Review by Kathi IssermanRoselle Graskey’s Life’s Little Edge is a well written, gripping story with an unusual plot.
No one is who they seem to be in this story about former Army Sergeant Callan O’Malley turned biker and gunrunner. The story begins with flashes of the injured sergeant in an Army hospital during Desert Storm where she meets Lt. Ellen Rivers, a nurse who treats her wounds. After O’Malley gets home, she eventually hooks up with Rivers, and they fall in love. Three years later, Rivers dies in a tragic accident. Fast forward to O’Malley exiting a prison where she has served time, and we are brought to the present day with a heated poker game in the bikers’ club. In this game, she wins a woman named Terri with an all or nothing bet by Terri’s abusive boyfriend, Trey. As a biker, she must accept this bet and accept Terri as her woman when she wins, or O’Malley will put both of their lives in jeopardy. Terri’s ex starts spreading rumors that Terri is a cop so Terri and O’Malley have to pretend they are lovers to protect themselves.
In Life’s Little Edge, O’Malley is the heart and soul of the plot and Graskey illustrates all of her dimensions. She cultivates a complicated character that is flawed and honorable simultaneously, who has anger, regrets, strength and tenderness all at once. While O’Malley treats Terri well, she also carries a lot of rage and takes it out on her fellow bikers at times. O’Malley fights the demons of her past while participating in illegal activities in the present. O’Malley’s and Terri’s love scenes are scorching and add force to the story.
Life’s Little Edge uses flashbacks and O’Malley’s memories successfully to fill the reader in on the back-story, but Graskey does not give away anything too early as she leaves out critical plot points that prevent the reader from figuring out where this story is headed. We, as the reader, are left with anticipation as to how Terri and O’Malley get to where they are now. Their pasts don’t add up, and we must keep the pages turning to find out. We are brought into the dangerous world of drug dealing, gunrunning, dirty cops and possible murder, but with a cast of characters who have CIA, Army and Air Force backgrounds, we do not know who the criminals are and who the good guys are. Even in the final pages, we are captivated by this riveting story and do not get closure until the last word is written.
It is said that the best storytellers write about what they know. Graskey, as an Army veteran, has done just that. I highly recommend this thrilling one of a kind love story.
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