The Edge of Recall

by: Kristen Meitzmann

If were not for the fact that my online book club through Goodreads, Christian Fiction Devourers, was reading this book for the month of October, I would not have read this. Or would have put it town after about 1/4 way into the book.

The main character Tess, builds Labyrinths, which has a meaning behind it. (She explains how Labyrinths, unlike mazes that take you around and back out where you started, they take you to the center and lead you out to another path, the future.)

As I read the book I was annoyed by Tess' character. She has a hard time trusting people in her life, especially men. And since most of the characters in this book are men, she has a hard time trusting all of them. She ends up taking a job with an old friend from her past, Smith and his assistant Bair. Smith and Tess' have a rocky relationship, given that she once had feelings for him and he had let her down in her dream to build Labyrinths. But when a dream job opens up with him to build one, she takes it.

The relationship with Tess and Smith is frustrating. From Tess' inabliity to trust and Smith's inablity to commit. To add to the story line, there is a "monster" that is stalking them on the property. He is moving equipment and stealing things in hopes of discouraging them from being there.

This "monster" only plays into part of Tess' past with labyrinths, which she has nightmares about. Tess has a therapist that helps her work through her memories of her father and labyrinths that are at the edge of recall.

When Tess and Smith are confronted face to face with the "monster", Smith is fighting for his life while Tess is getting closer to the mystery of her father and the reason she can't trust.

There are so many components in this book. Relationships, a cruel boss, the Labyrinths, Tess' past, her father, it's just too much. Tess' character only gets better once she discovers the truth behind her father and the memory she had forgotten. And even then she has such a 180 degree turn it doesn't seem realistic to change that drastically, that fast. I wished her character had been that way from the beginning.

The monster was just to odd to begin with. They took that part of the story through twists and turns of ghost stories and Tess' imagination, I wasn't fond of this character in the book at all. Though the mystery that finally comes out at the end of the book was good, it was over shadowed by everything else. The best part of the book was the last 10 pages!

I would not recommend this book. It isn't awful, it's just wasn't a story I enjoyed. Though I can tell others in my reading group did like it. I'm not sure I would discount this author, I might try another one of her stories. Maybe one with a topic that interests me would be better. I do have to say; it's not on the top of my reading list at this time.