Merciless: A Mystery
In her first two books (No Mercy, 2010, and Mercy Kill, 2011), Mercy Gunderson, a U.S. Army sniper, returned home to South Dakota, took over the family farm, went toe-to-toe with the local sheriff, and solved a couple of mysteries. Now she’s an FBI special agent working her first case, investigating the death of the niece of the Eagle River Reservation’s newly installed tribal president. As expected (at least by readers of the previous two Gunderson novels), Mercy jumps in with both feet, soon coming to the realization that there’s only one way to catch this killer: hunt him down. The novel, like Mercy herself, is two-fisted and hard-edged, with an affable demeanor that hides a chilling darkness. We can’t help liking Mercy, even though she has some seriously troubling aspects to her, and Armstrong, who also writes the gentler Julie Collins mysteries, is a deft plotter, keeping Mercy (and the reader) in the dark until she’s ready to pull the curtain and let the light in. Another solid entry in this promising new series. --David Pitt