Review: On the Fringe by Courtney King Walker

On the Fringe by Courtney King Walker

Genre: Coming of Age, Young Adult

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Claire is struggling to overcome the murder of her childhood friend and secret crush, Daniel. Everyone else seems to be moving on with their lives, but she's still trying to cope. The fact that she finds herself alone and drowning on her 16th birthday isn't helping. Neither is thinking she sees Daniel's face in murky water as she mysteriously resurfaces. But something happened during those four and a half minutes that will make her realize it was not just her imagination. As Claire and Daniel try to grasp a possible reconnection, other grudge-holding beings have plans of their own. Now, the two of them have to decide if their fleeting relationship is worth the possibility of Claire being trapped on the fringe forever. Beautifully told, On the Fringe intertwines fresh ideas about devotion, revenge, and the consequences that come with life and death.

Many readers categorize this book as Paranormal but though it did have ghosts and the paranormal element. I found it more about a book with a moral about friendship and how it’s one of the greatest things in this world.

Claire is part of a group of four, her older brother, his best friend Daniel and Daniel's little sister. The four are childhood best friends and were inseparable. Until the day Daniel is murdered and their troupe of four shatters as Claire’s older brother drowns himself in College work, and Daniel’s sister finds it hard to look at Claire without crying about Daniel.

One day, Claire finds herself drowning and dies for a few minutes before Daniels ghost saves her. This lets Claire into a place they call “the Fringe” where she can see things that weren’t there before. In her struggle to fight the loneliness and the loss of her secret crush and best friend, Daniel. She is haunted by his killer.

The book itself, isn’t the in depth paranormal type with a back story about how ghosts came to be or anything like that. This is the mildest form of paranormal and comes with a beautiful story about overcoming a best friends death and the hardship of going back to the way it once was.

4 out of 5 date trees