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Edge of Darkness
Diana Collins charges at life with an irreverent comment and a right hook, but even her hard-headed attitude may not be enough to protect her heart...or her life.
As a senior investigator for a high-end insurance company, Diana searches for the person responsible for the theft of several rare weapons. Diana struggles to protect her burgeoning relationship with kindergarten teacher Cami Michaelson, as the investigation leads her into a bitter world of rage and revenge. Diana uncovers one damning piece of evidence after another that challenges everything she knows about right and wrong. She finds her hard-driving work ethic, which demands the thief be held accountable, at odds with the desire to protect her new friend, Ali Sandoval, who is caught in the center of the conflict. As Diana is drawn deeper into a dark subculture of sex, power, and death, Ali must choose between vengeance and peace as she struggles to escape with her sanity intact.
As a senior investigator for a high-end insurance company, Diana searches for the person responsible for the theft of several rare weapons. Diana struggles to protect her burgeoning relationship with kindergarten teacher Cami Michaelson, as the investigation leads her into a bitter world of rage and revenge. Diana uncovers one damning piece of evidence after another that challenges everything she knows about right and wrong. She finds her hard-driving work ethic, which demands the thief be held accountable, at odds with the desire to protect her new friend, Ali Sandoval, who is caught in the center of the conflict. As Diana is drawn deeper into a dark subculture of sex, power, and death, Ali must choose between vengeance and peace as she struggles to escape with her sanity intact.
241 pages, Paperback
First published April 22, 2008
10 people are currently reading
85 people want to read
About the author
Jove Belle
30 books205 followersJove Belle was born and raised against a backdrop of orchards and potato fields. The youngest of four children, she was raised in a conservative, Christian home and began asking why at a very young age, much to the consternation of her mother and grandmother. At the customary age of eighteen, she fled southern Idaho in pursuit of broader minds and fewer traffic jams involving the local livestock. The road didn’t end in Portland, Oregon, but there were many confusing freeway interchanges that a girl from the sticks was ill-prepared to deal with. As a result, she has lived in the Portland metro area for over fifteen years and still can’t figure out how she manages to spend so much time in traffic when there’s not a stray sheep or cow in sight.
She lives with her partner of twelve years. Between them they share three children, two dogs, two cats, two mortgage payments, one sedan, and one requisite dyke pickup truck. One day she hopes to live in a house that doesn’t generate a never ending honey-do list.
Incidentally, she never stopped asking why, but did expand her arsenal of questions to include who, what, when, where and, most important of all, how. In those questions, a story is born.
She lives with her partner of twelve years. Between them they share three children, two dogs, two cats, two mortgage payments, one sedan, and one requisite dyke pickup truck. One day she hopes to live in a house that doesn’t generate a never ending honey-do list.
Incidentally, she never stopped asking why, but did expand her arsenal of questions to include who, what, when, where and, most important of all, how. In those questions, a story is born.
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September 1, 2012This is the first book I published. I wrote it with my son sitting on my lap. He was 1-2 at the time. He is 8 now. Wow.
January 4, 2016
I wasn't sure how much I would like this one because I'm not typically into suspense/thrillers, but it worked really, really well for me. I really liked that we were let in on who the killer was right away (sort of like Dexter season 1), the romance was fantastic, and every character felt like a real person.
September 1, 2013
This is the first book published by Jove Belle and, therefore, I was prepared for at least some minor glitches in Edge of Darkness. However, I must say that I was quite disappointed by this book and it took me some effort to read it until the end, since nothing in the book managed to really keep me interested.
The fact that I got stuck on the second sentence of the prologue, was not a good sign for what was going to come ahead in terms of prose. Included in the annoying things in the prose of "Edge of Darkness" are, the frequently unfortunate choice of words (e.g. a police car described as a `black and white chariot of justice' with `crimson and cerulean lights'), the overuse of adjectives and similes, the fact that things are continuously being explained to the reader, the abundant infodumps, the frequent inconsistencies and the confusing way time is dealt with.
