It was balanced perilously between a small town that lacked only a sheriff, and a booming frontier town.
Years elapsed, however, before his nerves, which had been so perilously overstrained, recovered their tone.
To me " gossip " sounds perilously close to " tabloid sensationalism ".
All seemed to be in perilously dangerous situations, clinging to the sheer walls with outstretched arms and spread legs, somehow adhered to the clear surface before them.
With Alex, the relationship seemed to be either grinding up a long hill or plunging perilously toward the depths of despair.