Mercy by B.J. Daniels

Narrated by Graham Winton

Occasionally, I like to step out of my comfort zone and try a romance in a sub-genre other than historical, contemporary, or paranormal. Possibly I find a blurb compelling, or I feel challenged to broaden my romance horizons, or (because I’m shallow) the cover looks particularly tasty. While the cover for Mercy was eye-catching – who can resist a hot man leaning on an even hotter car! – I chose it because of the very intriguing, and very vague, blurb.

Rourke Kincaid is a man obsessed with justice. Over the past four years, a woman has managed to kill at least three men and then disappear without a trace. Rourke, on “leave” from the US Marshals after an incident six months ago, is trying to keep busy by going through cold cases. He comes across the photos for each of the serial killer’s crime scenes and notices a single person appears in the crowd in all the photographs.

With the help of a private investigator and his former partner, Laura, he tracks down this woman, identified as Callie Westfield, in Beartooth, Montana. Rourke believes Callie is the killer or an accomplice of the real killer. Meeting Callie, however, presents a dilemma for Rourke. His instincts tell him Callie isn’t guilty.

Then there’s another murder and Rourke starts to understand that these killings have their roots in Westfield Manor, a home for unwed mothers and problem girls. It’s the place where Callie was born and raised and where she witnessed an earlier crime eerily similar to the murders happening now.

As a romance, Mercy was a disappointment as there was no clear indication of the protagonists until around the halfway mark of the book. That’s four hours into it. This wasn’t even made clear in the blurb so I spent quite a bit of time wondering who was going to end up with whom! And when you (finally!) did discover the romantic couple’s identity, it was like five or so chapters before the end. Then the romance fast-forward button was pushed and everything happened at once. The couple went from suspicion, to mistrust with lust, to bow-chica-bow wow! I’ll admit I was shaking my head at how the couple came together so deeply because their relationship felt too rushed.

In addition to the problem of the main romantic couple, this book suffered from too many couples. There were so many secondary scenes that I felt like I was watching a soap opera. One scene would have Rourke searching for truth and justice and discovering something meaningful only for the scene to end. The next scene would cut to the PI with his flashlight making an insightful discovery in an abandoned building only for the scene to cut off abruptly. Then you have the sheriff visiting his deranged daughter – who may or may not be his biologically – in the psych ward of the hospital, threatening to kill herself if she marries his high school sweetheart.

See? Too many tangent storylines and way too many characters to keep track of comfortably. In the end, I did realize the significance of some these scenes but there were a few I felt were unnecessary.

However, once I stopped trying to fit Mercy into the romance mold and instead viewed it as a mystery with a few romantic elements, it greatly improved. It had a sinister undertone that kept me on the edge of my seat. At one point, I was so involved in the mystery that I started talking out loud to myself in excitement. A few of my co-workers looked at me oddly but the book was so enthralling I couldn’t help it.

When it comes to male narrators, I’m really picky. I can count on one hand the number of male narrators I’ve listened to, enjoyed, and would listen too again. I understand why this book has a male narrator – the story is mostly about Rourke – but I’m always a little hesitant since I listen to a book for the heroine’s thoughts. Because of this, I wasn’t expecting much from Graham Winton’s performance.

However, I not only enjoyed Winton’s narration but looked forward to it. Winton had a very pleasant tone, mellow but not so much so as to put me to sleep. Rourke was particularly nice to listen to if you know what I mean! *wink wink* Most of the female characters sounded the same, with maybe slight variations in pitch, but I could tell who was speaking and when. Winton did use deep and noticeable inhalations at the beginning of each chapter or new scene but I learned to live with it.

Winton’s true talent in this book (and forgive me for saying this) was his portrayal of the old ladies sprinkled liberally throughout the book. There were many and he aced performing them all. Talk about talented – Winton made each of those old grannies sound different and age appropriate. Laura’s mother was so well done she gave me chills every time her character came onto the scene. If Disney ever needs an evil witch grandmother, they should contact Winton. I haven’t been so pleasantly blindsided by a male narrator since Sebastian York in Christine Lauren’s Beautiful Bastard series.

Mercy was a compelling book brought to life with a talented narrator. I kind of knew who the bad guy(s) were but I had no clue how everything was going to come together. Although it is Book 5 in the Beartooth, Montana series, it can be read alone. I didn’t feel as if I were missing anything from not having read those books. It hints at some of the trials the characters went through but not enough to spoil their books. While I wished there had been a stronger romance presence, I was intrigued enough the mystery of this story and Winton’s performance to look up the previous titles in audio.

Diana

Narration:  B-

Book Content:  B-

Steam Factor:  Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence:  Fighting (with references to past rape)

Genre:  Contemporary Romance

Publisher:  Recorded Books

Mercy was provided to AudioGals by Recorded Books for review.