Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
"A gripping and powerful read. It is what we call an edge-of-your-seat, rollercoaster of a thriller. You will not be able to put it down before you finish it."--The Washington Book Review on The Vanishing Season
No Mercy is award-winning author Joanna Schaffhausen's heart-pounding second novel.
Police officer Ellery Hathaway stopped a murderer permanently and her reward is a suspension from the force until she completes psychological counseling, complete with group therapy for victims of violent crime. Ellery is not convinced that other victims have anything to teach her, but her doctor insists there is one particular crime survivor Ellery should meet.
That person turns out to be Myra Gallagher, an older, wheelchair-bound woman with gnarled hands and a half-burned face. Like Ellery, Myra is a famous victim, the sole survivor of a rash of fires in Boston during the 1980s, which took her young son's life. The man arrested and convicted as the person responsible has been rotting in prison ever since, but Myra seems to feel no relief, especially now that he might be set free.
Another member of the therapy group, Wendy Mendoza, has endured a brutal attack that shattered her body and spirit. She's become someone unrecognizable even to herself, with a shaved head and her rapist's warning tattooed on her body: NO MERCY. The man is still out there somewhere, and Wendy is desperate to see him caught. Knowing Ellery will sometimes work outside the law, Wendy asks her to look into the case. Ellery knows that there's only one person who can help...however reluctantly. FBI profiler Reed Markham saved her from her past, but in so doing, he turned her present into a waking nightmare. And his present isn't looking that great either. His marriage is in shambles; his bosses think he's washed up; and worst of all, he blew a major investigation. And now Ellery is forcing them both back to the case that made them who they are today...with a killer who can't let go.
Synopsis
Police officer Ellery Hathaway and FBI profiler Reed Markham take on two difficult new cases in this stunning follow-up to The Vanishing Season.
"A gripping and powerful read. It is what we call an edge-of-your-seat, rollercoaster of a thriller. You will not be able to put it down before you finish it."--The Washington Book Review on The Vanishing Season
No Mercy is award-winning author Joanna Schaffhausen's heart-pounding second novel.
P Police officer Ellery Hathaway is on involuntary leave from her job because she shot a murderer in cold blood and refuses to apologize for it. Forced into group therapy for victims of violent crime, Ellery immediately finds higher priorities than "getting in touch with her feelings."
For one, she suspects a fellow group member may have helped to convict the wrong man for a deadly arson incident years ago. For another, Ellery finds herself in the desperate clutches of a woman who survived a brutal rape. He is still out there, this man with the Spider-Man-like ability to climb through bedroom windows, and his victim beseeches Ellery for help in capturing her attacker.
Ellery seeks advice from her friend, FBI profiler Reed Markham, who liberated her from a killer's closet when she was a child. Reed remains drawn to this unpredictable woman, the one he rescued but couldn't quite save. The trouble is, Reed is up for a potential big promotion, and his boss has just one condition for the new job--stay away from Ellery. Ellery ignores all the warnings. Instead, she starts digging around in everyone's past but her own--a move that, at best, could put her out of work permanently, and at worst, could put her in the city morgue.