The Edge of Alone: A Ryan Lock Crime Thriller

Ryan Lock #7

by Sean Black

For fans of Harlan Coben, Robert Crais and Lee Child.

An isolated school for troubled teens. A series of mysterious deaths. A father frantically trying to rescue his daughter before it's too late.

But when the law won't listen, who can he turn to?

"This series is ace. There are deservedly strong Lee Child comparisons as the author is also a Brit, his novels US-based, his character appealing, and his publisher the same." - Sarah Broadhurst, The Bookseller

"This is a writer, and a hero, to watch." - Geoffrey Wansell, The Daily Mail 

"Black's style is supremely slick." - Jeremy Jehu, The Daily Telegraph 

"The pace of Lee Child, and the heart of Harlan Coben." - Joseph Finder, New York Times Bestseller (Paranoia, Buried Secrets) 
"The heir apparent to Lee Child" - Ken Bruen, Internationally Bestselling Author of The Guards 

'Ryan Lock (is) a protagonist tough enough to take on the Jacks of this world (that's Bauer and Reacher)' - Russel McLean

'Black's star just keeps on rising.' - Evening Telegraph

Genres: Thriller, Action, Fiction

Kindle Edition

First published July 10, 2016

About the author

I write the Ryan Lock series of thrillers, which feature ex-military bodyguard Ryan Lock and his partner, former Marine, Ty Johnson. The first two books in the series, Lockdown and Deadlock, hit the Official UK Top 50 Bestseller Chart, and the third, Gridlock, has just been released in hardback. They have have also been translated into Dutch, German, and Russian.

I'm a firm believer in hands-on research, also known as 'any excuse to get out of the house', so before I wrote Lockdown, I trained for a month with former members of the Royal Military Police's specialist close protection unit. That turned out to be great preparation for Deadlock, which I researched by spending time inside Pelican Bay Supermax in California (see the TV interview on my author page). I recently completed a desert survival course in Arizona and ventured into the tunnels under Las Vegas, all as preparation for a new standalone thriller I will begin work on once I have completed the fourth Ryan Lock book.

Before I became a full-time novelist, I taught college and wrote television drama. I'm an Oxbridge and Ivy League graduate – try not to hold that against me.

Reviews

[Best Crime Books & More · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay so I know that a half star is being finicky but hey, I can be as finicky as I like I guess. Many of you will know I am a HUGE fan of the Ryan Lock books by Sean Black. This latest instalment is absolutely no different and if anything the series is getting better with each book. So why the loss of half a star? Well it's simply too short for my liking. At only 275 pages, it's certainly not his longest instalment and I felt a little bit like it should have been longer. That minor gripe aside, Sean Black has done a superb job at once again taking us on Ryan Lock and Ty Johnson's latest job.

For those that maybe aren't familiar Ryan Lock an ex-soldier turned Bodyguard and his partner Tyrone Johnson have their own firm where they take on all sorts of jobs, from minding Rock Stars, to more sedate jobs like locating people. In this case a father is trying to locate his daughter and ensure her well-being. I don't want to go into too much detail for fear of plot spoiling, but suffice to say I knew nothing of the practices that occur in this book. Sean Black has an ability to tune into areas that are maybe not as known or talked about in mainstream Britain (or if they are it's not something I have read a lot about).

Shockingly, Ryan and Ty don't even make an appearance until a third of the way in, but it makes sense as the story builds giving you an idea of what the characters are going through. The story reeled me in immediately and the writing is as flawless as ever. The pace is hefty and for once we see Ty being the focus of the story as Ryan takes somewhat of a back seat. There is plenty of action, and even if you haven't read the other books in the series this could easily be read as a standalone. The pages flew by and I read this in one sitting! It seems like Sean Black only gets better with each book he produces. One of THE most underrated authors in my opinion. I truly feel like he is up there at the top with the best of them and his fans will LOVE this latest book.

The only thing I can hope for is the next book is a bit longer as I feel like my outings with Ty and Lock at probably once a year are certainly not frequent enough to give me my 'fix'. Sean Blacks books are my drug of choice and as much as I am not a 'pusher' EVERYBODY who reads this genre should be trying these bad boys. Believe me, once you start you won't want to stop!

