Synopsis/blurb....
Mercie Hillbrook lives a simple, quiet life working as a gas station attendant. Then her parents are killed. Her home is taken. The people responsible are excused for just doing their job. When an attempt to get justice her way lands her in trouble with the law, Mercie realizes she still has something to lose: her own life.
Then she finds reason to believe her parents were murdered… and she doesn't care anymore
Roy delivers on the edge of your seat storytelling with rough edges, crooked cops and a tiny light at the end of the tunnel that is never quite extinguished.
— Tom Vater, co–founder of Crime Wave Press.
Her Name Is Mercie is a fast furious ride into an inferno of the highest tension you are likely to encounter this year. Where noir meets thriller, toss a coin. Dive in. And unplug your phones, pcs tablets and keep reading deeper and deeper, until the final pages.
— Richard Godwin, author of Apostle Rising.
A decent collection of a few short stories and a much longer piece - Her Name is Mercie - from new-to-me author Chris Roy.
Her Name is Mercie ... the star of the show - 90-odd pages with Mercie and a juvenile sidekick kicking back against authority. Parents dead, house and inheritance gone and nothing much more to lose.
Tense, tight and a bit of a roller-coaster ride. I was sucked in hoping that a measure of recompense could be extracted by Mercie and her wing man Kermit. We get a brief and sobering glimpse of the reality of life behind bars, as the course of true retribution never runs smoothly.
I had a couple of niggles with some of the elements of the story, but they were over-looked easily enough and didn't take away from an enthralling tale.
Re-Pete... borderline horror and a close contender for top story. Mother has a new boyfriend, her son Pete has issues - understandably - and you know things might just get messy...
Hunger.... a man, his daughter, her dog, her brother, a boat, a bereavement - all is not what it seems. There's some puzzling elements to how this unfolds - hallucinatory imagery, that I'm not sure I totally understood. Maybe if I re-read it a couple more times, I'd get my head around it. Maybe not.
Libby's Hands... always respect your Grandmother's wishes - you may come to regret things if you don't - another horror-ish tale with Halloween as the backdrop. Minor confusion again, but still worth the time.
Marsh Madness... short, sharp and another stand-out story - a boy, his dog, an alligator, a low wooden pier, his mother, a watchful hunter maybe stalker and a rifle
Overall, I really liked this collection. I'm more of a fan of the straight forward in your face stories where it doesn't require too much cerebral firepower to try and guess the author's intent. Three and three quarters of them worked very well for me, with only one leaving a slightly annoying sense of puzzlement. (Maybe I'm just thick.)4 from 5
Chris Roy has few other books under his belt.
Shocking Circumstances : Book 1 Last Shine
Shocking Circumstances : Book 2 Resurrection
Sharp As A Razor : Book 1 A Dying Wish
Facebook - Author Chris Roy
Twitter - @AuthorChrisRoy
Read in May, 2018
Published - 2018 (26th May in fact - AM UK AM US AM CANADA)
Page count - 164
Source - review copy from Rachel's Random Resources, publisher - Near to the Knuckle
Format - PDF
Sounds like a solid collection, Col. And I've often found that collections have one (or a few) outstanding stories, one or two good-not-great stories, and sometimes even the odd one that doesn't work at all. They're not always consistent.
ReplyDeleteAgreed Margot. Lots more positives than negatives here though.
DeleteThis looks interesting -- splendid cover, too.
ReplyDeleteI liked it, not the best book ever, but entertaining enough.
DeleteSounds good, glad you liked it mostly. Maybe someday I will try it.
ReplyDeleteIt's not too long if that helps!
DeleteCol – Thanks for the review. I’d like to read MERCIE, and I see the book is on Kindle.
ReplyDeleteIt's fairly short so shouldn't take up too much of your time, Elgin.
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