Cry Mercy (Mercy Hollings) (Mass Market Paperback)

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Product Description

I just want a normal life…even if I'm not entirely sure I'm human.

My name is Mercy Hollings and I'm a successful hypnotherapist in Balboa, California. The problem is, my good fortune is dependent on a dark secret. I can make people do whatever I want using telepathy, a power I call "the press." And that ability has hurt some people I never wanted to hurt, so I try to keep it under wraps.

I also try to keep people at a distance…at least, I used to. Recently a group of fearless characters broke through my self-imposed walls and became my friends: Sukey, my receptionist-turned-P.I.; Tino, a Chicano gang leader; Hilda, a wealthy society widow; Grant, a retired millionaire—and Sam, my sexy-as-hell ex-boyfriend.

But with friends comes drama. Tino has inadvertently led me into the dark world of gang violence, and Sukey has pushed me into searching for my biological parents, the only people who can finally tell me who—or what—I really am.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

I've always thought I'd die by drowning.

I don't remember exactly when I started to believe this. I didn't grow up near the water, and my early swimming experiences were mostly in public pools. My foster- and group-home years had seldom included even this questionable luxury.

But from the first moment I saw the ocean, I knew I would never again live farther from the shore than the sound of crashing waves could travel. Air without the tang of salt and sea feels wrong to me, as if my lungs cannot truly extract what they need to nourish my bloodstream. And I don't actually fear drowning. I just have this odd certainty that it's somehow inevitable that, someday, the Pacific Ocean will claim me.

"Hey, Mercy. Penny for your thoughts." Sukey knelt on the blanket next to me, her red hair made even more brilliant by the reflection of the sun setting over Catalina Island. Salt air had caused her curls to coil into tight springs, and her freckled cheeks were pink from exertion—she'd taken Cupcake for a run along the firmer sand left by the waning tide. The one-hundred-and-thirty-five-pound rottweiler flopped on the sand in front of us, tongue lolling. He panted loudly enough to be heard over the waves.

"Just thinking how close the island looks." Although Catalina Island is only about forty-five nautical miles from the Balboa, California, shore, it's often invisible, hidden by the ubiquitous coastal haze. Then the prevailing winds change, and you wake up one morning able to make out the details of the cliffs and even see the tiny dot on the shore that is Avalon Harbor. Tonight, it looked like an easy swim.

"Wasn't a bonfire the best idea?" Sukey nodded over to a few figures standing near a concrete ring that designated where the city of Newport Beach allowed open fires. "I got Grant and Skip to make s'mores. I think there's still a couple left. Want one?"

I shook my head. "No, thanks." I turned to face her. "Sukey, before I forget, I need you to rearrange the office schedule next weekend to give me an extra day off. I… I'm going to Tucson."

Her eyes widened. "Really? You decided to see them?"

Them.

"Yeah. It's not like I'll ever be more ready than I am now." I got to my feet, brushing some of the sand that had crept over the edge of the blanket from my knees. "I don't know whether a weekday or a weekend is better, so I figure if I go on Saturday and Sunday, and they're not home, I can try again on Monday before I head back."

"You haven't called? Was the phone number I found not working?" Sukey had just finished reading a book on private investigation, and she'd used a skip-tracing exercise to locate the unlisted number of Thomas and Roberta Hollings, the couple who had given me up to the tender mercies of the state of New Jersey. I refused to call them my parents, even mentally.

"I haven't tried it."

Sukey nodded. She knew me well enough to understand that my first conversation in over eighteen years with Tom and Bobbie wasn't going to take place over the telephone.

The Hollings weren't my birth parents. They had adopted me when I was only weeks old. They may not have been Ozzie and Harriet, but my life had been stable enough until late adolescence, when strange things had started to happen around me.

Very strange things.

Sukey got to her feet and shivered just as the last sliver of the sun dropped behind the island's central peaks. When the sun goes down in Southern California in November, it doesn't take long for the air temperature to drop. "I'm going to take Cupcake back to my apartment, then go to the bar. Do you want to get a beer?"

"Maybe in a while." I picked up the end of the leash from where it rested in the sand. "You go ahead. I'll take this stuff home first. Cupcake can stay at my house tonight."

"Are you sure?" On paper, Cupcake belonged to Sukey, but she didn't really have room for the pony-sized dog in her apartment, and he stayed with me at least half the time. My cat, Fred, was even starting to get used to the idea. On most days, anyway.

