Customer Reviews

Mercy

5 star:		(83)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

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....

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!

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."

Julie Garwood has done it again! Her title "Mercy" is just a continuation of her excellence. I enjoyed this book as I have enjoyed every thing else I have read by her. I love her characters, and her plots. She gets you so involved in the story that you hate to put it down if you have to, and can easily read her straight through if time permits you to do so. This book has romance, humor, suspense, titillation, and closure. It makes sense from beginning to end and gives the reader total satisfaction from start to finish. I wait impatiently for what she offers next. To me, her books are just "GOOD READING."

Catherine Bondue's death was staged as an ostensible suicide but her husband John knew better. He manipulated his friends in his self-formed crime organization The Sowing Club to concoct a murder scheme by hoodwinking them into thinking that it was more of a mercy killing to end her sufferings by a debilitating disease. Little did he expect his wife to outsmart him by gathering his sordid evidence and send them to her niece Dr. Michelle "Mike" Renard. The nefarious felons soon invade Michelle's life so it is thus fortunate that Theo Buchanan from the Justice Dept. fatefully enters her life when Michelle rescues him after he fainted on her in a gala at New Orleans. The lean, hard pulsating thriller from second-timer Julie Garwood is fraught with fast twists, back-stabbings and deceptions that climaxes with a showdown at the hospital. The romance between the intelligent Michelle and chivalrous Theo adds on to the palpable tension instead of slowing down the frenetic pacing of pursuits and evil sabotages. Interweaving the small-town Louisians backdrop and charming interactions with the thriving community, the book crackles with humour, warmth and fraternity. This contemporary romance fuses cutthroat suspense to render it a mercifully entertaining read that will have Garwood's fans cheering.

I love all of Julie Garwood's historicals, and I have to admit when she switched on us to comtemp's I had my doubts. They are all settled now. Julie has gone back to her classic style, with a quirky, spunky lovable heroine, and a hero who is alpha while at the same time isn't ashamed to show his love for the heroine. I think one of the things that I love best about Julie Garwood is the interaction between hero and heroine make you feel like you're there, and you know them inside and out. She does a tremendous job of that with Mercy--I fell in love! This book had LOL moments, sweet moments, and a great plot. I read it in one sitting, and am going to buy the audio CD to listen to it and see if I enjoy it as much in audio as I did in print. If you're a Julie Garwood fan, jump for joy! She's back!

Following in the footsteps of HEARTBREAKER, Ms. Garwood's previous novel of romance and suspense, MERCY pits Theo Buchanan against an unknown evil threatening the life of the beautiful Michelle.

Dr. Michelle Renard encounters Theo first at a party in New Orleans where she meets him and subsequently saves his life when she operates to remove his appendix. Michelle enchants Boston-based Justice Department attorney, Theo Buchanan, when he sees her after his surgery. After her father invites him to go fishing in Bowen, Louisiana, Theo travels there only to discover that Michelle's clinic has been ransacked.

Enter the subplot-members of the sinister Sowing Club, John, Dallas, Preston, and Cameron, friends forever who amassed a large fortune in shady investment deals. When they become involved in "mercy" killing, the four need to cover their tracks. Where are the documents that could destroy them?

In an intricate plot twist, Michelle becomes the target as the four are given reason to believe that she is the recipient of some documents that could be particularly damaging to them. Can Theo protect her as their two lives become inextricably combined?

Ms. Garwood has proven once-again that she has successfully made the crossover from historicals to romantic suspense. The motivation of the Sowing Club becomes increasingly evil as the members lose all notions of morality and will go to any lengths for greed. The scenes are fast-paced, the characters colorful and enigmatic as Michelle and Theo encounter the many dangers of the bayou. For a sure-fire winner, MERCY can't be beat.

I just finished Mercy. I bought it on a whim not knowing how it would be. It was a Great book... I enjoyed the characters they held my attention throughout the whole book. I would characterize it as a Romantic Thriller. There were some dark areas of the book but I thought they were necessary to understand the storyline. I would recommend this highly for those of you who are looking for a good read. It was funny, thrilling, romantic, had great characters. It was a fast paced read. Hardly any slow sections at all. Good Stuff. I will continue reading Julie Garwood. I personally love a good book with strong characters and a good solid storyline that I can follow. You won't be disappointed.

One has to get past their hopeful expectations that the book Garwood fans have been anxiously awaiting would be a tightly woven sequel to HEARTBREAKER. It does bring Theo Buchanan, brother of Nick from HEARTBREAKER into the limelight of a storyline that I personally found a bit less riviting then it's predecessor, but still well written in the way one expects of Ms. Garwood.

Michelle Renard, raised alone by her Louisana father when her mother suffers a stroke while giving birth to her, has a brillant mind that pulls her from life in a small bayou town into the life of a surgeon. The circumstances that take her from that of an uncultured girl to that of a beautiful, refined doctor are described powerfully and weave her involvement with Theo, an attorney, into an enthralling storyline. For an author that made the switch from medieval romance to contemporary suspense-laden romantic novels, Garwood barely misses a beat in such a dramatic switch in style and content. She may surprise, but she never disappoints. But, I'm still hoping that Noah from HEARTBREAKER eventually finds himself positioned as a main character in a future Garwood mystery!

In this, the second book in the Buchanan series, Ms. Garwood introduces us to several wonderful characters. Jake, Cherry and Darryl and the other "down home and open hearted" people of Bowen, Louisiana, along with Michelle and Theo (Nicks brother - The Heartbreaker). You enjoy the openness of these people, their pride and sense of family and moral values. You gain a respect for the average "working man or woman" and the extent they go to to take care of their own. It was a wonderful book. You got lost in the intrigue of figuring out the next step for the bad guys and in waiting for the next sensual touch by the good guy. Then she slips in a twist at the end that totally knocks you for a loop. :-) I loved it!