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MERCY
  

MERCY (Hardcover)

by David Lindsey (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)

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5 new from CDN$ 25.74 21 used from CDN$ 2.41 1 collectible from CDN$ 3.89

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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Lindsey ( In the Lake of the Moon ) has constructed a lean, gripping, psychological thriller around a gruesome subject: a series of brutally sadistic murders among the lesbian demimonde of monied Houston. The victims are found nude, beaten, bitten, slashed--and perfumed and flawlessly made-up, but with their eyelids expertly sliced from their eyes. Lindsey's likable heroine, recently divorced detective Carmen Palma, frantically tries to discover the murderer before another strike, battling both male chauvinism within the department and a growing discomfort with her task: exposure to the brutalized corpses is destroying her peace of mind. Still, she's tough, her powers of deduction remarkable, and the investigation moves swiftly--though it's periodically upstaged by erotic descriptions of murder and incest as well as enlightening asides on the nature and psychology of lesbianism, serial murder, transvestism, fetishism, bisexuality and sadomasochism. In all, Lindsey seems to have achieved a paradoxical goal: to create a sexually charged thriller that entertains in a responsible manner. Written with masterly skill, his chilling, provocative story is propelled by sophisticated characterization, credible dialogue and accurately rendered details. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selections; author tour.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Ingram

After three similar killings in the Houston area, detective Carmen Palma is convinced that the victims were members of a sadomasochistic underground and that they helped orchestrate their own deaths. Book available. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

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Customer Reviews

29 Reviews
5 star:
 (21)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (3)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (29 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most helpful customer reviews

 
5.0 out of 5 stars Houston, we have a winner!, Jun 24 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: Mercy (Paperback)
This guy is a great writer. Not only is the plot fascinating, juicy and suspenseful, the characters are genuine and interesting, especially the Latin lady-cop. Above all, Lindsey captures the essence of Houston with all its complex problems and diversity that become apparent to anyone who visits that city for any length of time. Lindsey captures the setting best of anyone and certainly better than those at UH creative writing program!
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1.0 out of 5 stars You call this a mystery?, May 5 2004
By Inkslave (Da Heartland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Mercy (Paperback)
I don't get what people like about this book. Lindsey is a fluid writer, good describer, but his characters spend way too much time in their own heads and the action, in this book at least, is predictable and rendered downright boring. All the lurid details that are supposed to add to the "psychoerotic" nature of the book come off as crude and off-putting instead, like a geek at a sideshow biting the head off a chicken. And anyone who can't guess the "surprise twist" by page 25 wasn't reading very closely.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful, literate, disturbing work, Oct 9 2003
By Avid Reader (Franklin, Tn) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Mercy (Paperback)
David Lindsey is one of the most underrated authors in the field today. His novels are always intelligent and interesting and most emerge from authentic FBI case histories. MERCY is not so much a routine who-dun-it mystery as an exploration of the psychology of fetishes and sex, particularly kinky sex - that is assuming one doesn't consider masochism, sadism, cross-dressing, and dominatrix luncheons slightly off.

There is another story beneath the obvious one and that is the practice of such behavior within the confines of polite society. The "victimes" are upper-class women of a certain type - the country club, suburban, once-a-week therapist type. Lindsey has a real knack for looking at events through the eyes of the disturbed individual, again calling on his real-life experience (FBI profiling).

The prose is rich and sweeping, the organization superb, the entire story always a little on edge. This is deeply disturbing novel but an important one.

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Most recent customer reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars OK, thought-provoking, pretty suspenseful
I love gritty suspense novels, but Mercy didn't bowl me over with its suspense. It was quite disturbing and insightful psychologically into sexually-abused women, bisexual women,... Read more
Published on Mar 25 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars It shocked the ... out of me!!
I bought this book from a book club just because I L-O-O-O-V-E suspense novels... and I was hooked! I was fascinated by the society these women have (and I'm not attracted to... Read more
Published on May 11 2002 by CJA

5.0 out of 5 stars Edge of your set thriller!!! Terrific escapism
This was AWESOME and smartly written. I actually started making a list halfway through of words I did not know the meaning of--eviserate, for instance. Read more
Published on April 8 2002 by Alicia Cathers

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read
This was the first David Lindsey book I read and after this one I went on to read many more. This one remains my favorite and it stays in my mind as few books do. Read more
Published on Jul 10 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly suspenseful!
This was my first David Lindsey book and, in my opinion, his best. It is so suspenseful and unexpected, right up to the conclusion! Read more
Published on Nov 1 2000 by J. Frazier

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed!
Although David Lindsey has a talent for descriptive prose, this book overall was a big disappointment to me. Read more
Published on Aug 18 2000 by J. Crowner

5.0 out of 5 stars Scary and Brilliant!
Mercy is one of the best crime novels of all time. The structure of this is so fascinating, you'll want to read it more than once, and there's even a chapter in the middle that... Read more
Published on Jul 30 2000 by Tom White

5.0 out of 5 stars Mercy is the Most Gripping Psychosexual Thriller Yet
The very best, bar none. It will grip you from first to last page--else, you are incapable of appreciating style, talent, genius, vigorous characterization, and psychological... Read more
Published on April 18 2000 by The Hawk

1.0 out of 5 stars Makes Proust read like Elmore Leonard
This has to be one of the most over-written books in any genre. I could not believe the amount of space wasted in wordy, directionless exposition. Read more
Published on Jan 6 2000

1.0 out of 5 stars Horrible
The book is really well written and I might be willing to read another book by this author.... but this book is just too ugly. Read more
Published on Dec 29 1999

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