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The Mercy Killers: A Novel
by
From a fierce new voice in American literature comes a psychological drama that combines gripping suspense and unforgettable characters in a story of murder, love, violent passion, and moral responsibility.
Paperback, 266 pages
Published
September 6th 2005
by Counterpoint
(first published August 25th 2004)
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I first discovered Reardon a few years back when I read Billy Dead, a novel that continues to haunt me. The Mercy Killers has been on my tbr shelf for ages but I kept putting off reading it because its subject matter didn’t really appeal to me. Once I started it, though, I couldn’t put it down.
Lisa Reardon writes about characters who live in a world vastly different from my own. They are broken-down people whose lives are messy – filled with violence and alcohol and drugs and hopelessness.
The Me ...more
Lisa Reardon writes about characters who live in a world vastly different from my own. They are broken-down people whose lives are messy – filled with violence and alcohol and drugs and hopelessness.
The Me ...more

I randomly picked this up from Booksale without any idea what the story was all about, as obviously this isn't a very popular book due to lack of reviews. What could have probably make me buy this book was because its synopsis at the back says it's a story of crime -- the kind of story I cannot pass up especially if it costs only P40. Haha. I was very surprised to find myself thoroughly enjoying the story and finished reading it in one day.
The Mercy Killers is well-written, the dialogue smart an ...more
The Mercy Killers is well-written, the dialogue smart an ...more

The setting is grim as are the characters and their situations. Not my kind of book, I thought, but within 20 pages or so I was enthralled by the both the gritty reality of the story and the tendrils of hope that run through it. Although terrible things happen the characters are so real you can smell their breath and the message that comes through (at least to me) is one of loyalty, love and (in some ways) redemption. A full disclosure here: I purchased this book because I have taken some writin
...more

This is an amazing book. Yes, it's about grubby, down & out characters who spend a lot of their time in McGurk's Tap Room. But it also may be one of the best books about the Vietnam War and what it did to the young men who were there. The book is beautifully written and the characters are clearly drawn. It's also a meditation on obligation and the meaning of "family". This book will be with me for a long time.
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This is well written, but I found it quite harrowing! Good cast of characters that you bond with emotionally, so the book sucks you in and you feel for the characters. Thank goodness for the ending (the type of ending) not the end of the book. I liked the book immensely even though it was a hard read at times.
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