Review: Implausible even for fiction
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 10, 2012
When I read a mystery, I look for some semblance of realism and a certain degree of credibility. I did not find either in great abundance in David Kessler's Mercy. It's not that it's poorly written. On the contrary Kessler can write and write well. His tale is just hard to swallow and gets progressively less digestible the more you consume of it. The story finally degenerates into the realm of the absurd.A fiction author has a responsibility to do his or her homework, and Kessler frequently fails in this respect. He obviously doesn't know much about firearms and demonstrates this ignorance in his confusion between an automatic pistol and a revolver (the former ejects shell casings while the latter retains them in each of the six chambers). He also knows little of hand-to-hand fighting, having a lightweight woman being able to head-butt and punch-out a burly prison guard. I was ready to puke after the second time he used the description "Punch to the stomach followed by a viscous uppercut".  No mas! I've had quite enough of the implausible.