Mercy

Rating:
Summary: It doesn't get any better, so quit reading
Review: Carmen Depalma, a Houston detective, searches for a bizare serial killer. The search leads her into the world of bi-sexual women and sado-masochism.

I liked this book for the first hundred pages. It seemed like a good murder/suspense tale was in the making. About page 200 I began to wish the action would speed up; at page 300 -- with 200 pages yet to traverse -- I gave up. I won't read a book that bores me.

A good editor would have chopped out most of the author's lengthy descriptions of odd sexual practices and societies of bi-sexual women and cut this book down to 300 pages. With a little more discipline and a lot of cutting the author might have produced a good thriller.

Smallchief

Rating:
Summary: A Very Good Book!
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: OK, thought-provoking, pretty suspenseful
Review: 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 that sort of thing) I was also shocked to find out exactly how sheltered a life I lead. This was an edge-of-the-seater-I read it all in one night! I haven't read any more books by Lindsey but I intend to very soon!

Rating:
Summary: A refreshingly original and unique mystery thriller
Review: I didn't expect to be overwhelmed by this book, thinking it would be the typical albeit entertaining murder-mystery novel. Instead I encountered an exceedingly well written story with a warm, likeable protagonist and a plot that truly keeps you wondering until the last chapter. After reading this novel, I have since sought out and read all of Lindsey's novels. If you like a good, gory thriller, you have to read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Houston, we have a winner!
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Great read
Review: I just finished reading "Mercy," and I can see that opinions about this book vary. (By the way, to "A reader from Texas," he does reveal at the end who the killer is.) If "Mercy" were a movie, I'd cast Jennifer Lopez (Out of Sight) as HPD Detective Carmen Palma, and David Strathairn (LA Confidential) as FBI serial-murder analyst Sander Grant. The depth of detail about complex investigations is prodigeous, and the analysis involving "putting yourself into the mind of the killer" is thorough and enlightening. Lindsey covers a lot of ground in expounding about the after-effects of child molestation, and the connection between being molested and unusual sexual "deviancy," most notably hard-core sadomasochism (S&M).

An "organized" (meaning meticulous, ritualistic, fastidious) serial killer is loose in Houston, and he or she is killing and mutilating "femme," blond, thin, upper-class mostly-married closet-bisexual S&M-afficiondo women. The FBI is called in, in the form of Agent Grant, who initially came to the investigation with many set notions about sexual serial killers and their modes of operating. Detective Palma disagrees with his conclusions, and their disagreements about theory versus reality provide the thematic tension throughout this book. Eventually this tension blossoms into a romantic shared moment, in which we see how right these two analytical people are for each other.

The novel is definitely a page-turner, and with enough plot-twists to keep you interested, including the surprise ending. It's interesting how successfully Lindsey pulled off blending the classic whodunit genre with the exotic worlds of S&M, non-standard sexuality, cross-dressing and insanity.

This was my first Lindsey novel, and it is good to see that he is still writing novels (His latest, "Color of Night" is about to come out in paperback). I will definitely be checking out his other opuses.

Rating:
Summary: Mercy
Review: I read Mercy a few years ago, as did my Mom and about 10 other women friends, and we all loved it, even though it was about certain things we had never been involved in, it is riveting. The best thing about this book is the main character, Carmen, whose life is as interesting in her personal life with the interplay with her Mother as is her exciting life in her job. David Lindsay, if you ever read these reviews, are you ever going to write a book with Carmen in it? I have waited years for a book with her in it. Please, let us hear from her again. Your writing is wonderful, but this book was really the one that women liked.

Rating:
Summary: This is a keeper. I've already reread this book twice.
Review: I read this book years ago and it still ranks in my all-time top 10 list. I shared the book with numerous co-workers and we all agreed that we would like to meet these women (and we're all heterosexual). It's amazing that a man has such insight and sensitivity in depicting the emotions of his female characters. It just goes to show that the rules of love apply to all relationships. I recommend this book highly.

Rating:
Summary: Scarey off-beat thriller...a heart pounder!
Review: One needs a strong stomach and sexual tolerance to read this terrific thriller/mystery, but I recommend it highly if you like well-developed characters and above average writing in the mystery genre. Upon finishing this marvelous read, I have searched for all David Lindsey books I could find and it hasn't been easy. His publisher is missing the boat in not touting this author to the paperback trade. "Silence of the Lamb" readers, don't miss this book

Rating:
Summary: Boooooring!
Review: There are very few books, no matter how poor, that I have been unable or unwilling to finish, but this was one of them. I had to force myself to keep reading until finally, I just had to give up. I thought the writing style was pedestrian and there was just way too much of it. And yet there was no suspense and the pace was so slow, it drove me nuts. I totally disagree with reviewers who claim Lindsey writes good prose. There are so many who are better in this genre. Try John Connolly, Dennis Lehane, Carol O'Connell. I'm sure there are plenty more who can write circles around this guy. (Just to be fair, and as a favor to a friend, I'm giving Lindsey another chance and am halfway through his "Animosity". It's a totally different style, but unfortunately, no less boring. Ho hum!)