Christine Brennan decided to write this book after hearing about the rivalry between Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan and wondering, "what it would be like to spend a season with these athletes" (p. 17).She follows figure skating through its 1994-1995 season. She describes figure skating as one of the very few sports where you are being judged constantly in performances, practices, the way you look and even through gossip. One little mistake in one performance can ruin a whole year. No rematches, the season is all over! Many people are mentioned in this book such as Nicole Bobeck, Debi Thomas, Christopher Bowman, Michelle Kwan, Brian Boitano and others.
For example, Christopher Bowman was a very talented figure-skater, and was expected to win two gold medals, but he didn't. Christopher was a drug addict. Det. Scott Heagney of the Franklin Police Department was patrolling Depot Street in Massachusetts in an unmarked vehicle when he saw a 1987 red Harley-Davidson motorcycle bearing Massachusetts registration WX- 4131. Det. Heagney noticed that the license plate on the motorcycle had expired. Christopher N. Bowman was the operator of the vehicle. Det. Heagney reported that Christopher did not have any identification. He then ran a license check and a missing/wanted check on Bowman along with the confirmation of the expired registration. Two back-up officers arrived on the scene. Bowman was searched and two bags of white powder were found. The white powder was cocaine. (p. 203) Bowman said that he had a "$950-a-day cocaine habit." (p.204) People knew he was a drug addict. Before the 1988 Olympics he checked in to the Betty Ford Clinic. The Clinic didn't help, and he returned to drugs. He had wasted his figure skating talent.
The Inside Edge is a very exciting book. If you want to learn more about the secret world of figure skating you should read, The Inside Edge.