A Merciful Silence (Mercy Kilpatrick, #4)

by Kendra Elliot

In this Wall Street Journal bestseller, FBI agent Mercy Kilpatrick must unlock the mystery of a mass murder, and the secrets of its silent witness...

For Mercy Kilpatrick, returning to rural Oregon has meant coming to terms with her roots. Raised as a prepper, Mercy is now relying on her survivalist instincts to defend her town from the people the law can’t reach. But this time, an investigation calling up a dark past for her and police chief Truman Daly may be hitting too close to home.

A rainstorm has uncovered the remains of five people—a reprise of the distinctive slaughter of two families twenty years ago. Except the convicted killer is in prison. Is this the case of a sick copycat, or is the wrong man behind bars? One person might have the answer. The lone survivor of the decades-old crimes has returned to town still claiming that she can’t remember a thing about the night she was left for dead. As the search for the truth becomes more dangerous, Mercy fears that the traumatized woman may not have buried her memories at all. She might be keeping them a secret. And there’s a price to be paid for revealing them.

• ISBN10: 1503901319
• ISBN13: 9781503901315
• Publish Date: 19 June 2018
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Montlake Romance
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 350
• Language: English

Reviews

[kimbacaffeinate]

A little time has passed since the previous novel, and Mercy is still recovering from her gunshot wound. The area surrounding Eagle’s Nest has had heavy rains, and a routine check of a local road by the police department discovers part of the mountainside and highway have washed away, revealing the bones of a family, two of them belonging to children. They call a forensic odontologist and Mercy, FBI Agent to the scene. When Mercy sees that the skulls show signs of being bludgeoned to death and their teeth broken she recognizes this serial killer's signature... only he’s been in jail for twenty years.

The case in A Merciful Silence is a tough one as it involves young children. Now Mercy must look to the past to help identify the family and catch a killer. But the killers not done yet. I enjoyed the geekier aspects of the story as we studied the bones. At the end of the book, I discovered there is a character link to the authors Bone Secrets series which has me wanting to begin the series.

As Mercy connects with the lone survivor of the first murders, Truman is dealing with his own bizarre case which will cause a major change in his life. Both soon find themselves in danger as Elliot provides twists, startling discoveries and unearths truths.

Elliot mentions in the back of the book that this book just flowed from her and you can feel it in the writing. She intimately knows her characters. Regardless of the situations they are in, the characters remain true to themselves. We see progress between Mercy and Truman. Get updates on Rose, and the community. We also get to see how appreciated Truman is in Eagle’s Nest. He really has become a member of this quirky town.

A couple of chapters are dedicated to the killer‘s POV. At first I wasn’t sure whose childhood memories we were being given, but wow. The way Elliot brought everything together and revealed the motive was impressive. Dark but impressive.

Fans of romantic suspense, thrillers, and crime cases set in rural America will enjoy this series and its characters. The romantic thread is served as a side dish to the cases, but I’ve enjoyed watching Mercy open-up, trust, and find purpose outside of surviving. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer