Cadnum's previous novels for young adults feature a similar tough tone and uncompromising language.

A disaffected protagonist typically deals with loss—the death of a loved one or friend or, as in Zack's case, a best friend who has moved away. Edge complicates matters by having the main character not only lose a strong, energetic father through divorce and then a shooting, but to have that father replaced by a dependent one.

Although both Nightlight (1990) and Sleepwalker (1991) are likely to appeal to young adult fans of horror fiction, they are novels for adults; it is Saint Peter's Wolf (1991) that marks the transition from adult to young adult fiction. Although it features an adult protagonist, Saint Peter's Wolf has diction and themes that appeal directly to a young adult audience. Its main character is an alienated and frustrated man who is trying to succeed in a...