Mercury for Hire

Mercury Hale #2

by Steve Rzasa

Mercury Hale is out of a job. That’s not stopping him from fighting crime in San Camillo – for a fee, of course.His much simpler yet financially unstable situation is interrupted when Procyon Foundation comes to him with a one of their top Tracking specialists is missing. The good news? Mercury may have found a way to get back into his employer’s good graces.The bad news? A new breed of monster is terrorizing his city.Couple that challenge with the emergence of a rival force to Procyon that wants astral fiends for experimentation, and the appearance of a mysterious stranger who’s traveled across dimensions, Mercury has his hands full juggling dangers – and grappling with a lovesick heart.And if he drops anything, he could lose it all.

Genres: Paranormal, Urban Fantasy

368 pages, Paperback

Published August 12, 2020

About the author

Steve Rzasa was born and raised in South Jersey, and fell in love with books—especially science fiction novels and historical volumes—at an early age. He earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from Boston University’s College of Communications in 2000, and then spent seven years as a reporter and assistant editor at weekly newspapers in Maine. Steve moved to Wyoming in 2007 to become the editor of a weekly newspaper there, and now works at the local library. He and his wife Carrie have two boys and live in Buffalo, Wyoming.

Reviews

[Becky B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mercury has been trying to keep afloat since Procyon cut him off and the astral fiends stopped coming through rifts. He fights petty crime and asks for donations from those he helps out. And he gives his pal Ramos some help when the police run into weird and unusual stuff. The latest weird and unusual stuff involve some corpses who look an awful lot like they got their life sucked away by one of Mercury's old buddies. But the rifts are all closed, right? So why are they getting reports of a weird hound/monster/glowy thing?

Mercury is always the most fun when the tension should be the highest and he starts making goofy and inappropriate comments for the seriousness of the situation. He makes dead ends awful fun, and always pulls out something crazy. Well, mostly. This one does end with a bit of a cliffhanger in some respects. Now I need to figure out how to get my hands on a copy of book 3.

Notes on content: Two minor swears that I remember. It is mentioned someone flicks off someone else. No sexual content. There are battles with injuries and casualties, some desiccated corpses described and some injuries.

[C.S. Wachter · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Having lost his job at Procyon after the final battle in Mercury On Guard, our intrepid hero is now reduced to fighting crime on the streets and collecting fees from those he saves while handing out business cards. But things can’t remain quiet for long and a new villain arises to challenge Mercury and his friends, and bring havoc to San Camillo.

Once again, this is a fun, quick-paced read with snark and heart. The only reason I dropped this to 4.5 is the number of missing words in the book. Otherwise, I enjoyed following pizza loving, brash, and brazen Mercury in this second installment of the series.

If you like superheroes, but prefer your books clean, don’t miss this one.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was so good diving back into this series. I enjoyed this second installment just as much as I did the first one. It was another crazy, fun read. It's so unpredictable, I never knew what to expect next.

This time around Mercury is out of a job and is trying to make ends meet by being a superhero for hire. He's got his own business cards and everything. If he saves you, be sure to remember to donate to his paypal account. Superheroes have bills too, ya know. :)

The pace was lightning fast and hardly ever slowed down. And the last part of the book? Wow! It was so intense I could barely catch my breath. The ending? What a doozy! I'm eager to check out book three!

[Jason Joyner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man, Steve Rzasa hits another winner with book 2 in his Mercury Hale series. This paranormal, urban fantasy series keeps the crazy fun action going.

After the events of book 1, Mercury doesn't have a company to work for anymore, so he's a superhero for hire. He prowls the streets, fighting crime and offering the people he rescues a chance to support him via Venmo. However, a new threat and new allies arise, and Mercury must find a way to track down his enemies and afford to keep himself in pizza.

[CliffHanger · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great sequel to the first book! I love the pacing and writing style.