A review by tasharobinson
The Edge of Nowhere by Elizabeth George

3.0

I was a little dubious about this YA novel, given that the protagonist is a teenage girl with mind-reading powers that no one else seems to have, which falls into a major current cliche of young-adult books, where the main character is the most special-est snowflake with amazing unique powers. But I ended up enjoying this a good bit; the telepathy thing sets up the action, when the character overhears something that puts her life in danger, and it adds a little flavor to the story, as the protagonist tries to fit in after moving to a new place, and ignore what she overhears from other people. Mostly, the story is about her adapting to a new community, trying to solve a mystery there, and suffering the envy and wrath of another resident. Just as compelling—it's also about the residents of her new home, Washington State's Whidbey Island, and the prejudices and connections and backstories they had years before she came along. Her story is mildly compelling, but what makes this worth reading is the way she's dropped into a rich environment in which everyone seems to be hanging onto the past — onto a relationship that's already failed, a childhood trauma, guilt over an accident, a bad upbringing, a hastily made and wrongheaded impression of another person — and it affects everyone's lives. It's good the setting is so complex, because this is the first in a series, and the end of the book isn't entirely satisfying, with multiple side plotlines left dangling, along with the overplot that sent the protagonist to the island in the first place. I'd be interested in seeing where this series goes from here.