Angel of Mercy by Toni Andrews

Angel of Mercy is the second in the Mercy Hollings series by Toni Andrews. Picking up from where Beg for Mercy ended, it finds Mercy trying to resume her life following the traumatic events of the previous book. It's slightly difficult to summarize the plot of this one - more of that later - but a lot of the story is concerned with Mercy trying to help out at a battered woman's refuge and how once again her use of the 'press' has unforeseen consequences.

I didn't like this book quite as much as the first for some reasons and slightly more than the first for other reasons. I know that doesn't make much sense now, but hopefully I'll explain myself during the review and by the end it will.

On the liking of the book first. I think Mercy is one of the few UF heroines who has a normal human friend. Someone who's there to slap her upside the head when she's doing something stupid. It makes a refreshing change. This is one of the things that raises this series for me, the fact that Mercy has relationships with people - not just people who want to have sex with her, or who want to control her power or use her, but actual relationships. I like that she has a rottweiler called Cupcake which she owns on a part-time basis with Sukey her best friend.

Sukey really starts to come into her own in this book. She acts as a foil to Mercy, her cheerful and sunny personality contrasting with Mercy's more dark and sombre one. Their experience with Dominic has left them with a telepathic connection which Sukey thinks is cool, but Mercy isn't so sure.

Sukey grinned like a happy six-year old. "Can we do an experiment? I have some ideas."
I'd bet she had.

Sukey gives Mercy a link to her humanity and keeps her grounded. I love that she spends most of this book teaching herself how to be a detective from a book titled - The Exciting World of Private Investigation.

Meanwhile, Mercy's relationship with Sam comes under strain.

Something in his tone made me look at him - really look at him. Wow, he's really pissed.

She is unable to tell him her secret and discovers that he has also been keeping secrets from her. You slightly want to scream at them to 'talk to each other!'. You understand her reasons for behaving the way she does, but she could handle it better.

Having seen off Dominic in the previous book she is the only supernatural creature about. I count this as another plus. Rather than having a story over-run with every creature going - and there's nothing wrong with that - we have a very tight focus on Mercy, her relationships and her problems both with her powers and with her life. It makes for a very different UF read. (Slightly bummed that Dominic won't be coming back by the way, he was one of the best bad guys I'd read in a while).

Toni Andrews makes it clear that the power of the press - the ability to force someone to do something - is both a blessing and a curse. The wrong words said in haste can have terrible repercussions, but Mercy is only human - she gets angry, she gets upset, she reacts without thinking and then tells herself she's never going to do it again. (Yes, if you haven't guessed, she suffers from the traditional UF heroine fault of not listening to her inner voice, even when it's screaming at her not to do something.)

Bearing all that in mind, the main problem I had with this book is the plot structure. If you read the blurb it sounds like Mercy's intervention at the battered women's refuge will be the main focus of the plot, but this storyline is wrapped up with about 50 pages to go. We then end the book with Mercy (with encouragement from Sukey and help from The Exciting World of Prifvate Detection) pursuing information that may shed light onto Mercy's past - who she is, what she is. That is maybe Mercy's main goal in this book, trying to answer the question of whether she's human. But because that story is running parallel to the story about Anna and Grace, the ending is a little bit mishmashy, and kind of just peters out.

I'm going to stick with this series as it is different to the other UF stuff out there. But I hope there's a little more focus on the plot in the next one.

Book 1 - Beg for Mercy
Book 3 - Cry Mercy (June 2009)

Beg for Mercy - Toni Andrews

SPOILERS POSSIBLE SPOILERS POSSIBLE SPOILERS POSSIBLE

Don't know if anyone remembers but this was the book I had on my wishlist that I couldn't remember why I'd put it on there. I am SO glad I bought it.

Mercy Hollings is a pretty ordinary person, but she has an extraordinary gift. She has the power to make people do what she wants. She calls this power 'the press'. Mercy's friend Sukey has appalling taste in men, when her latest boyfriend (Rocko) slips her heroin and causes her to overdose, Mercy takes matters into her own hands to ensure it will never happen again. Unfortunately in getting rid of the sleazy boyfriend, Mercy manages to draw the attention of Dominic, drug dealer and Rocko's boss. Dominic wants his heroin back.

One of the things I love about this book is that Toni Andrews does not insult her reader's intelligence / literary knowledge. I read the back cover of BFM and thought Aha! this sounds like 'the push' from Firestarter. Chapter 2 begins :-

"When I was fourteen, I read a book by Stephen King called Firestarter."

Mercy then explains why her power is different to that of the push. I thought this was a nice little touch. (In a way her power is similar to that of Eden from Heroes Season 1, the character who ended up shooting herself rather than giving up her power to Sylar).

I think that comparison to Heroes is relevant because in a lot of ways Beg For Mercy follows the same line. Mercy is not a cop / private detective / lost fairy princess / super hero, she's trying to live an ordinary life without hurting people. She has four rules for when she can and cannot use her power. The most important being - Do No Harm. But when a word spoken in haste or anger can do irreperable damage it's easy to understand why she's chosen to try and isolate herself. However, she's made friends in this community and when she puts those people in danger, she sorts her mess out and ultimately has to break her rules. (Though it has to be said, she sometimes seems to have a pretty flexible approach to most of them.)

Mercy does let her emotions over-ride her judgement, which considering the power she has isn't a good thing. She initially pursues Rocko without being certain of his guilt. She makes a big assumption because of her own self-recrimination. And when she uses the press on him, she sets in motion a chain of events that ultimately put Sukey, and Mercy's other friends in even more danger. I very much liked this ripple effect. Nearly everything that happens can be traced back to that initial press on Rocko. And as Mercy tries to put things right, she ends up having to use the press even more. It shows how easily she could become corrupted by her power.

There is the beginning of a romantic relationship between Mercy and Sam, but this story mainly focuses on Mercy, so if you prefer the romantic relationship to be the central thrust of the story this one may not be for you. But you'd be missing out on a great tale.

Aside - There are a couple of scenes reminiscent of Obi Wan Kenobi from Star Wars. And I so wanted Mercy to say - "These are not the droids you are looking for." But obviously that didn't happen. LOL

Mercy has a power that can't be topped. These are tricky heroes to write about and initially I was a little concerned. This is why Superman has kryptonite. There has to be something for the bad guy to exploit. But I needn't have worried because Mercy has her weak points.

She knows that the consequences of using the press can be catastrophic, but even knowing this, she still uses it. She tries to take care, but she's still sometimes careless, and even when she's being cautious, the results are unpredictable, because it's impossible for her to foresee all the consequences of her actions. She's also without realising it come to care for her friends - always a liability in fiction. And finally she meets someone on whom the press doesn't work - Dominic.

Dominic, Dominic, Dominic. An absolutely delicious bad guy. There's quite a few of them around at the moment. He's not a nice man. He's very, very bad. But Toni Andrews writes him as charmingly evil. He knows (or says he knows) much more about Mercy than she knows about herself. I can't help but hope we haven't seen the last of him.

Beg for Mercy makes a refreshing change from vampires, werewolves, elves and the end of the world. Recommended.

Angel of Mercy Book 2 - May 2008

P.S. I'm going to make a quick comment about the cover - my copy was really annoying, the front and back covers curled away from the spine, even before I'd read it. I don't know if this is something to do with some kind of coating the publisher has put on there to make parts of it shiny but I hope it's a one off. The cover's primary job is to protect the story inside, prettyifying it should come a distant second. I want to be able to read this book in ten years, not have to replace it.