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 back in 2009 as I wanted a place to discuss books and writing - two loves of my life. As someone who has anxiety, these two things give me, and I am sure countless others, a much needed escape.
There is a monthly book club, writing exercises, prompts, reviews, author interviews, competitions and guest posts. I cover many genres and I hope there is something for everyone.
I grew up by the sea in Dorset and currently live in Poole with my husband, Chris and three cats. I love writing and have a BA (Hons) in Creative Writing from Falmouth University. I am writing my first book. If only I could stop pressing delete. Chris has threatened to stop it from working. Haha.
I have always loved creative writing since I was in first school and would very much like to meet my teacher, Miss Sayers, to say thank you for all the encouragement she gave me then.
When not writing, I love reading, cats, Disney, singing (I can't sing but this doesn't stop me,) and falling into a good TV show or film. If I could step into any fictional world, it would be amongst the characters in ABC's Once Upon a Time.
I love reading many genres and discovering new authors.