Edge

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

Diane Tullson’s second young-adult novel tackles the issue of bullying
in today’s post-Columbine schools, but she does so with a twist
wherein the bullied become those to be feared.

In her first year of high school, Marlie Peters, a socially isolated
14-year-old, is being tormented by Loren “The Terminator” Miller
when she is befriended by Ravin, whose self-appointed duty is
“rescuing” the school’s losers and providing them with a place of
sanctuary. Ironically, Marlie finds herself in greater physical danger
when Mike Allard, one of the members of this supposed support group,
deviously manipulates its members into participating in his elaborate
scheme to disrupt the school’s Christmas dance. Armed with water guns
filled with red paint, the losers will attack the school’s elite.
However, Mike’s insistence that the water guns physically resemble
real weapons leads Marlie to believe that Mike may be seeking a greater
revenge.

A second storyline running through Edge involves Marlie’s divorced
parents and her six-year-old brother Elliot. For failing to return his
children following a visitation, Marlie’s father, Brad, can now see
them only in the presence of a social worker. At the book’s outset,
Brad, who suffers from depression, has picked up Elliot from school, and
the pair’s whereabouts remains a mystery for most of the story.

Tullson’s recreation of the social structure of a contemporary high
school rings true, and in Mike she has created an emotionally disturbed
adolescent villain who, in terms of his being able to manipulate those
around him, rivals Mark Kinney of Lois Duncan’s Killing Mr. Griffin.
Highly recommended.