Setting seems to have been regarded as mostly unimportant. The book is set in Chicago, but the only thing I got from the book regarding the city was that there was a lot of traffic. Most big cities have a lot of traffic so that is certainly not enough for the reader to get a grasp of Chicago. Regarding Diana's work, I suspect the descriptions are not close to reality. It seems from the book that to be an insurance investigator is quite a nice job. As a top insurance investigator all you have to do is drive around a bit in order to do 3 or 4 interviews per week, do some Googling, and one or two phone calls to the police to give you all the information you need. The rest of the time is used to answer personal emails. You get to drive a Mercedes and you probably get well paid since you can even lend temporarily $5000 to the FBI.
Expecting an intrigue (the book is labeled as "Intrigue"), it soon became obvious that the plot is quite poor. Things seem to happen just because it is convenient and, frequently, they do not make sense, namely psychologically. To show how efficient Diana is investigating, the Police are depicted as complete morons although, simultaneously, all the main information is obtained from them. Some things introduced in the plot such as that Diana's investigation would be two weeks ahead of the police (when it was the police that gave all the relevant information for the investigation) as well as the existence of a Police protocol to follow an order in the interviews make no sense at all. At the end of the book the Police conveniently becomes smart to "save" Diana and Cami. There are three subplots that are complete dead ends and I can only conclude that they exist to fill space. Therefore, that leaves as raison d'être for the book, the romance. But even the romance is not well developed. I found it quite unrealistic, with Diana and Cami thinking of living happily ever after only exchanging a dozen words.
A priori, one of the interesting things about the characters was that the person doing the murders does it for a 'good' reason. Not being a black and white situation, this would allow for interesting characterization. Unfortunately, characterization is also a problem, since the characters come as difficult to grasp and, mostly, two-dimensional. We do, however, get a lot of information regarding the clothes they are wearing and Diana and Cami's obsession with having sex with each other. Jove Belle uses extreme physical situations (e.g. Diana's reaction to the website) to portray the characters' emotions to the reader. However, they help alienate the reader from the characters since they are seen as unrealistic situations. A more subtle approach, would probably help make the characters more three-dimensional.
The editing of the book, is not very good, which was a surprise, considering the reputation of the editors for BSB. In summary, in a perfect world, Jove Belle would still be learning the craft and not being published by one of the main lesbian fiction publishers.
The fact that I got stuck on the second sentence of the prologue, was not a good sign for what was going to come ahead in terms of prose. Included in the annoying things in the prose of "Edge of Darkness" are, the frequently unfortunate choice of words (e.g. a police car described as a `black and white chariot of justice' with `crimson and cerulean lights'), the overuse of adjectives and similes, the fact that things are continuously being explained to the reader, the abundant infodumps, the frequent inconsistencies and the confusing way time is dealt with.
Setting seems to have been regarded as mostly unimportant. The book is set in Chicago, but the only thing I got from the book regarding the city was that there was a lot of traffic. Most big cities have a lot of traffic so that is certainly not enough for the reader to get a grasp of Chicago. Regarding Diana's work, I suspect the descriptions are not close to reality. It seems from the book that to be an insurance investigator is quite a nice job. As a top insurance investigator all you have to do is drive around a bit in order to do 3 or 4 interviews per week, do some Googling, and one or two phone calls to the police to give you all the information you need. The rest of the time is used to answer personal emails. You get to drive a Mercedes and you probably get well paid since you can even lend temporarily $5000 to the FBI.
Expecting an intrigue (the book is labeled as "Intrigue"), it soon became obvious that the plot is quite poor. Things seem to happen just because it is convenient and, frequently, they do not make sense, namely psychologically. To show how efficient Diana is investigating, the Police are depicted as complete morons although, simultaneously, all the main information is obtained from them. Some things introduced in the plot such as that Diana's investigation would be two weeks ahead of the police (when it was the police that gave all the relevant information for the investigation) as well as the existence of a Police protocol to follow an order in the interviews make no sense at all. At the end of the book the Police conveniently becomes smart to "save" Diana and Cami. There are three subplots that are complete dead ends and I can only conclude that they exist to fill space. Therefore, that leaves as raison d'être for the book, the romance. But even the romance is not well developed. I found it quite unrealistic, with Diana and Cami thinking of living happily ever after only exchanging a dozen words.
