The Water's Edge

by Daniel Judson

Book Overview

When Jake "Payday" Bechet hears that two men have been murdered a few miles from where he lives in the Hamptons--hanged fromthe Shinnecock Bridge, their hands severed--he knows that trouble is coming.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312352549
• ISBN13: 9780312352547
• Release Date: June 2008
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 374 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.7" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Caught

I first started reading Dan Judson's books because I knew him in college. I figured, help out an old friend by buying his books, right? Not anymore; my sole motivation now is because they're damned good. I can't put them down, and I'm someone that doesn't normally read this genre. Based on how much I enjoyed his previous books, I pre-ordered The Water's Edge, and already have my sights set on the thirteenth of October when his next, The Violet Hour, will be released. Dan's got me hooked, and I'm sure that sometime in mid-October I'll be stumbling into work bleary-eyed because I've been up all night reading. Again.

This book is a winner

Jake Bechet is an ex-boxer and an ex-enforcer for a South American crime family. Tommy Miller, son of a former corrupt police chief is a retired P.I. with a penchant for mood-altering drugs. The two men do not know each other. Yet. Their lives intersect on the night two men are hung from a local bridge. Both have had their hands hacked off. It's a gruesome murder that is sending a message to...someone. Jake Bechet is roused from his sleep to learn of the murders. Tommy Miller's life changes when he learns of the murders. The two men find themselves working together and separately to solve the gruesome killings. Bechet is forced by the crime family he worked for to investigate. If he doesn't do what they say, many of those he loves could lose their lives-and at the top of the list is a woman named Gabrielle. Tommy's feeling the pressure from the new police chief. In twenty-four hours the men must solve the murders, or suffer the consequences. The Water's Edge is a fast-paced crime novel about human behavior at its best and worst. It's also about loss, betrayal, redemption and desperation-the desperation to escape one's past and save the present and keep safe those important people in their lives. It's a gripping read that keeps the reader turning the pages. I am now going to search out Judson's earlier novels, The Darkest Place, The Bone Orchard and The Poisoned Rose. Armchair Interviews says: The Water's Edge by Daniel Judson is a winner.

the shadows in Plato's cave

This novel has a flavor similar to Judson's other novels set in the same locale with many of the same characters--Darkest Place, Poisoned Rose, and Bone Orchard. As with those novels, the strength lies in the setting, the atmosphere, and the dark undercurrents of a wealthy Long Island resort town. The other novels had shadowy characters--not necessarily in a sinister sense, but rather that you felt rather than saw their presence--a fleeting shadow, a half-finished cup of coffee left behind, drying shoeprints in a hallway--Water's Edge is similar. Plato had a wonderful image of seeing shadows in a cave: that describes Judson's works very well. You have the good guys and the bad: Bechet, whom the gangster Castello tries to manipulate, and Miller, who police chief Roffman tries to manipulate. You have Castello's vicious henchmen, and cops who may or may not be crooked, working under Roffman, who is Castello's tool. For a town that hasn't had a murder in 6 years [I think this was said] we suddenly, in the course of a day, get bodies all over the place. Castello gives Bechet 24 hours to come up with a solution, Roffman does more or less the same for Miller. This certainly results in lots of action, but it seemed somewhat artificial--so the story would be finished quickly, one way or another. There's really nothing that justifies that kind of time pressure. Eventually, of course, Bechet and Miller must get together. Bechet has been drawn as a much more commanding, dominating presence than Miller--he's a much more complex character. Eventually also we get a solution--one of those talky ones where people explain everything. It does help wrap things up, but somehow it's not all that satisfying. Perversely, in a way, it might have been more satisfying to leave things without a nice solution--like the final episode of The Sopranos. The figures casting the shadows in Plato's cave are perhaps best left unseen forever. Looking back over Judson's other books which I read a year or two ago, I cannot remember much about the plot details (as dark and convoluted as Water's Edge), but the atmosphere and setting has stuck with me--that's the strength here.

Daniel Judson delivers another great read !!

I have read all of Mr. Judson's titles and they just keep getting better. All the titles are in some way related be it the area or acquaintances. The characters weave their stories amongst each other either knowingly or unknowingly. Names from previous books pop up and while you do not have to read the previous titles it is always interesting to see a name from the past. I have been waiting patiently for this title to be released....and Mr. Judson, as always, delivers !! The male leads are all strong with pasts that sometimes haunt the present. The women are all a strong presence, even Abby, who we just know from people thinking about her but never actually get to meet her on a personal level as to how she thinks and feels. The violence is here, the mystery is here and the end is great. The ride to get there is filled with all kinds of trouble and the time period is a day. Whew. I must say when I get to the end of a book by Mr. Judson I always feel I could turn around and read the title again with just as much enjoyment as the first time out. Thank you.

exhilarating crime thriller

Off a Southampton, Long Island bridge hang two severely battered corpses; the victims turn out to be drug couriers, but law enforcement is stymied as someone is providing a warning message to someone else, but the transmitter and receiver remain unknown to the cops. Former boxer Jake Bechet understands the message is the medium as he used to be a mob enforcer for the merciless Castello family. He is blackmailed into investigating by Castello thugs who threaten his loved ones. At the same time that Bechet deals with "hostages", retired private investigator Tommy Miller realizes a former lover is connected to the dead men; the current police chief who replaced Miller's corrupt dad pressures him to investigate, but he planned to anyway. He searches for her to keep her safe with assistance of ex cop Kay Barton. The three sleuths share in common a need to hide from their respective pasts and a chance for redemption by insuring their loved ones are safe. The nasty weather symbolizes this exhilarating crime thriller as three people who each feel they respectively failed at life find an opportunity to redeem themselves while searching for clues in fog and heavy cold rain that they hope wash away the past. The prime threesome are unique fully developed characters with the intimate knowledge of the Hamptons making those Long Island communities come across as a fourth entity. In twenty fours they will either fail or be redeemed, but keep in mind suspense and twists are throughout and the ending is pure Daniel Judson. Harriet Klausner