Judging Books By Their Covers: Knife Edge

Today in aesthetic central: Sharp yellow cuts through the gray. Let’s take a look.

Knife Edge by JT Sawyer

Published: 2024, Inkubator Books

Cover Artist: Unknown

Just looking- ♪ Friday night and I need a fight ♪

What it makes me think – ♪ My motorcycle and a switchblade knife / Handful of grease in my hair feels right…♪ Yeah, I think the Motley Crüe reference ends here. There is no grease. There are no girls. There is only trouble. That’s a good thing for this genre.

The title is front and center in yellow. The S&S Amberosa Block font is modern, sharp, and as aggressive as any Crüe song ever was. (Yeah, I know that reference was supposed to be over. It doesn’t always work out that way). It fits the thriller genre. I normally would not like the color choice, but it works with the background palette. A sunset in what looks like a gray Pacific Northwest evening. Yes, yellow offers a good contrast….kind of like the way a rocker’s I-just-gargled-razor blades voice snaps compared to Debbie Harry’s sultry detachment. We get a protagonist in the middle of the road ready for a showdown with some dark antagonist behind those oncoming headlights, and there’s a vintage motorcycle on the side.

Would I buy it? Yes. This looks like tension and conflict in a cool locale. I want more of that in fiction. Find it here.