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Over the Edge: The True Story of Four American Climbers' Kidnap and Escape in the Mountains of Central Asia | 
 enlarge | Author: Greg Child
Publisher: Villard
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  30 reviews
Sales Rank: 169284
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.1
ISBN: 0375506098
Dewey Decimal Number: 958.430820922
EAN: 9780375506093
ASIN: 0375506098
Publication Date: April 2, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: 1st. 2002 Hardcover. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Your purchase benefits NCFL's Hurricane Relief Effort!
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Amazon.com
A year before America woke to the madness of Islamic terrorism, four young American rock climbers were pulled directly into its line of fire on a rock climbing expedition 80 miles from Afghanistan. Oblivious to the volatile mix of ethnic strife, drug smuggling, and militant Islam brewing there, the four had been seeking extreme adventure in the "Yosemite Valley" of Central Asia. Greg Child gives a riveting chronicle of their capture by militants of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (linked to al Qaeda), who dragged them through six harrowing days of gun battles before the four made their dramatic escape. As a veteran climber of the area and a seasoned writer, Child was uniquely qualified to write "the story that refused to stop unfolding," scrupulously tracking the moments that led to the ultimate decision--whether to kill to live--and the firestorm of controversy and skepticism that surrounded the four on their return to a still-ignorant America. To learn the truth, Child even traveled to Kyrgyzstan with two of the climbers to face one of their captors. Over the Edge is a charged and unforgettable look into the many faces of international terrorism and human nature itself. --Lesley Reed
Book Description
“The climbers swept up in the events of August 2000 are people little different from the rest of us. Though their climbing skills taught them a thing or two about survival, it was their individual characters and their compassion for one another that kept them alive. Like anyone who has witnessed warfare and death, they feel pain over the memories that they recount in this story. It is their hope that others may learn from their experience.” —from the Introduction
Before dawn on August 12, 2000, four of America’s best young rock climbers, the oldest of them only twenty-five, were sleeping in their portaledges high on the Yellow Wall, in the Pamir-Alai mountain range of Kyrgyzstan, in central Asia. By daybreak, they would be taken at gunpoint by fanatical militants of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), which operates out of secret bases in Tajikistan and Afghanistan, and which is linked to Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network. The desperadoes—themselves barely out of their teens—intended to use their hostages as human shields and for ransom as they moved across Kyrgyzstan. They hid the climbers by day and marched them by night through freezing, treacherous mountains, with little food, no clean water, and the constant threat of execution. The four would see a fellow hostage, a Kyrgyz soldier, executed before their eyes. And in a remarkable life-and-death crucible over six terrifying days, they would be forced to choose between saving their own lives and committing an act none of them thought they ever could.
In Over the Edge, the four climbers—Jason “Singer” Smith, John Dickey, Tommy Caldwell, and Beth Rodden—finally tell the complete story of their nightmarish ordeal. In riveting detail, author Greg Child re-creates the entire hour-by-hour drama, from the first ricocheting bullets to the climactic and agonizing decision the climbers had to make in order to gain their freedom and survival. Set in a powder-keg region of narcotics trafficking and terrorism, this is a deeply compelling book about loyalty and the unshakeable human will to survive.
Download Description
Before dawn on August 12, 2000, four of America's best young rock climbers, the oldest of them only twenty-five, were sleeping in their portaledges high on the Yellow Wall, in the Pamir-Alai mountain range of Kyrgyzstan, in central Asia. By daybreak, they would be taken at gunpoint by fanatical militants of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), which operates out of secret bases in Tajikistan and Afghanistan, and which is linked to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network. The desperadoes -- themselves barely out of their teens -- intended to use their hostages as human shields and for ransom as they moved across Kyrgyzstan. They hid the climbers by day and marched them by night through freezing, treacherous mountains, with little food, no clean water, and the constant threat of execution. The four would see a fellow hostage, a Kyrgyz soldier, executed before their eyes. And in a remarkable life-and-death crucible over six terrifying days, they would be forced to choose between saving their own lives and committing an act none of them thought they ever could. In Over the Edge, the four climbers -- Jason "Singer" Smith, John Dickey, Tommy Caldwell, and Beth Rodden -- finally tell the complete story of their nightmarish ordeal. In riveting detail, author Greg Child re-creates the entire hour-by-hour drama, from the first ricocheting bullets to the climactic and agonizing decision the climbers had to make in order to gain their freedom and survival. Set in a powder-keg region of narcotics trafficking and terrorism, this is a deeply compelling book about loyalty and the unshakeable human will to survive.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 25 more reviews...