[itchy · Rating 4 out of 5]

brief synopsis:
our bodyguards take on a principal subjected to a behavior modification program.

setting:
main setting undisclosed
los angeles, california
washington, dc

named personalities:
brice walker - a deliveryman; a former bail bondsman
mike - brice's business partner; also a former bail bondsman
ruth catherine price aka sleeping beauty - the principal
sandra andrews price - ruth's mother
jacob 'jake' - a kid subjected to electro shock therapy
rachel 'little miss perfect' - an eighteen year old who decided to stay with broken ridge
gretchen applewhite - a frumpy looking woman in her fifties
chris fontaine - broken ridge's deputy director
leaf - a trooper
claudette - a cashier
merlin - ruth's cat
donald 'don' price - ruth's father; the client
mary harper - an overweight girl with red hair
amanda - a girl with lanky blonde hair and elfin features
santa claus - a legendary figure
abby - a fidgety girl with large brown eyes and oily skin
ty johnson aka mark cross - a former us marine from california
ryan lock - ty's business partner
albert - gretchen's german-born father
carmen - an la based criminal defense attorney that ryan had been dating for a couple of months
kelsey reese - a broken ridge staff member who had been killed
willard lowsen - a local who had been arrested and subsequently confessed to killing kelsey
aidan lewis - a level six kid who'd been in broken ridge for three years
dwyer - the sheriff; gretchen's brother-in-law
jennifer 'jenny' oates - a kid who commited suicide in broken ridge barn
patricia oates - jennifer's mother
lacey - patricia's other daughter
miriam toms - a little old lady who has a poor opinion of broken ridge
susan kranston - of the washington post
adam - a scrawny fourteen-year-old with ears that stuck out
corey - a fifteen-year-old who stuttered
gabriel mansur - a fourteen-year-old going to coral bay in florida

typo:
p55: "there has to be a reason."
"i guess there does," said ruth.

p65: "...everyone else has done there ten...."

p110: lock took them over to the laptop and placed the first card into the card that was hooked up to the laptop with a usb cable.

p110: he set the laptop to transferring the date before turning back to ty.

p150: "my client's one of those guys that as much as he doesn't like his son't behavior, if anything happened to him at one of these places... well, let's just say it would get real ugly, real fast," said lock, turning and heading for the door.

p168: "which where?"

p169: that there newest member of staff had everything he needed.

p189: from punishments that would ruled illegal in a county, state or federal prison to all kinds of abuse by staff members that should have seem them in court, to straight up psychological manipulation and brain-washing that may not have been illegal, but was certainly unethical, miriam toms related it all.

narrative:
p209: glancing back up towards the pick up truck from the hollow in the ground he'd found, lock couldn't make out the driver. (at this point lock should be in a diner with don.)

p209: the figure stood parallel to the truck, about ten yards to the side of the driver's door. (what's that?)

nice, looks like they upgraded their guns.
and there's the p this time!
there seems to be more typos here, most of which are misspelling of sound-alikes.
and, there's that mention of lock when it was supposed to be johnson!
are we getting carmen's backstory soon?

[Shirley Hartman-Rozee · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is difficult to write this review: Ryan And Ty are in a situation entirely different from their usual dead bodies galore, this book's drama involves children and psychological and physical abuse at the hands of the headmistress and staff at a "school for the problem child". I sincerely hope there are no schools in existence like the one Sean Black describes. I do agree that there is a desperate need for help with problem children, but absolutely disagree with their methods. For those readers who just can't live without a dead body or two, well you won't be disappointed, and Ty does some great undercover work. I enjoyed reading this book and give it a 5/5.

[Gail Mchugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another amazing ride. I am only sorry this is the last book for a while. There is no doubt camps or homes like these exist. And the fact that at least one if not more of the 'councilors' took advantage of these children is outrageous. Ruth was spoiled and indulged to the point where she could not be disciplined however that kind of boot camp is not the answer. In my day the threat was military school.

[Frank Roberto · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book.

I’ve been reading this series for a while and they keep getting better. The subject of kids being sent somewhere to be brainwashed into being better is a tough subject and the author presented it very well.

