The Edge of Normal by Carla Norton Review!

Book Details Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Minotaur Books (September 10, 2013) Language: English ISBN-10: 1250031044 ISBN-13: 978-1250031044

In many ways, Reeve LeClaire looks like a typical twenty-two year old girl. She’s finally landed her own apartment, she waitresses to pay the bills, and she wishes she wasn’t so nervous around new people. She thinks of herself as agile, not skittish. As serious, not grim. But Reeve is anything but normal.

Ten years ago, she was kidnapped and held captive. After a lucky escape, she’s spent the last six years trying to rebuild her life, a recovery thanks in large part to her indispensable therapist Dr. Ezra Lerner. But when he asks her to help another girl rescued from a similar situation, Reeve realizes she may not simply need to mentor this young victim—she may be the only one who can protect her from a cunning predator who is still out there, watching every move.

From the author of the #1 non-fiction bestseller Perfect Victim: The True Story of the Girl in the Box comes a novel that draws you into a chilling and engrossing world. With powerfully gripping characters and an ending that is a masterpiece of deception, Carla Norton's The Edge of Normal is a stunning debut thriller.

Review

The Edge of Normal is the first fiction novel written by Carla Norton. As a debut novel, it has all the necessary qualifications for a thriller: violence and mystery served with a twist.

The story is about a young woman named Reeve LeClaire who was kidnapped and held captive ten years before the story begins. Her therapist Dr. Ezra Lerner asks her to help another girl named Tilly who was recently rescued from a similar situation, as a mentor of sorts, someone who understands what Tilly has just experienced. Reeve reluctantly agrees, and finds herself getting attached to Tilly and her family. The problem is there’s another man out there, one that will stop at nothing to keep kidnapping and holding captive young girls for his own pleasure. Throughout the plot, Reeve shows herself to have grown from being a victim to being a survivor, and she is the only link who can stop the kidnapper from harming any more girls.

This story reminded me of Ariel Castro, that monster who held girls captive for ten years in his home. And of Jaycee Duggard, and all the other poor girls who are kidnapped and held captive in real life. Although Norton doesn’t necessarily mimic their real life stories, she does go into extreme detail about what captivity has been like for her character Reeve, and for the other girls in the book. The plotline is somewhat predictable but the tension and mystery is sustained in by the unknown fate of two other missing girls, Hannah and Abby.

The book is very well written. The chapters are short, but attention grabbing. The novel is a very fast read, as the storyline and the way the chapters are set up make you want to turn the page until the novel is complete. The novel also switches between points of view, and it's a great example of a well done villain’s point of view. The chapters in the villain’s point of view show how he is always one step ahead, but the chapters are careful to not reveal his name. I personally enjoy books that bounce from different points of view and if it’s done well, it really works. This is one of those books that bouncing back and forth makes sense and it makes the book better.

If this is what Carla Norton’s debut novel reads like, I will definitely read another one of her books in the future!

Guest Reviewer: Kara Kelly

This book was received for review and there was no monetary compensation.