"You two packing it in?" Grant walked over from the fire, wiping his hands on a handkerchief that he stuffed back into his pocket. I wondered briefly if any men under the age of sixty still carried handkerchiefs. Could you still even buy them?

"I'm going to Jimbo's," Sukey told him unnecessarily. She probably hadn't missed a Friday night at the local dive bar in three years. Well, other than the time a few months before, when she'd been recuperating from a heroin overdose in my guest room. She hadn't taken the drug on purpose—it had been given to her by an ex-boyfriend. Rocko wasn't likely to show up in Balboa again any time soon. I'd seen to that.

"I'll probably head over there myself." Grant reached over to scratch Cupcake's big head. "I'mhoping Tino will show up. He was supposed to come by my house today, but I didn't hear from him, and his cell phone is off."

The friendship that had sprung up between Grant, a retired millionaire, and Tino, a Chicano street gang leader, still seemed strange to me.

"Did you try Hilda's?" asked Sukey. It was no secret that the wealthy widow sometimes shared her bed with the much younger Tino. For some reason, this felt less odd to me than the Grant/Tino connection. Maybe because Hilda, perpetually in search of her lost youth, had always enjoyed the company of younger men.

"She's not answering the phone, either," said Grant.

Sukey shrugged. "Maybe they took off somewhere together."

Grant shook his head. "He would have told me. He's taking the real estate exam in less than a week, and we still have a lot of material to cover."

"Tino's getting his real estate license?" I don't know why I was surprised. Tino was about as predictable as an earthquake. And as hard to ignore. Just because he had a violent criminal record and had never finished high school, it didn't mean he wouldn't be running the planet next month.

"Yeah, it's the next step in his plan to go legit." Grant made a mock bow toward Sukey. "May I escort you to the bar? I like being seen in the company of sexy young redheads. Good for my image."

Sukey giggled and took the proffered arm. "Are you kidding? With all the women after you, I'll be the one getting a boost to my reputation." As they ambled off in the direction of the parking lot next to the Balboa Pier, Sukey turned to glance back over her shoulder.

See you later, then? She didn't have to shout over the sound of the surf. I could hear her voice as loud and clear as if she had spoken in my ear.

Maybe. I didn't really like telepathic conversations, even with my best friend. They made me feel too exposed. I watched Sukey nod ever so slightly and turn her attention to Grant.

I released Cupcake long enough to fold up the blanket, then retrieved the leash and waded through the softer sand, crossed the boardwalk and stepped onto the patio of my apartment. I lived in one of the upstairs/downstairs duplexes that lined the wide pedes-trian-and-bike path running along most of the Balboa peninsula's length. I knew my landlords were undercharging me for the rent, but I wasn't going to argue. The monthly lease payments for my hypnotherapy office were bad enough, even though business had been good in the months since I'd started my practice. Between Sukey's natural ability to make friends with everyone she met and my special… talents, my success should have been guaranteed.

Except that I wasn't sure I knew what I was doing anymore.

It was less chilly on the sheltered patio than on the beach, and I sat down in the decaying lounge chair rather than enter the dark apartment. Cupcake nosed his way through the sliding glass doors, shouldering a panel aside easily, and I heard the slurping sounds that told me I would have to refill Fred's water dish. I wasn't ready to go inside. The boardwalk was postseason quiet, the hushed sounds of passing joggers, cyclists and dog-walkers a pleasant contrast to the cacophony of drunken summer revelers.

I loved this time of year in Southern California, especially when the days stayed warm, as they had this season. I knew many local business owners lamented the departure of tourists and day-trippers, but the rest of us were always happy to get our town back. I looked over to where the last remnants of the fire still winked and saw that all but a couple of the silhouetted figures were gone. Probably to Jimbo's, like Sukey and Grant.

I'd once heard one of the uninitiated question Sukey about spending so much time in a bar. She had replied, "I don't really think of Jimbo's as a bar. For locals, it's more like our living room annex." I'd laughed at the time, but it was a pretty good description.

Balboa is technically part of Newport Beach, but a narrow stretch of water separates the peninsula from the higher-priced environs of Corona del Mar and, farther south, the new and glittering Newport Coast. While there are plenty of multimillion-dollar homes, especially near the surfing Mecca known as the Wedge, there are still seedy apartment buildings and crumbling seasonal cottages interspersed with the mansions.

