Customer Reviews

Acts of Mercy

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Samuel DelVecchio has spent the last sixteen years with the FBI, most recently as a profiler. He is now with the Mercy Street Foundation. Sam's first assignment is a cold-case murder of a soup kitchen volunteer. It is not long before Sam wonders if it is part of a serial killer's work. Turns out that there have been two other killings with the same MO. FBI agent Fiona Summers is already on the case and cooperates with Sam in hopes of figuring out who the killer is and why he is posing his victims in a certain way.

It is a local parish priest that recognizes what the poses represent. The killer is staging the Church's corporal acts of mercy ("Feed the hungry, shelter homeless ...") with the bodies. Sam and Fiona are in a race to stop the killer, but this killer is closer than they know.

***** FIVE STARS! Each Mercy Street novel investigates a single case. Yet there is also a continuous running sub-plot involving the owner of the foundation, Robert Magellan, Readers are treated with a fast paced and intense FBI thriller, but they also get to finally witness Robert find out what happened to his missing wife and infant son. (The readers who have been following this series already know the answers about Robert's wife. This title holds the answers to the son.)

As always, Mariah Stewart manages to show the good and the bad in our world. The author's writing style pulled me into the characters' lives, forced me to care for them, and swept me onto an emotional rollercoaster ride. All I can suggest to readers is for them to remember to breathe. *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Mallory Russo of the Mercy Street Foundation hires Former FBI profiler Sam Delvecchio. His first case is a cold case where he looks into the murder of Ross Walker; based on what he learns Sam ponders whether a serial killer did the deed. Sam compares notes with FBI agent Fiona Summers; they agree the same psychopath has killed at least three times including the Walker homicide; a fourth similarly posed corpse is found. However, time and place offers similarities to his life and that shakes Sam to his bone marrow core.

Mercy Street founder widower Robert Magellan seeks his missing two years old son, Ian whose body was not found at the site of the car crash that killed his wife Beth in Western Pennsylvania. Meanwhile Robert's cousin Father Kevin Burch realizes the serial killer's victims are being arranged to represent the Seven Acts of Mercy. Sam and Fiona struggle to prevent the final three murders while their predator taunts them.

The third Mercy Street thriller (see CRY MERCY and MERCY STREET) contains two strong subplots: Robert's effort to find his son and the serial killer's avenging ACTS OF MERCY. The story line is fast-paced and filled with action and suspense that will have the audience begging for more from Mariah Stewart.

Harriet Klausner

While I think this is a terrific series, I can't say I liked this one as much as the others because I thought it was too easy to figure things out. Rather than the usual winding roads and red herrings I'm used to from Mariah Stewart, I felt like every time something linking the killer to the killings was revealed, it was done so in such a blatant way that it was like waving a red cape in front of a bull. I also found the events surrounding Robert's own case to be very contrived and extremely unrealistic and unbelievable.

Also, I wonder why MS makes the characters in this series so unlikeable. Mallory's turned into a hardass, I couldn't stand Emme in the last book, and I didn't find either Sam or Fiona likeable at all. And in this book, I even found Robert annoying. It's a testament to the author that I could still love her books and give them such high marks when disliking most of the chracters!

It's a fine book. Some of the page corners have been bent down and there are a couple of food smears, but nothing that inhibits the reading and enjoyment of the book!

Mariah Stewart is purely a romance writer and she has returned to her roots with this series and don't let any other review tell you otherwise. These books are not about the suspense nor any thrill, but rather about building the sexual tension between the two main characters in each of these books. As with her first entry in the Romantic Suspense genre, Stewart tries really hard to convince you that this isn't what it appears to be. But by the last 100 pages of each of these novels when a very explicit sex scene takes place, it leaves no doubt that Stewart has placed her emphasis on the sex rather than the suspense. In short, these books are romance novels and they should also have a warning to indicate that they contain explicit sexual content. If you think that this assessment is not true, I challenge you to turn to about the last 100 pages in each of these novels where ridiculous romantic liaisons take place in the backseat of a car, the shower, and the most explicit outdoors on a deck. The mercy series will leave you crying for mercy and I believe that you are a socially repressed and stunted individual if you have to find your romance between the pages of these books than with your loved one. Save your money and find a real suspense novel to read...

i have been a fan of mariah stewart since i accidently stumbled upon her as an author of good mysteries about 3 years ago. however....i cannot remember when i have gotten so caught up in a book that could not put it down. "acts of mercy", like the other two in the mercy street series, is mesmerizing. can't wait for the next one to come out!

The novel ACTS OF MERCY is intersting and holds enough suspense to make you want to ready it quickly. Stewart, as a writer, knows how to keep your interest and give a provacative and exciting story, complete with characters who are all that is human.

This is a fine book and I have become a fan of the Mercy Street Novels. They are exciting, unusual and filled with characters you are invited to love. It all works well for a fun afternoon when it is too hot in Tucson to be outside.

Loved the first 2 books! Thought this trilogy was creative, loved the characters, and the mystery of Robert's family running through all 3 books. Wasn't thrilled with the last one, thought the story was flimsy and hated that it left Robert and Suzanne hanging...

I thought this was a very good book. I've been following the mercy series and like every one of them. I like Mariah Stewarts' writing. It's easy to follow.
I liked Sam and thought he made a great addition to the Mercy Foundation ,but was a little disappointed at the end to find he was returning to work for the FBI. I was hoping he would choose to stay with the foundation group.
Two subjects were covered in the book. The story of Sam and the unsolved Walker murder and how he plays a big part in it, and also the the return of Robert Magellan's aon. Actually I'm hoping for a sequel concerning susanna, Robert's assistant. Both stories were covered in depth with all mysteries resolved at the end.