Bone Crossed (Mercy Thompson, #4)

by Patricia Briggs

Car mechanic and sometime shapeshifter Mercy Thompson has learned, the hard way, why her race was almost exterminated. When European vampires immigrated to North America, they found Mercy's people had a hidden talent - for vampire slaying. Unfortunately for Mercy, the queen of the local vampire seethe has discovered her true identity. She's also furious when she learns Mercy has crossed her and killed one of her vampires. Mercy may be protected from direct reprisals by the werewolf pack (and her interesting relationship with its Alpha), but that just means Marsilia will come after Mercy some other way. So Mercy had better prepare to watch her back.

• ISBN10: 0441016766
• ISBN13: 9780441016761
• Publish Date: 3 February 2009 (first published 1 February 2009)
• Publish Status: Remaindered
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Ace Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 309
• Language: English

Reviews

For some reason, my review and rating are gone, so my review won't be as detailed as before.

I do love the Mercy Thompson books and have read most of them. I don't remember much about this book, just that it wasn't as strong as the other in the series. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy reading it. It was just more info added into learning about Mercy and her life.

[littleread1]

Seriously. I AM DESTROYING THESE BOOKS. And on audio. Audios usually last me much longer than this! Insanity. I liked this story, and felt like the characters are making progress, and moving forward with their lives. It is about time.

[nitzan_schwarz]

Okay... Even though this is a really great story, it's actually one of my least favorite in the series??? Like, the main plot itself. Blackwell? Blackthorn? (I read the book yesterday and I can't remember) and that whole thing is just kind of meh. It puts Mercy away from all the cast I love, and it just kind of feel... I don't know. Like there needed to be more plot between the Seethe stuff and the pack stuff, so we just put on a one-off adventure that won't really impact anything in the long run (though it does let Mercy know of another ability of hers. Let's hope this ability, cool as it is, will be useful in the next installments to justify this adventure lol)

That being said, I LOVE what this installment does for all our characters:

-- I LOVE Stefan here, even as I hate what has been done to him. But I love the struggle between him and Marsilia, and I loved the implication of his love towards Mercy, even though I'm not sure if it's romantic love (also, CAN Stefan find a girl to properly be *in* love with? I would love to see this vamp catch a break).

-- I LOVE MERCY AND ADAM! I have been excited for my ship to sail for a while, and they are officially there and I love it! I love Mercy being Adam's mate (gosh that man adores here lol), I love the introduction of the pack and a bigger exploration of pack magic (which we'll continue to explore in the next book) and I just love the dynamics between them so much. Also YAS Mercy claim that fine men they all better know he's yours!

-- Chad is super cute. We will probably never see him again, but STILL!

-- I low key love Marsilia. I also think she is kind of a tragic figure, same as Stefan is. At the end of the day, protection of her people is more important than the people she loves and she will do anything to protect them, but she is also left terribly isolated by this fact.

-- More people we're expected to care about dying. I was sad for the family, but by this point, Briggs has killed a side character or three every installment. It's not getting any more impactful. If the alternative is killing one of my favs I definitely prefer this side character massacre, though.

-- I still love Ben so much. I want him to fall in love somewhere in the course of this series because that would be so funny to watch. Adam telling Mercy Ben adores her made my day, and Ben and the Kyle boy-toy remark made me laugh so bad.

[EBookObsessed]

As if the panic attacks aren’t enough stress for Mercy, Marsilia drops a starved and tortured Stefan into Mercy’s living room hoping he would do her a favor and kill Mercy for her. Lucky for Mercy, both Adam and Samuel were at her trailer and helped keep the starving vampire off her. When Stefan comes to, we learn that Marsilia knows that it was Mercy that killed the vampire and she has tortured Stefan, killed his “sheep” and turned him out of the seethe as punishment for bringing Mercy to the seethe and protecting her.

Adam and his wolves are indebted to Stefan for what he did for them while they were all captured by the vampire-demon. But when Adam realizes that the blood exchange between Stefan and Mercy leaves her vulnerable to be “called” by Stefan, he acts to protect her by making her part of the pack. He will not lose Mercy to a vampire.

It all gets more complicated when Mercy tries to get out of the Tri-Cities area, knowing Marsilia won’t attack her friends if Mercy isn’t there to witness the fun. Although it seems too coincidental when an old college friend shows up at her door asking for help removing a ghost from her house, Mercy decides a trip to Spokane might just be what she needs right now. There is no question that there is a ghost in her friend’s house, but Mercy has never seen one act to violently before.

Mercy might have also just jumped from the frying pan into the fire. The Spokane area has been held by a centuries old vampire named James Blackwood. Blackwood doesn’t allow other preternaturals into his territory and he might not be so happy when he finds Mercy visiting without his approval. When she wakes up to find bite marks and no memory of a vampire visit, it seems that Blackwood might be forcing a blood exchange with Mercy so that he can control her. Does he think he can control Adam’s pack through Mercy’s mating bond with Adam, or is he working with Marsilia to kill Mercy?

