The Edge of Justice - Hardcover

McKinzie, Clinton

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 038533625X ISBN 13: 9780385336253

Publisher: Delacorte Press, 2002

Synopsis

A woman lies dead in the shadow of a Rocky Mountain peak. To the police who found her, she was just another thrill-seeking climber who fell to her death. But to a cop who has climbed all his life, this fall was no accident. He knows that a killer is in these mountains, and that the next victim has already been chosen. Now the only way to stop a series of murders is to go where the killer is--up to the pinnacle of terror. . .

Combining high-altitude climbing action with sizzling courtroom drama and raw tension, The Edge of Justice is a thriller like no other. Set amid the towering beauty of Wyoming and the gritty underbelly of crime, here is storytelling on a grand scale--a gut-wrenching debut novel that features one of recent fiction’s most original and complex heroes: Special Agent Antonio Burns--climber, cop, brother, son, risk-taker. Burns knows the hunger that drives climbers up the faces of mountains--it’s a hunger that has shaped his life and pushed his brother, Roberto, onto the wrong side of the law.

A climber by nature, a cop by trade, Anton has come to Laramie, Wyoming, to investigate a young woman’s deadly plunge. But as he digs deeper into the case, Anton is certain he has found a murder...and a stunning connection to the trial of two men about to be executed for a crime they did not commit. But Anton is running out of time. As two lives hang in the balance, another woman is killed, and Anton believes the answers he seeks are hidden amid a dangerous group of climbers. . .and in the towering shadows of jagged peaks. Suddenly, Anton knows he has only one option. With a beautiful reporter sharing his investigation, he must make a harrowing ascent up a forbidding mountainside--to bring a killer down from the deadliest kind of high. .

Racing to a white-knuckle climax on treacherous high-altitude terrain, The Edge of Justice is a novel of runaway tension: fresh, intelligent, and as unforgettably menacing as it gets.

About this title

Review:

Penzler Pick, April 2002: In his accomplished first novel, Clinton McKinzie introduces an interesting, complicated protagonist in Antonio Burns, a special agent whose family was originally from Argentina. His grandfather owned a ranch (which is still in the family), and his father taught Burns how to climb. And, oh yes, Burns has a brother serving a long jail sentence in the United States.

Burns has earned the nickname Quickdraw for shooting down three drug dealers before they could shoot him, and the investigation of that incident still hangs over his head. As the book opens he is in Laramie, Wyoming, attending the trial and sentencing of the Knapp brothers, who are accused of raping, torturing, and killing a young girl. The verdict would seem to be a foregone conclusion, as is the death penalty. Two years after the killers of Matthew Shepherd were spared the ultimate penalty, Laramie is anxious to show it can be tough on crime.

When Burns is not at the courthouse, he is relaxing with his dog Oso at Vedauwoo, a difficult climbing region much loved by the local community. When a young woman falls to her death while climbing with a group, her death is ruled an accident because the young climbers were up on the rocks drinking and fooling around. But when Burns inspects the site of the accident and looks at the girl's injuries, he begins to suspect foul play.

As he gets to know the core group of climbers led by the charismatic Billy Heller, who takes an immediate dislike to Burns, he is even more suspicious because of the hold Heller has over the young female climbers. Burns also begins to get involved with one of the attractive climbers, something he immediately regrets when he meets Rachel, a reporter from The Denver Post.

Burns has a complicated personal life, but he is a good cop and it soon becomes clear to him that the climbing death of the young girl, which is soon followed by other deaths, is connected to something going on in the climbing community and this, in turn, casts doubt on the conviction and sentencing of the Knapp brothers.

McKinzie weaves a fascinating and very readable story here. With climbing scenes that are authentically exciting and very plausible characters, this is an impressive first novel. --Otto Penzler

From the Back Cover:

PRAISE FOR THE EDGE OF JUSTICE

“McKinzie knows his wild Wyoming, and also how to keep things moving briskly.... [The Edge of Justice] gets good marks for ringing a change or two on the chase thriller, and we’re now promised a prequel, starring the same gutsy hero.”
-Publishers Weekly

“An adrenaline-pumping, heart-pounding thrill ride with a terrifying climax that left me clenching for a handhold.”
--Tess Gerritsen

“One of the strongest debuts of the year.”
--Chicago Tribune

About this edition

• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 038533625X
• ISBN 13: 9780385336253
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336