[E.R. Yatscoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed it. A different scenario of a school for brats that goes out of control. A bit thin on the school and could have used more info on it to flesh it out like how many teens, staff, and dorms. And what happened to Greta

[Jillian Higham · Rating 4 out of 5]

My very first Sean Black book and I really enjoyed it. Terrific storyline of a school for incorrigible teenagers that is out of control. Loved Ty and Ryan as the heroes. Read it in two sittings. Four stars only because I wanted to know what happened to the guilty parties at the end.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've really been enjoying this series. This school is just awful and to know this practice just continues on but someplace else is just awful.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read . Easy reading with plenty of storyline ..

[Ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I am going to be honest, The Edge of Alone was probably my most anticipated book of the year due to the simple fact that it has been almost a year and a half since I have had the pleasure of reading about Lock and Ty. I was so excited to finally have another Ryan Lock story that I tore through it in just two days and all I can say is that it was definitely worth the wait because The Edge of Alone is a great read.

The Edge of Alone is Sean Black’s sixth novel featuring close protection specialist Ryan Lock. When Ruth Price is sent to Broken Ridge Academy, a school for troubled teenagers, by her mother, Ruth’s father hires Ryan Lock and his best friend Ty to figure out how to get her back. While Ty goes undercover as an employee at the school, Lock does some digging and finds that Ruth may be in more danger than anyone could imagine.

This book is a little bit different to most of the previous novels in the series as Lock investigating rather than using his skills as a bodyguard, but it also has the same feel as the others as it is jam packed with action, intrigue and an interesting story. It was a little weird that Lock and Ty don’t actually appear until about a third of the way through the book, but I didn’t really notice I was that far through at the time because Black writes in such a way that I just get sucked in and entranced with the words on the page.

The plot itself was engaging and interesting, if a little short. I would have liked to have seen the plot stretched out a little bit more, although that’s just because the book was on the short side. Black did a good job of characterisation when it came to Ruth as I was genuinely invested in her plight, while he also did a good job of setting the staff at Broken Ridge up as formidable antagonists. All in all, the story was as strong as most other Lock books and it had the action, mystery and suspense you’d expect.

There were two key issues that I have with this book though. The first is that it felt like Lock took a back seat and Ty was the main character. Don’t get me wrong, I like Ty as a character but Lock is by far the more interesting character and I would have liked to see him have a bigger role in the book. The second gripe is that the editing is below par and it does detract from the story when characters change names and stuff like that halfway through a paragraph.

In summary, The Edge of Alone is a good read with an interesting story and well-written action but it is let down a touch by poor editing and the fact that Lock takes a back seat. Despite that, it was great to be able to read about Lock and Ty again and hopefully it is not long until we see them in the seventh book of the series!

Is it worth a read? If you’re a fan of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, Matt Hilton’s Joe Hunter or any other series with a strong lead character who does whatever it takes to do the right thing, then Sean Black’s Ryan Lock series and the latest instalment The Edge of Alone will be right up your alley.

This review was originally published at Worth a Read.

[James Gazzard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this series.

For me this story started too slowly and ended too fast. The first 3rd of the book took me ages to trickle through as it just didn't grab my attention. I almost forgot it was a lock novel. Once Lock and Ty came into the story it was much better and I finished it in 2 or 3 sittings. The ending was an anti climax in some regards though, I thought the main baddie didn't get to show us what she could/would do.

[Jeff Benham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ryan and Ty are hired by a father to find his daughter who had been sent to a private institution by the client's ex-wife. There are some strange things going on there, however, and a couple of children had died while in their care. Ty goes undercover as a counselor while Ryan investigates from the outside. It doesn't take long for the action to get going.

[David J. Sanfey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolute rubbish

Ignore this book and others in series. Baldly written and edited ( mistakes in plot and misspellings elsewhere) unbelievable characters and worst of all nonsense derivative plot

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a really poor addition to what has been an excellent range of thrillers

[Robbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story; fast-paced, likeable characters. I rate it 4.7 stars.

[Cameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another great book from Sean Black.

Already looking forward to the next book