Mercy [Paperback]

Julie Garwood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 3, 2003

Attorney Theo Buchanan - brother of seasoned FBI agent Nick Buchanan, the hero of HEARTBREAKER - is in New Orleans to receive an award for his work with the Department of Justice. When he becomes unexpectedly ill at the gala, a beautiful stranger rushes him to the hospital and saves his life. The woman - a brilliant surgeon named Michelle Renard - intrigues Theo, but before he can learn more about her, she leaves New Orleans and returns to her small clinic in Louisiana. Theo seeks her out to thank her, but finds more than he bargained for. When he arrives in the little town of Bowen, he discovers that Michelle is being followed, her house has been broken into and her clinic destroyed. Theo is in a position to return the ultimate favour. Michelle saved his life...now can he save hers?

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Bestselling author Julie Garwood has a new calling--contemporary romantic suspense fiction. While longtime fans of Garwood hope she won't forsake the historical romance genre that has been so successful for her, this versatile author is coming into her own as a creator of amazingly complex and detailed suspense novels. In Mercy, Theo Buchanan, the brother of FBI agent Nick Buchanan from Heartbreaker, Garwood's first foray into suspense fiction, meets surgeon Dr. Michelle "Mike" Renard when he throws up on her designer dress at a New Orleans gala. Dr. Mike saves Theo's life with an emergency appendectomy, enabling him to return to Boston and his job as a federal prosecutor.

But Theo can't stop thinking about Mike and her little hometown on the bayou. After concluding an investigation and trial that brings down a powerful organized crime syndicate, Theo receives several death threats and his boss recommends he keep a low profile. What better place to go incognito than Bowen, Louisiana, where the catfish practically throw themselves at your fishing pole and where a certain pretty young doctor is opening her new practice? But when Theo arrives, he finds life in Bowen isn't quite as idyllic as he thought. Someone has ransacked Mike's new office and seems dead set on harming her. As Theo struggles to protect Mike, he uncovers a ring of upper-crust criminals willing to do anything, even murder, to keep their dirty little secret--all $40 million of it--from being discovered. What connection could they possibly have to Mike? And why does everyone under the age of 18 keep calling Theo "Coach"? Join perennial favorite Garwood on a journey into the quirky, close-knit communities of the Louisiana bayou and the journey a man and woman devoted to their careers undertake as they fall passionately in love. --Alison Trinkle --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

After last year's bestselling Heartbreaker, her first venture into contemporary romantic suspense, Garwood turns out another of the same genre with equally crowd-pleasing results. Set alternately in posh New Orleans and in a swampy Louisiana bayou, the novel begins with the mercy killing of sickly, bedridden Catherine Bodine, wife of affluent attorney John Russell. John is the 30-something leader of what he and his three friends call the Sowing Club, their own high stakes embezzlement group, a secret society bound by a pact that will guarantee them millions in cash by the time they are 40. A shift to the romantic plot line introduces Department of Justice lawyer Theo Buchanan, doubled over in pain at an awards ceremony in New Orleans. Brilliant and striking surgeon Michelle Renard comes to Theo's rescue, performing an appendectomy, capturing his heart and leaving before Theo can thank her. Determined to show his gratitude, Theo follows the beautiful doctor to the backwater town of Bowen, La. Upon arrival, he finds Michelle distraught because she's being followed, her house has been broken into and her clinic ransacked. Theo hangs around to investigate and gets to know a slew of colorful country folk determined to feed him gumbo, cull free legal advice and make him the new high school football coach. Sparks fly furiously between Theo and Michelle, but bullets fly, too, when it becomes clear that Michelle is the one person who can hinder the Sowing Club's greedy ambitions. Garwood serves up a well-paced and absorbing read sure to satisfy readers who seek a bit of danger in love. Doubleday Book Club and Rhapsody Book Club main selection. (Sept.)Forecast: This strong offering will hit bestseller lists hard and early and deservedly so.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books (February 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743430336
• ISBN-13: 978-0743430333
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (137 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,160,878 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Julie Garwood is the author of numerous New York Times bestsellers, including Fire and Ice, Shadow Music, Shadow Dance, Murder List, Killjoy, Mercy, Heartbreaker, Ransom, and Come the Spring. There are more than thirty-six million copies of her books in print.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Julie has stuck gold!, September 12, 2001

