Blog Tour: No Mercy by John Burley – Review

The peaceful town of Wintersville is a place safe from the crime and congestion of city life, where neighbours feel like family. It’s the perfect place to live.

But when a teenager is discovered brutally murdered in the woods, it becomes clear that a psychopath is roaming the streets. Dr Ben Stevenson, the town’s medical examiner, and father of two young boys, becomes entangled in the hunt for the murderer, determined to keep his family safe.

But as Ben uncovers the dark secrets of his seemingly quiet community, he confronts a truth that will haunt him forever and puts those he loves in serious danger.

I do love a good mystery so I was intrigued to read this book once I had read the book blurb. The first few pages are a little graphic but at the same time, you’re immediately plunged into the story, the action and the lives of these people portrayed in the book.

Ben works in the local CO in the small town of Wintersville – a safe place that sees very little in the way of violent crime until the body of a teenager is found mutilated near the local high school which marks the beginning of a spree of murders.

I liked how the POV switched from various characters as you got a chance to see the story through their eyes which gave a rounded view of this town and inhabitants and made it harder to decide who was responisble for the crimes.

This book was researched well in terms of the medical speak.  I did occasionally have to re-read a couple of these particular bits to take them in but nothing that hindered the pace of the story. There was just a lot of information at once.

The person responsible for the murders could have been anyone in the town and John has you guessing right up until the twist at the end (not going to give too much away.) It did not end the way I believed it would. There were a couple of elements I saw coming but that’s the only real negative thing I can say.

This book examines the lives of these characters well and has you questioning how well you know the people around you and how far you would go to protect them. I think I enjoyed exploring this part of the story the most – how each of the characters reacted to what was going on.

When I was reading, I kept telling myself “one more chapter, one more chapter and I very easily lost track of time. It builds the suspense well.

A great debut novel and if you like the crime/mystery genre then I think you will like this. I am looking forward to book two.

(No Mercy by John Burley was released by Avon on 3rd July 2014 and is available in paperback and e-book. The next stop on the tour is Killing Time Crime.)

by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.