Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Merciless by Lori Armstrong

From Amazon - 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.


Armstrong does a pretty good job of creating a standalone book in this third installment in the Mercy Gunderson series.  However, I wish I had read the first two books in the series, No Mercy and Mercy Kill, first.  It appears she is a newly minted FBI investigator and it isn't long before she is released from paperwork and out combing for clues in her first case.

A young girl is murdered on the Eagle River Reservation.  Mercy does some digging and realizes that more young ladies had been killed as well, but the Indian Reservation police didn't deem them as homicides   She thinks there could be a killer out there, but she's having a hard time proving  it.

Thrown into the mix is her lover's son who comes for a visit.  She's already trying to keep things cool between her and Sheriff Dawson, not ready for their love to mingle with their jobs.  Between the home life, the job and yet another murder, unshakable Mercy is trying valiantly to keep it together to solve this case. But she's a cold, intelligent killer inside and if she has to unleash her inner predator to save lives, then so be it - no matter what the cost.

A gripping, taut mystery with strong characters that kept me riveted from cover to cover.   If you haven't read this series, it's not too late to start.  Highly enjoyable!


*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.





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