bainbridge; she’s also on the List. She also has a hard time paying attention to the bottom line due to too much heart and a need to avenge the weak. Employees include Riley Conlan; Lila, Bella’s secretary; Tanner O’Connell; Mira Sage is the computer guru (and on the List); Clayton Marshall; and, Gage.
Lorenzo Soma is a drug lord and had been on the List. It seems that drugs are not his only income when we learn of his connection to Adam Brink and the people he supplies to him. Jeremy Block is Soma’s right hand man, a man with no scruples, no heart, and totally clueless when it comes to women.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a metallic green background with a black-haired couple dressed for action: Sloan Gideon in a black tank top holding a vest-clad Lucas Ramsey back as he points his gun to the sky.
The title is oh so true as Sloan and Lucas both crave that adrenaline rush from Living on the Edge.