THOUGHTS:
Mercy keeps getting drawn into situations which over her head. In this story, the vampires have painted crossed bones on her shop which indicate she is an enemy of the vampires and open for attack by whatever creature wants her. Stefan has been tossed from the seethe for protecting Mercy and not letting Marsilia know that there was a walker in her territory. I think it is more Marsilia’s jealousy of Mercy than any real offense.

Several of the top vampires in the seethe want the now outed Stefan to work with them to kill Marsilia and take over the seethe. Stefan’s refusal doesn’t help situations, it just adds up the list of enemies that Stefan and Mercy are facing.

With Stefan’s sheep dead, it leaves Mercy as the only person with a blood bond to Stefan, but when Blackwood tries to establish a blood bond with Mercy so he can control her. More blood transfers with Stefan is the only option that Mercy has left. When Adam realizes how strong a bond Stefan is creating with Mercy, he won’t lose her to the vampire and he makes Mercy a member of the pack, giving her a bond of blood and flesh with him.

I definitely don’t understand why a smart woman like Mercy would have gone to Spokane when the whole thing smelled fishy to her from the start. Her friend, who was barely a friend in college, conveniently shows up with a reason to get out of town when the vampires are threatening Mercy. She saw that it seemed to be a set up, but she ended up walking right into it. Mercy ends up bonding with her friend’s 10 year old son and therefore, she doesn’t want to leave him when the dangers presented by the ghost and Blackwood put Mercy in danger.

This was definitely a problem caused by Mercy’s bad decisions more than outside issues such as the demon-vampire and the Grey Lords.

[MurderByDeath]

3.5 stars. I was prepared to dislike this book, as the synopsis didn't sound all that interesting to me, but the author did an excellent job defying my expectations.

I was dreading the whole aftermath of the last book, but found myself admiring the way she handled Mercy's recovery. I dreaded the whole vampire-revenge storyline, but the twist to all that was excellent! I genuinely enjoyed the first 80% of the book. The part I liked the least was the end, which, I suppose, wasn't written to be liked. Ms. Briggs does evil well. However, she gets points for not dragging the ending out so very long and I liked the way everything wrapped up quickly and satisfyingly. I'm looking forward to reading more of this series.

[Chelsea]

Oh my gosh how I love this series. It just keeps getting better and better! I love how each book basically focuses on a different paranormal species. I like that we learn about someone new each book. Who knew all these characters could be so complicated! I just love everything about this book. The plot follows up from the previous book but it’s completely different. All the characters are fantastic and complex but it makes for a crazy good story. I found this book a lot scarier than the other because I was actually really concerned if some characters were going to make it through and I can’t have any of them die. You’re on the edge of your seat during the whole book.

I feel bad writing such a short review but there’s no more ways to say how fantastic this book is. I feel like this review is exactly the same as the other reviews for the first books. Either way pick up this series.

More reviews here!
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[kimbacaffeinate]

Bone Crossed the fourth installment in the Mercy Thompson series was my favorite thus far. In this action packed novel, Mercy manages to get herself in some predicaments. I consumed this in a few hours and loved every minute of it.

The tale picks up right where the last one left off. Finally it looks like, Adam and Mercy might share an intimate moment; NOT. Mercy’s Mom shows up to check on Mercy, and an old friend from college seeking Mercy’s help with a ghost. Complete chaos right? Not even close, because Mercy’s vampire friend Stephan shows up and he‘s starving. Marsilia knows about Mercy killing the second vampire and wants her dead. Mercy’s shop is vandalized and an attack occurs against one of the pack. Mercy now has a death threat on her head; she’s trying to deal with panic attacks caused by the rape, and accept Adam as her mate. It’s decided that Mercy will head out of town and help her friend with her ghost problem. Adam will try and negotiate with the vampire queen to save Mercy and prevent anymore of his pack from being injured. Sounds simple right? Not when your name is Mercy. The tale that unfolds has Mercy in peril as she attempts to save a little boy and his family from much more than a ghost.

We learn a lot more in this novel and I love how Brigg’s explains Stephan’s absence. Marsilia is shaping up to be a very complex character, which surprisingly I am beginning to like. Mercy begins to realize that Adam truly loves her, and that it’s ok to depend on someone. The other characters old and new bring a sense of believability to the tale. The suspenseful predicament that Mercy finds herself in, had me complete engrossed. The supernatural creatures she encountered along the way were delightful, horrifying, and had me fearing for Mercy’s life.

[Linda]

this series keeps getting better and better! Adam is MINE!

[inlibrisveritas]

I read this in all of a day (probably bout 5 hours total), it flowed smoothly and tied together some loose ends from the previous books. I really enjoyed it, though I had a hard time focusing on it for long. However despite that fact I really loved it and can't wait for Silver Born

[Danielle Ackley-McPhail]

Briggs characterization and incorporation of both wolf behavior and mythology make her work an automatic keeper for me. In this book I particularly liked the way she started off this book with a paraphrasing of the ending from the last one. It helped anchor me more quickly in what was taking place.

I like that Mercy is a strong character, but with weaknesses that ring true. Very three-dimensional. Not just Mercy, but all of the primary characters.

The only thing I think was kind of glossed over was Chad's reactions to his mother's fate and some idea of what happened to him and his father afterward, but perhaps--as with this book--that will be touched on in later volumes.