Mercy Blade: A Jane Yellowrock Novel [Mass Market Paperback]

Jane Yellowrock is back at it again for this third book in the series. Though things start out a bit slow with Jane and her boyfriend Rick out of town in the Appalachian mountains, it quickly heats up. After seeing startling media reports that show Weres (particularly werecats in the beginning) are finally coming out in the open, they are both called back to duty in New Orleans. Jane continues her duties as an employee of Leo, the Master Vampire of the city, and Rick continues his as an undercover cop. Though they apparently began growing close over their one month relationship, this latest crisis certainly puts a strain.

Upon arriving back, Rick quickly disappears to his undercover job and Jane is requested to head up security for upcoming talks among the supernatural creatures. Other duties and tasks quickly pile up as she gets into the swing of things and, as usual, nothing in her job goes exactly as planned. In the aftermath of some bloody battles, she is forced to work quickly to solve mysteries that have a far more reaching impact than she has faced yet. New creatures and secondary characters add to her growing list of troubles, but add also to the excitement. The action is as deadly and bloody as previous books. Jane is left with little time to recover before the next confrontation begins keeping the reader in suspense. This latest installment brings back many of the characters seen before and delves further into their backgrounds. While some questions are answered, many more are brought out. Janes ability to keep her identity a secret will also become difficult. She is exposed to more supernatural races and they join the others in being suspicious of her nature.

Though I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, there are two main problems I would mention. As stated in others reviews, Jane spent far too much time in angst over Rick. For only dating him a short time and having avoided serious relationships up to meeting him, it just didn't seem credible for her to be so obsessive. The author could have shown Jane had some concern without it going overboard. Also, it seemed that Jane spent entirely too much time worrying over her religious sins. Particularly over having slept with Rick out of wedlock and nearly sleeping with another man. She is a woman that kills others for a career. Technically, Christianity emphasizes peace and turning the other cheek. She obviously doesn't follow those tenets so why all the inner dialog on her sinning? This happens frequently as the story goes along. It should also be considered that Jane follows some of her Indian heritage beliefs. This puts the two belief systems at odds. It would have been better to leave out all the unnecessary religious connotations. Her Indian beliefs have far more importance for this series anyway. If these two complaints were taken out, I would certainly label this a five star review for everything else in the story was excellent.

For those who have not read the first two books in the series, I would recommend reading them first. It is possible you could read this one alone, but it would be difficult to gain the emotional attachment and understanding of all the characters without reading the others. This is an excellent series and well worth the time to read. It is not romance heavy, but there is some elements to it. The Jane Yellowrock series is best suited for those who enjoy a bit of mystery, a tough [...] heroine, and lots of paranormal elements.

I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first two books for several reasons. (Warning... spoilers ahead!)

One of the problems I had was the heroine is very angsty in this book, so much so that it really starts to bog down the story. A bigger problem for me, however, is that I really, really hate a cheating hero. Although readers aren't certain he cheated, I suspect that he did, at least initially. If he was sane/well enough to take a redhead to a restaurant, there's no reason he couldn't have called Jane to let him know he was in trouble, or left a message with the waiter, or just gotten out of the situation he was in. The author's premise that he took the mystery date to the restaurant so that Jane would investigate just doesn't make sense. I wish I read the reviews and had known that this book had a cheating hero. I would've never bought it, nor wasted my time reading it to the end, hoping the author would reveal that he actually didn't cheat.

Another problem is the author's overuse of the "tell her, but don't tell her" and "missing pieces" theme. Other characters are allowed to give her just enough information for her to become even more confused throughout the book, and it doesn't all come together until the very end, when Jane berates herself for not seeing it all from the beginning. It became too repetitive after being used in the first two books.

And, finally, there was too much confusion in the plot this time around - Jane spent most of her time going back and forth to the same places getting one more clue to add to her arsenal of clues that didn't make sense to her, and it just bogged the story and slowed down the pace too much. I had to reread some pages over again to understand what was going on and figure out the sequence of events. Evangeline's role in the story was odd, and didn't seem to go anywhere except to set up for the next book.

Overall, this was between a "don't like" and an "it's okay," but I'll round up to 3 stars instead of rounding down to 2. I probably won't continue with the series, unfortunately. I just don't have any patience for cheating heroes, even if she can work out the other problems in the next book.

I love all of Faith Hunter's books! Mercy Blade, the third book in the Jane Yellowrock series, is no exception. Just when Jane thought she would get a breather.....the werecats and werewolves come out of the supernat closet, and the Alpha of one group of werewolves has a beef with Leo. Did Leo illegally kill and throw the wolves out of New Orleans and can the werevolves prove in the human courts that they deserve to be masters of the city? Who or what is Gee, the original Mercy Blade? Is he here to help Leo or someone else? How does Magnolia Sweets fit into the mystery? Do the the werecats really want to play nice? To add to the mix, Rick is missing! Jane found love in the last book with Rick, but can it last? Jane and Rick are only together brifely at the begining of the book before he goes missing.....and with another woman, or is he working undercover? These are all parts of the mystery that is Mercy Blade.

I like how Jane's character has developed over the series...just enough to be realistic. She goes theough the same things most real people do....when faced with a choice, what are your morals/ethics/beliefs? Where do you draw the line in killing or be killed? Are vampires and werewolves "human enough" to serve the same rights and have to follow the same rules? Can someone that cheats on you for their job still be considered faithful, and do you owe them your faithfullness?

I don't know why people don't like Rick so much. I choose the nice guy over the "bad boy" any day, but give him a break. It's his job to go undercover as a police officer and have a double life. He is not doing it for fun. Jane just has to decide if she loves him enough to overlook that part of his life. I know that I would find it difficult, if not impossible, to share my man that way, but if she loves him then that's her choice. She already decided that although she is greatly attracted to Bruiser, he will never put Jane first. Leo will always be his top priority. Although it seems to me that Rick has a job he has to put before Jane too. So perhaps she needs a third choice?

For those of you that don't want to know too much before reading the book, just know that if you liked the previous books, you will this one to. Stop here if you don't want to know any potential spoilers, although I tried to still hide them a bit.

I didn't find the mystery to be too convoluted and confusing as some of the other reviewers as it unfolded, but it helped when the author said that there were two plots going on and teased them apart in the last half of the book. I figured out the "T" connection pretty early, but didn't get who Magnolia was until right before the reveal. I also figured out the green guy's dual purpose. I actually liked that it wasn't so easy to figure out, but the clues are all there if you pay attention.

I look forward to the next installment.

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