At The City's Edge
by Marcus Sakey

Release Date: 28th May 2009
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 978 0 1410 2776 0
RRP: £7.99

Average Customer Rating:

(0.0 based on 0 ratings)

Immediately fogettable police thriller...

Described as “nothing short of brilliant”, Sakey’s latest police thriller clearly aspires to impress its audience, none more so than myself who has a clear penchant for crime novels. It was to my utter despair and incomprehension that At The City’s Edge failed to deliver on many levels.

Jason Palmer is an ex-soldier, who has been exposed to the brutalities of the war in Iraq, which I assume was meant to give a solid foundation on which to sympathise with this narcissistic and not overly bright character. In fact, Palmer comes across as an egotistical sap who had simply allowed the army to mould his brain into that of a mediocre killing machine. His older brother, Michael, is of a more responsible and amenable ilk. Michael has a young, affable eight-year-old son, Billy. He clearly works hard in his bar and tries to make his world, that of gangbanger land near Chicago, a better and safer place. No surprise then that Sakey chooses to off the only nice guy. What follows is a tragic run around of the usual bad guys after the cutesy little kid. Did I mention the token Hispanic female cop who has bust a gut to get where she is and yet somehow throws it all willingly away for some sordid fling with her boss? Yep, this has every cliché in the book.

The most depressing aspect of At The City’s Edge is that Sakey clearly has a talent for writing. He creates suspense with a feigned nonchalance that most writers would kill for and his simple but effective dialogue is a wonder to behold. It is a shame then that he falters and stumbles around after a plot that feels as though he couldn’t be bothered to put in the requisite effort. Ultimately, what this creates is a run of the mill police thriller that you will find hard to engage with and subsequently immediately forget.

Your Reviews:

Click here to login or register and leave your very own review of At The City's Edge

Be the first to leave your own review of At The City's Edge!