A priori, one of the interesting things about the characters was that the person doing the murders does it for a 'good' reason. Not being a black and white situation, this would allow for interesting characterization. Unfortunately, characterization is also a problem, since the characters come as difficult to grasp and, mostly, two-dimensional. We do, however, get a lot of information regarding the clothes they are wearing and Diana and Cami's obsession with having sex with each other. Jove Belle uses extreme physical situations (e.g. Diana's reaction to the website) to portray the characters' emotions to the reader. However, they help alienate the reader from the characters since they are seen as unrealistic situations. A more subtle approach, would probably help make the characters more three-dimensional.
The editing of the book, is not very good, which was a surprise, considering the reputation of the editors for BSB. In summary, in a perfect world, Jove Belle would still be learning the craft and not being published by one of the main lesbian fiction publishers.
May 18, 2010
I really enjoyed Edge of Darkness. It was great to read a great story with lesbian characters who just were, no added drama of coming out, etc. I giggled as the main character interacts with a potential love interest and didn't want the book to end. (I will probably re-read this too.)
In Edge of Darkness, we follow Diana an insurance investigator off to find a $800k sword that was most likely used to murder a very wealthy man. Little does Diana know she is looking into something more than just a sword but a world of abuse and survival.
In Edge of Darkness, we follow Diana an insurance investigator off to find a $800k sword that was most likely used to murder a very wealthy man. Little does Diana know she is looking into something more than just a sword but a world of abuse and survival.
February 25, 2020
For a first book and a new author for me, I found myself intrigued by the story and the characters. Diana is an insurance investigator in a large firm on the cusp of a large promotion if she can track down the missing katana. There s a love story wrapped up in a mystery with lots of sexual tension. There are some secondary characters that provide side stories that beg for a sequel. While the start of the story was grammatically awkward as the book evolved it grew smoother. I want to read more by this author.to see how she grows into her writing.
January 7, 2014
I only recently started reading Jove Belle near the end of 2013. After reading and enjoying her two most recent releases I decided to start at the beginning. It does suffer from a few "first novel" fumbles but over all I found it very intriguing. The synopsis of the book seemed a little awkward for me and that is probably why I've ignored the novel until now.
Diana is an insurance investigator who is given the task of finding some incredibly valuable knives that have gone missing. Soon enough we learn that these knives were likely used in a murder by a possible serial killer. This case turns out to be very soul wrenching for Diana because of some issues that arise during her investigation involving severe domestic and child abuse. Her search for the knives turns into a search for a killer.
Where this became interesting for me is that we know from the beginning who the killer is. Ali's motivations are known from the beginning and there are several places in the book where we see things from her point of view. She is a very sympathetic character and yet she also brutally murders men. Bad men who have done terrible things and ruined lives. Is this justification? Is Ali a righteous crusader or something altogether terrible? Her journey is very dark and her history even worse. Very interesting character.
Meanwhile Diana is juggling her family and a new love interest. Beautiful blond kindergarten teacher Cami. They met and had a one night stand and when they woke up the next morning Cami slips Diana her number and from there Diana is drawn to her like a moth to the flame. In this book Cami represents all that is good and pure in the world while the other woman in Diana's life, Ali, represents darkness. Edge of Darkness is a mystery/thriller with a bit of romance thrown in. The Cami scenes were incredibly sweet and offered a counterbalance to the other heavier themes in the novel. Cami did seem more like a dream than a person to me and I wish we could have gotten to know her a little bit better. She and Diana spent a lot of time in the bedroom despite the book not really revving up on the "hotness" factor.
I do have some complaints. The book started kind of awkwardly. Diana takes down this gunman in a restaurant where she is supposed to meet her sister and the whole thing just seemed silly. I almost put the book down cause I thought I was in store for a super hero insurance investigator. On top of that she sleeps with Cami for the first time and doesn't remember ANYTHING that happened during their night together. I was wondering if she had been ruffied by this woman. Nope. She was just really drunk. After I got past the first 10-15% of the book though things settled down and it got much better.
I also felt like we were left with a few dangling plot threads. Braxton and the tension she had with Diana and issues in her personal life near the end of the book, the fallout from Mona's stepfathers activities (I'm deliberately being vague), Cami's life outside of the bedroom, ect. The book could have probably used a few more pages.