In an alley that I sometimes used as a shortcut on the way to the post office, I pass two often-open garages that sit no more than twelve feet apart. One holds a brand-new Rolls-Royce Phantom and the other a mostly paintless 1962 Ford Falcon. I've seen the respective owners sharing a pitcher of beer at Jimbo's bar, dressed in similar outfits: khaki pants, deck shoes and T-shirts advertising something to do with salt-water fishing or marine fuel. Hilda, always on the lookout for her next conquest, says the only way you can tell the rich men from the welfare recipients in Balboa is by their watches. And, according to her, the fakes are getting harder to spot. I'm not sure if she's talking about the watches or the men.

A random gust of wind swirled dust devils in the thin coating of sand on the boardwalk, and I decided I would join Sukey and Grant after all. It didn't have anything to do with reluctance to enter the empty apartment. Well, empty except for Cupcake and Fred. I was used to solitude and, in ...

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Mira (June 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0778326489
• ISBN-13: 978-0778326489
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #153,038 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cry Mercy by Toni Andrews, June 3, 2009

By	jjmachshev "jj" (Grovetown, GA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

I like Toni Andrews 'Mercy' series and her latest "Cry Mercy" had me glued to the pages. This isn't really a romance, per se; there are romantic elements, but this is essentially the story of a woman with unusual abilities living her life. Her differences and the reactions of people in her past have caused her to close herself off. Recent experiences though, have brought her into contact with people-some with special talents, some without-and she's learning that EVERYONE is different in some way. So although this series so far has centered on her growing talents and her struggle to use them without abusing herself or others, for me it's just a fascinating series of stories about someone struggling to be themself and be happy...and find love of course.

Mercy works as a hypnotherapist, very convenient since she has the ability to 'push' her wishes on others. Her work gives her the opportunity to use those talents to help others and keep the talent from escaping her control. Recently, she's noticed some changes in her talent and that's not necessarily a good thing. She's also become involved with a group of 'friends', very different for the loner Mercy's always tried to be. But now having friends means trying to help them, and somehow Mercy has become involved in trying to save a friend and his younger brother from continued life in a gang, but to do that she'll have to use her 'push' in ways she's never tried before. Mercy also delves into her past; trying to discover more about her birth parents and prove, once and for all, if she's really human...or something more.

If you've not read any of the Mercy books, I wouldn't suggest beginning here--you'll miss alot of the changes in Mercy's life that make each book so engrossing. Toni Andrews' style of writing works well as Mercy tells her story in the first person and let's us peer inside her mind and her struggles in using her ability without crossing the moral boundaries she's set for herself. That personal touch of being inside Mercy's head is part of what makes this such an 'unputdownable' series. Like I said, not exactly your normal romance. More of a fantasy with light romantic elements, mystery, and some action. Or maybe just the story of an unusual woman...or you could always read it and decide for yourself!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highest recommendation, June 18, 2009

By	Catherine Winterfox (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In this third installment of the excellent Mercy Hollings series, Mercy, a psychic who can "push" people to do her will, faces her 30th birthday, a startling revelation about her ruined childhood, and dangerous confrontations with street gangs.

Tino, leader of a powerful local gang, has been trying to go straight with the help of some of Mercy's friends. To finally release himself from the Hombres Locos, he must negotiate a delicate deal with not only his own gang, but the leaders of several other gangs in the region. He recruits Mercy to help him "hypnotize" the other leaders into agreeing to his terms that will free not only him, but his reluctant little brother.

Andrews is a master of teasing out little bits of information on the long arc (Mercy's origins), and giving us a great story for the immediate arc. None of her characters are dull, and Tino is one of the best. In Cry Mercy, we learn about Tino and his family, meeting some interesting new faces along the way.

Mercy's integration into "normal" life-a life with friends-continues, as she reluctantly accepts a 30th birthday party from Sukey, and quietly deals with Sam's continued presence in her life. She has been forced to trust some, and is learning to trust others.

I continue to be absolutely taken with this series, and cannot recommend it highly enough.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gritty, surprising and human (even if the hero thinks she's not), May 20, 2009

By	Rhonda Lane "http://www.thehorseyset.net" (Connecticut USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you're skittish because you know that Toni Andrews is a romance author and that you "don't read romance," then get over it because this is a good book for you.

CRY MERCY is a story about a loner who's not anymore. It's gritty, got some dramatic jolts and will make you laugh.

It's also about the efforts of a gang leader working to go straight.

This is the first book I've read in the Mercy Hollings series. I didn't feel lost at all when I dropped into Mercy's world.

Now I'm eager to read the first two books in the series.