Over the Edge

Title: OVER THE EDGE
Author: Brandilyn Collins
Publisher: Broadman & Homan
May 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4336-7162-3
Genre: Religion/Christian/Suspense
Reviewed by: Steve Hilton

What if you had a deadly disease, and no one believed you? Janessa McNeil’s husband, Brock, had crafted a medical career touting the simplicity and vulnerability of Lyme disease, a tick-born disease that is more sinister and deceptive than anyone has come to realize. Except for Stalking Man.

Stalking Man knows all about Lyme disease. His wife died from it, something the medical experts like Brock McNeil emphatically denied as being possible. His wife also had chronic Lyme disease, which the medical community, again, declared was impossible. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Stalking Man is very desperate. He remembered his wife’s final words: “Promise me you’ll change it for others.” Stalking Man promised; and he was a man of his word.

What better way to make his case than to infect Dr. McNeil’s wife with the disease, and promise to do the same to his daughter? However, the trap he’d carefully set required a caring, thoughtful, dedicated husband who would do anything for his wife. He hadn’t counted on a two-timing, low-down skunk of a man who cared more for his reputation than he did his wife, and was absolutely convinced that she was faking her illness in order to try to save an already-failing marriage.

For Janessa, each day is a monumental challenge merely to exist. Her strength is failing, her daughter is staying with her father and his mistress, and Stalking Man has lost whatever leverage he might have had in the first place.

The author, Brandilyn Collins, shares (through her characters) her personal experiences as a victim of Lyme disease. The details and descriptions of the disease and the victims are all too true, and one cannot help but grow to love and respect the characters in the book. One even develops an understanding of Stalking Man, and what he is trying to accomplish through his twisted schemes. OVER THE EDGE ought to have a disclaimer on the title page: “Warning. This book is not for the faint of heart.” Another great read by Brandilyn Collins. 328 pages. $14.99.