Overall though this was a pretty cool book. Jove Belle had some great ideas and yes there were a few first book stumbles but she wrote a pretty good novel!
Last thought. The final line of the book. What the heck did that mean?!?! Wow. I like how it ended. I won't forget this book.
Diana is an insurance investigator who is given the task of finding some incredibly valuable knives that have gone missing. Soon enough we learn that these knives were likely used in a murder by a possible serial killer. This case turns out to be very soul wrenching for Diana because of some issues that arise during her investigation involving severe domestic and child abuse. Her search for the knives turns into a search for a killer.
Where this became interesting for me is that we know from the beginning who the killer is. Ali's motivations are known from the beginning and there are several places in the book where we see things from her point of view. She is a very sympathetic character and yet she also brutally murders men. Bad men who have done terrible things and ruined lives. Is this justification? Is Ali a righteous crusader or something altogether terrible? Her journey is very dark and her history even worse. Very interesting character.
Meanwhile Diana is juggling her family and a new love interest. Beautiful blond kindergarten teacher Cami. They met and had a one night stand and when they woke up the next morning Cami slips Diana her number and from there Diana is drawn to her like a moth to the flame. In this book Cami represents all that is good and pure in the world while the other woman in Diana's life, Ali, represents darkness. Edge of Darkness is a mystery/thriller with a bit of romance thrown in. The Cami scenes were incredibly sweet and offered a counterbalance to the other heavier themes in the novel. Cami did seem more like a dream than a person to me and I wish we could have gotten to know her a little bit better. She and Diana spent a lot of time in the bedroom despite the book not really revving up on the "hotness" factor.
I do have some complaints. The book started kind of awkwardly. Diana takes down this gunman in a restaurant where she is supposed to meet her sister and the whole thing just seemed silly. I almost put the book down cause I thought I was in store for a super hero insurance investigator. On top of that she sleeps with Cami for the first time and doesn't remember ANYTHING that happened during their night together. I was wondering if she had been ruffied by this woman. Nope. She was just really drunk. After I got past the first 10-15% of the book though things settled down and it got much better.
I also felt like we were left with a few dangling plot threads. Braxton and the tension she had with Diana and issues in her personal life near the end of the book, the fallout from Mona's stepfathers activities (I'm deliberately being vague), Cami's life outside of the bedroom, ect. The book could have probably used a few more pages.
Overall though this was a pretty cool book. Jove Belle had some great ideas and yes there were a few first book stumbles but she wrote a pretty good novel!
Last thought. The final line of the book. What the heck did that mean?!?! Wow. I like how it ended. I won't forget this book.
May 13, 2008
When a gold katana worth $800K is stolen and used to kill its wealthy, philanthropic owner, Diana Collins is on the case. Charged with recovering the missing sword, the recently promoted senior insurance fraud investigator finds herself delving into the dark underbelly of a world she moves through with ballsy confidence. The search for the missing blade leads Collins to a series of similar murders and the battered and sexually abused women these dead men left behind. Is this a case of victimized women wreaking bloody vengeance against their abusers? Or is there a serial killer on the loose?
For full review, click here.
For full review, click here.
July 2, 2010
The suspense plot is very well written. We know who the killer is straight away, but like a Columbo story, it's the detailed and logical way in which Diana goes about investigating and the conclusions she comes to along the way, plus the unpredictable reactions of Ali, that kept the interest up in this story.
June 26, 2013
3+ stars.
Darker than others by Ms. Belle, this story essentially has two plots ( a romance and thriller) running side by side.
They merge 3/4 into the book in a seamless and believable way. The tension builds to a cliffhanger that potentially clouds a new relationship. Be aware of triggers for those who have experienced domestic abuse.
A great read and I'll continue to buy this author's books.
Darker than others by Ms. Belle, this story essentially has two plots ( a romance and thriller) running side by side.
They merge 3/4 into the book in a seamless and believable way. The tension builds to a cliffhanger that potentially clouds a new relationship. Be aware of triggers for those who have experienced domestic abuse.
A great read and I'll continue to buy this author's books.
April 26, 2014
Pretty interesting how the characters interact. I found it unsual fot its genre.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews