Sunday, November 25, 2012

Review: Merciless (A Mercy Gunderson Mystery #3) by Lori G. Armstrong










  • File Size: 5 KB
  • Print Length: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Touchstone; Original edition (January 8, 2013)
  • Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B006VHHKF4


Book Description

Torn between her duties to the FBI and her need to keep her loved ones safe, former black-ops army sniper Mercy Gunderson must unleash the cold, dark, merciless killer inside her and become the predator . . . rather than the prey. Newly minted agent Mercy Gunderson is back and ready for action— unfortunately, she’s stuck doing paperwork in an overheated government office building. But she gets more than she bargained for when she’s thrown into her first FBI murder case, working with the tribal police on the Eagle River Reservation, where the victim is the teenage niece of the recently elected tribal president. When another gruesome killing occurs during the early stages of the investigation, Mercy and fellow FBI agent Shay Turnbull are at odds about whether the crimes are connected.

Due to job confidentiality, Mercy can’t discuss her misgivings about the baffling cases with her boyfriend, Eagle River County sheriff Mason Dawson, and the couple’s home on the ranch descends into chaos when Dawson’s eleven-year-old son Lex is sent to live with them. While Mercy struggles to find a balance, hidden political agendas and old family vendettas turn ugly, masking motives and causing a rift among the tribal police, the tribal council, and the FBI. Soon, however, Mercy realizes that the deranged killer is still at large—and is playing a dangerous game with his sights set on Mercy as his next victim.



 About The Author

 Lori Armstrong is the two-time winner of the Shamus Award given by the Private Eye Writers of America and a New York Times bestselling author of romantic fiction, written as Lorelei James. She lives in western South Dakota. Visit her website at LoriArmstrong.com.


My Review 

I thought the first two books in this series were fabulous and in this third outing in the Mercy Gunderson Mystery series the action keeps sizzlingIf you haven't read the first two books in the series - which I do highly recommend - this book can stand alone as well.

Sheriff Dawson, who she just lost the election for Sheriff to, has moved onto the ranch with Mercy.  While madly in love with each other, they have to be careful around each other now that Mercy has joined the FBI.  A tougher woman than Mercy would be hard to find, but the simmering family secrets and threats, the murders of young women on the reservation and the arrival of Dawson's eleven year old son Lex all combine to send Mercy into a tailspin.

The setting of western South Dakota is dramatic and mysteriousMercy's ranching life is interwoven with her ties to the reservation.  She has enough native blood to qualify as a band member.  That nobody noticed the rash of young native women dying is not unfamiliar ground to me and very easy to understand.  For years women on Vancouver's downtown eastside disappeared and similarly on the Highway of Tears.  Why does it seem that missing native women can easily go unnoticed.  What does that say about our society?  Lori Armstrong covers this heartbreaking topic very realistically.

The drama is intense in Merciless.   Mercy's family has never been so divided and then her world is blown apart.  Mercy is a fascinating woman who pulls out all the stops when she needs to.  This is an excellent addition to the Mercy Gunderson series.  I cannot wait for the next one. Merciless is released in January so preorder a copy today!


 

No comments:

Post a Comment