 great book November 18, 2007
I really liked this book. It was an interesting account of the climbers experiences. I only gave it 4 stars because I thought it was overly dramatized at times. Overall, a worthwhile read.
 Bad Writing Style July 15, 2007
I really wanted to read this book because I am interested in the story. But Child's use of the present tense (inconsistently, at that), finally was so irritating that I stopped reading midway through the book. Child is definitely off my author list.
 One of the Few October 29, 2006
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.)
Not all that "True" a Story July 18, 2006
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
As a development worker who lived and worked in Kyrgyzstan during the kidnapping, I can tell you that many parts of this so-called "True Story" are very questionable. One part is true: Four ill-prepared and reckless climbers got kidnapped. The rest of the story is based on their version. Another version puts it this way: They got kidnapped, the kidnappers were not prepared to babysit four climbers and did not have enough food or water for everyone. They got no support from local villagers so they let the climbers go. End of Story.
The climbers say they pushed a kidnapper to his death and then ran the equivalent of a marathon across mountainous terrain with no food or water, after having had no food or water for days.... not likely. In Kyrgyztsan at the time, most ex-pats had the same opinion of these four: "Stupid rich kids in over their heads who greatly exaggerated their story." That's it. Not all that special really.
Reinforces "Ugly American" stereotypes June 12, 2005
5 out of 13 found this review helpful
In Greg Child's book, the four climbers from California go to Kyrgyzstan to climb a type of wall found only there and in Yosemite. They grew up in typical middle class American homes, never having experienced true suffering, hunger or war. While in Kyrgyzstan they are kidnapped and thus confronted with some harsh realities of life for many people in this world.
They read the State Department's warning on travel to that paritcular region of Kyrgyzstan and one of the four climbers was scheduled to go to that country earlier in the year and had his trip canceled due to danger in the area. Despite these red flags, they go to Kyrgyzstan anyway, showing themselves to be the willfully ignorant, self-absorbed, spoiled brats we will come to know throughout the book.
At least one Kyrgyz soldier loses his life (no doubt the sole bread winner in his family supporting their meager existence.) Poverty-stricken villagers show the climbers much hospitality. The four climbers receive a lucrative book deal for their ordeal. Do they share any of the royalties with the suffering Kyrgyz or any of the unfortunate families who had to pay a terrible price for their stupidity? Not a penny.
It is nearly impossible to feel any sympathy for Beth's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or the broken freindships within the group in the face of their total refusal to accept any responsibility for their kidnapping or any sympathy for the Kyrgyz people. They point their fingers at the Kyrgyz government, individual soldiers, their travel company and the U.S. State department but never, ever indicate that they should have take the responsibility for finding a safe vacation destination themselves.
In light of people like these climbers, I understand why much of the world views Americans as stupid and self-centered. Some of us actually do have a clue as to what's going on around us but unfortunately these fools' stories sell more magazines.
Greg Child's book is interesting to read but also infuriating. He never asks the questions that matter. Did the climbers think they had any culpability for their kidnapping? How has their view of the world and America's place in it changed? Are wealthy American climbers entitled to travel the world to dangerous, back-of-beyond spots and expect the locals to pay the price for getting them out safely? Also, they seemed to have lied about part of their ordeal and Childs goes to great lengths to defend them. I think that Childs doesn't care as much about the truth as he does selling books.
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