On The Edge (Book Review)

On the Edge by Gillian Cross, is a mystery and horror for teenagers who like solving problems, in addition, Gillian Cross is an author of children’s books and she has won the Carnegie Medal and several awards throughout her life. In this novel, she tries to show the people through either exciting or difficult situations and have to fight battles with themselves as well as with the world. Before finding freedom or peace of mind. She tries to illustrate how her books fit into the wider world we live in. Her stories have many settings. But, On the Edge is set in time when rock music was very popular in 1984 in the USA.

This story tells about a young boy named Tug who got kidnapped by a couple who were terrorists who have a fundamental perception that children should be released from their families. In other words, they believed family is a prison for children. Kids should be given freedom of their own. During the time, Tug was hid with by a man who was a terrorist, he was on holiday. Tug was visiting his grandparents at that time, apparently, he sneaked into their yard with Jenny, a friend of his, and they wanted to catch a chicken. Jenny tried to exclude him for getting into the yard. Nonetheless, He did not listen to her. So, Jenny left him and back to her house. In the morning, he was surprised, he found himself in an old and small room with a window near the roof. Suddenly, He started to forget who he was. His actual name was Liam, son of the prime minister. The story made me stay up until the wee hours. It was an outstanding and breath-taking story. Although, it is for children and intermediate readers, I found it was quite fascinating for the young-adult age.

The author has accomplished to achieve her purpose in this story. Moreover, it needs critical and logic understanding to find the excitement of the book. As well, some of the plots are brainstormed what will occur in the next chapter. The plot was good despite several interchanges that seem questionable about the terrorists kidnapped Tug to be an example of their beliefs. From my viewpoint, it does not make sense as of the characterization. . Overall, I personally recommended this book for anyone who is fond of horror and mystery books. You would feel by yourself how Tug survived the mind games of the terrorists. The story makes you feel as if you are the character of the story in On the Edge.