On the Edge, by Julie Coulter
Bellon
Reviewed
by Jennie Hansen
Don’t
let the cover fool you. Julie Coulter Bellon’s new release
On the Edge is not some kind of geography or travel book.
It’s a first rate adventure novel done up in misleading
packaging. Actually the cover is quiet attractive -- for a National
Geographic offering.
From the first
paragraph, I was hooked on a tale of two intelligence officers,
one a CIA agent from the United States and the other, a Canadian
Security Intelligence Service agent, pursuing the same terrorist
leader without either knowing the other’s true reason for
being in the third world nation of Uganda. The Canadian agent,
Dylan Campbell, is on a fact-finding mission not long after recuperating
from a bullet wound received during another case. His cover is
that he’s a photo-journalist. He’s also a recent convert
to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who is considering
retiring from the service in order to attend church on a regular
basis, get married, and start a family. He even has a particular
young woman in mind when he dreams of marrying and settling down.
A beautiful, caring volunteer nurse at the Kampala hospital has
caught his attention. For him, the life of an agent has lost its
adventurous appeal. He just wants to get the information he was
sent to find and head back to Canada. Only heading back to Canada
doesn’t go as planned.
Elizabeth
Spencer is a CIA agent sent to Africa to infiltrate a terrorist
group suspected of preparing a biological weapon to strike against
the United States. A private hospital in Uganda appears to have
a connection with the terrorist leader, and Elizabeth arrives
there as a volunteer nurse intent on relieving the suffering of
the impoverished people of Kampala. She is working with a partner
and reports to a supervisor who behaves suspiciously. Her careful
ground work in establishing a trusting relationship with the terrorist
leader is threatened when a Canadian photo-journalist she has
befriended shows up at an inopportune moment. When Dylan is suspected
of being a spy, Elizabeth is forced to jeopardize her own safety
in order to keep him from becoming a test subject for the terrorists’
biological weapon.
Bellon weaves
a multi-layered story together in a satisfying fashion. First
there’s international intrigue straight out of today’s
headlines, as Elizabeth and Dylan work to stop terrorists who
have a biological weapon in their hands and are obsessed with
destroying the United States. A biological attack on the United
States would not stop at the Canadian border, but would have a
catastrophic effect on Canada as well. There’s also a story
of terrible poverty and intimidation fostered by a corrupt third
world government. Romance develops between the two agents whose
instincts tell each of them to trust the other, but circumstantial
evidence and a suspicion that the other isn’t who he/she
claims to be throws up believable roadblocks. Another story quietly
shows the growing testimony and faith of a recent convert to the
Gospel.
On
the Edge is a quick but satisfying read. The characters,
especially Dylan, are well-developed and the minor native characters
are fleshed out enough to allow readers to sympathize with them.
More could have been explained about the terrorist leader’s
background, but enough is given to provide a feel for his hatred
and obsession. The setting is particularly well done and leaves
the reader feeling intimately acquainted with a third world nation.
The wrap-up, following the end of the suspense story, is a little
more drawn out than is comfortable to me, but is handled better
than in her first novel. With this second novel, Julie Coulter
Bellon has established herself as an author worth watching for.
