A Psychological Thriller By Fallon Raynes
Dangerous Ledges is the story of Liza, freshly divorced from a husband who has become prone to extreme fits of violence after taking a prescription drug. The ex-husband, Ledge, kidnaps Liza in a bid to win her back as he struggles to contain the violent alter-ego known as The Demon that consumes him all too easily. Liza tries to survive and escape as those who love her search desperately for her before it’s too late.
Dangerous Ledges is a very easy read that explores some dark areas of the human psyche. Ledge tries his best, in his eyes, to be kind, caring, and loving, but The Demon is never far away. At no point does he seem to be aware of how wrong it was to kidnap Liza. There is a strong vibe of “If I can’t have you, nobody will,” throughout the book, and Raynes does a good job of building the sense of foreboding, the anxiety about what Ledge really intends Liza’s fate to be as the book progresses. She also sowed seeds of doubt in my mind about the involvement of some of the players in the story, an aspect I found very satisfying.
Some of the side characters lacked depth for me; superficial and devoid of the grittiness that good characters have. I couldn’t warm to Liza and Ledge’s twin children, and the senior detective might have worked better with a touch more cynicism, perhaps. Liza’s strong will resonated with me though – she never gave up, never stopped planning, and was prepared to go to almost any length to survive and execute her escape plan. Almost any length.
Ledge was horrible. I loathed him from the start. As a protagonist, he was an excellent study in the “wolf in sheep’s clothing” principle, his public face very different from that of The Demon he became when angry. The author’s notes at the back of the book intimated that she felt a sympathetic connection with him that wasn’t there for me. I wanted him to get his, right from the get-go.
This was Raynes’s debut, and the storytelling and bold portrayal of the difficult subject of mental health suggests that she has promise as an author. I am pedantic about typos, unnecessary words, repeated words, and plot holes, and I feel that Raynes’s editor missed several things that irritated me, but perhaps won’t bother most people. Whilst I freely admit to a few tuts, they did not overwhelm my enjoyment of the story. I presumed the title of the book was a pun, with the protagonist being called Ledge.
Dangerous Ledges is well worth a read. I recommend it, and although there are a few cliches and the aforementioned glitches, it’s a fun book that you should consume in a very short time.
All books by Fallon Raines are available for purchase at: https://amzn.to/3S8Q1st
(Review By Hayley Price)