By 

M. Bradley "Mimmi" (Bluegrass State) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mercy (Hardcover)

Mercy, Julie Garwoods new hard cover novel, the follow up to Heartbreaker I can only describe as gold! Theo, an attorney for the Justice dept., meets Michelle, Dr. "Mike", at a huge gala in New Orleans as he's doubled over in pain. The fun starts here! I don't want to give away one minute of the suspence and romance that takes place in this novel, but to me this is the best I've read by her since Prince Charming. There's not an element missing from this book, and she's spiced it up with her trademark feisty heroine and hunky, type A, sensitive hero. I loved every minute of it, finished it in one sitting!
DO NOT MISS THIS! It left me hungry for more....

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Have Mercy on My Romantic Soul!, September 23, 2001

By 

paula_k_98 "paula_k_98" (Muskogee, OK USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Mercy (Hardcover)

When I say "have mercy on my romantic soul" I mean it. Julie Garwood has gone back to her trademark of strong heroine, dashing hero, great dialogue and comic moments that made her such a popular historical romance writer. This book flows with the interaction between characters. Even though this is supposed to be a suspense thriller, to me it was more of a romantic suspense story.

Theo Buchanan, brother to the popular Nick from Garwood's novel, Heartbreaker gets his own story. What a story it is! Theo is at a snazzy event in New Orleans, about to give a speech when he is struck down with an appendicitis attack. A young woman rushes to his aid when she promptly gets thrown up on over her new dress and a black eye when Theo thinks she is trying to rob him of his gun and wallet. To his shock he later finds out the young woman is Dr. Michelle "Mike" Renard, a brilliant young surgeon from a small town in the swamps who manages to save his life. Theo is suffering from burnt out and decides to visit the small town Michelle is in the process of setting up a new clinic. His pretense is he wants to check out the fishing but he really wants to check out Michelle.

Meanwhile the suspense surrounds four friends who have been committing white-collar crimes several years. The leader, John, manages to convince the others to help him carry out a "mercy" killing on his poor wife who has supposedly been ill for several years. What the others don't realize is John wants the wife out of the way so he can inherit her money. Well, needless to say, John isn't as smart as he thinks when he finds out his wife has changed her will, left him nothing, and sent some information to Michelle that John and the others don't want made public.

I liked this book. It was funny, had wonderful characters, snappy dialogue, and a great cast of secondary characters. I would have given this book a five except for the fact that the suspense takes backseat to the romantic side. This isn't necessary a bad thing since the romance is pretty darn good but it really doesn't cut it as a "suspense thriller." However, I have to say while I didn't care for Ms. Garwood's previous novel, Heartbreaker, she has definitely redeemed herself with Mercy. Let me finish with a personal request-please--give us Noah's story!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Awesome second in a series, January 26, 2006

By 

Tracy Vest (Northern California) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mercy (Mass Market Paperback)

A seemingly distraught husband agonizes over the painful and slow death of his wife, as he and several friends struggle with whether to conduct a mercy killing on her behalf. In actuality, the husband is a sociopath with visions of grandeur. He cons his buddies into organizing her death so he hasaccess to his wife's trust fund. But the joke's on him, when the will is read several weeks after her death (to insure he goes on a spending spree), and he's left with $100. She leaves a substantial amount of money to her distant relatives in the swamp country, but also leaves her estranged cousin with a whole lot more - a detailed listing of her husband's ill-gotten gains.

Michelle, the cousin, is a gifted surgeon who performs emergency surgery on Theo Buchanan, a charismatic justice department employee. At the invitation of her father, Theo travels to her hometown to fish and get to know Michelle but is soon pegged to be the new football coach, resulting in a lot of hilarious situations for him. When he discovers that Michelle's clinic has been targeted by vandals, he decides to stick around to lend a hand, discovering that the break-ins might be related to a package that was delivered to her one hectic day in the OR. As Theo and Michelle work around the clock, they slowly close in on a scheme more diabolical and larger than they ever imagined.

This is the second in Garwood's Buchanan family mysteries (after "Heartbreaker", and has all the sensuality and adrenaline-packed action you come to expect from these novels, including the occasional pop up of such great secondary characters like Noah "I'm an independent contractor" Clayborne. There are some loose ends and the story continues in the follow up, "Killjoy."