Over the Edge: The True Story of Four American Climbers' Kidnap and Escape in the Mountains of Central Asia

by Greg Child

Book Overview

* A different sort of true climbing adventure--this one with terrorists, kidnappings, and AK47s * New afterword by the author * First time in paperback Before dawn on August 12, 2000, four of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375506098
• ISBN13: 9780375506093
• Release Date: April 2002
• Publisher: Villard
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.1" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

One of the Few

This is one of the Few or maybe Two true storys i have really gotten into. This and Lost In A Mountain In Maine . This book was obviously well written with 4 different points of veiw because there were four climbers. The story's quite amazing and it was soo suspensful i could hardly blink. One minute they aren't being feed and they are stuck in this weird cave trying to get away , the next they are climbing a steep and most dangerous cliff , the next they are recaptured and put back into the clutches of the enemies , then the NEXT they are throwing the enemies off a cliff. Who could predict what happens? It's not one of those books that you already can tell what happens or you alreday know everything's going to turn out Happily Ever After. Along with the details and Maps givin in the story you really understand where they are and how hard it was for them. Worth reading! i recommend it to ages 13- and up up up (although i was probably 11 when i read it. Surprisingly i've always been in a high reading level.)

Gripping Tale with Current Message

This is a great book, and it was made more powerful by listening to it on CD. I would suggest that it is really three stories -- 1) the climbers tale, 2) the recent historical and cultural events of the region, 3) the fallout from the false accusations against the climbers. The news coming out of the region this past week makes this book even more relevant. Highly recommend!

a 360 degree of the event, not just the rescue

The story of the climbers' kidnapping and escape is exciting as it comes, but I find most of the value in the book in Greg's in-depth explanations of the terrorists and their background, the politics surrounding the rescue and the heroism of the soldiers who, by pursuing the terrorists, gave the climbers the opportunity to escape. Furthermore, his analysis of the press after the story broke reveals the downside of being caught in the public eye.If you are looking just for a thrilling story, the book may be dry, but if you want to learn about third world politics and gain a bit of insight to the terrorists and the climbers' experiences after rescue, this is a great book to read.

Very good, incredibly well researched book

I have no doubt the story is precisely true as related. The one thing I found myself frustrated with in this book was how these kids just didn't "get it" about the situation they were in. As someone who has spent a lot of time in Russia, I found their and the author's blithe acceptance of the murder of the Russian soldier and these muscley kids refusal to lift a goddam finger to help him after he had told them clearly their captors were about to kill him, well, rather repulsive. Their stated denial in the book that he would be fine was so offensive to me. What planet do these kids inhabit? I have traveled extensively in places where I had 24 hour security, including recently into the region on the border with Chechnya, which is massively beautiful country. God help me, but if I were taken captive with such a crew of "Valley Guy/Valley Girl" morons, I swear I would have told them if they didn't fight I'd kill them myself for being such a bunch of twits. I could see in my mind's eye them jumping on me if I tried to attack one of the captors, all with the best of intentions, and my killing them or being killed. Gad. Is this what America is raising? But, hey. I guess that's what they were. The book could be titled: "Clueless left coast twits with big muscles and no sense, on a mission to turn the world into their personal Disneyland, find out reality bites". Kind of looks like that's what these kids still are. And it is rather clear that the rest of the "developed world" is pretty much the same. Maybe there isn't any other way for them to go. One could title this coming decade perhaps, the "Wakeup Call Decade" in which the developed world finds out a great deal. But, great book, incredibly honest and very well written.

I believe them

It was a great read-I support the climbers story 100%-I think it was some of the other "journalists" looking for some recognition by trying to disprove their story. The story really enables you to understand a little more that what is happening in Asia is not isolated to Afghanistan and Iraq-it is happing all over the continent and it affects the entire world.