Edgewise by Graham Masterton

(pb; 2007)

From the back cover:

"Lily Blake's first mistake was getting involved with dangerous forces she didn't understand. But she was desperate. Her children had been taken. The police were no help. And George Iron Walker claimed he could summon the Wendigo, a Native American spirit that can hunt anyone. . . anywhere. . . forever. She didn't think he could really do it.

"But the man who took Lily's children had just been found -- ripped to pieces. An Lily has made her second mistake. She has told George Iron Walker that she can't keep her part of the bargain. Now she has become the prey, hunted by a spirit no one can see, but which she knows is there. Chasing her. Tracking her. A spirit that will never rest until Lily is dead."


Review:

Caveat: (possible) spoilers in this review.

The first half of Edgewise is a tightly written, entertaining thriller with supernatural elements spicing up the mix.

The second half of Edgewise sucks. It starts when Lily decides not to pay Walker -- claiming he was not upfront about the consequences of her decisions. Only a dumb, selfish, lying and/or naїve person would not have been aware of such consequences, and prior to that Lily had not seemed like such a person -- even though a desperate mother is bound to be even more reckless and selfish. . . that said, the level of Lily's disregard for the lives of those around her goes beyond belief, making her so unlikeable that even Masterton's otherwise solid, gory and occasionally quirky writing is rendered ineffective. I only finished this novel because I had already invested time in it and I wanted to see Lily die, horribly and slowly.

 If Masterton had forced Lily to face up to her hypocritical self-delusions for even a sentence, I would not have minded Lily's character flaws so much.

That is not the only bad thing about Edgewise: the last quarter of it reads like an especially bad Syfy Channel television movie, with its what-the-f**k dumb traps that Lily and her future dead meat friends set for the Wendigo.

Avoid this book, with its above-mentioned flaws and its dogsh*t ending, and read something -- anything -- else by Masterton, who, for the most part, writes worthwhile stories.