Black Lily: Have No Mercy III

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Summary: Risks and revenge
Review: Black Lily: Have No Mercy III
By Kam Ruble

The day of the accident that ended his career as Hollywood's number one stuntman, Charley had one thing on his mind -his love for two women and his rejection by both of them. His mother had abandoned him when Charley was a small child, and Ann, the love of his life, had left him because of her own agenda that did not include Charley.

Even though Charley's income had afforded him a lavish lifestyle, he had not saved a dime, and his lifestyle disintegrated due to his disability and unemployment. He became deep in gambling debt to his Las Vegas creditors and was in the process of selling his house when a call came from Ann.

After learning that Ann had married a rich man, he wondered why she was calling him. He soon learned that revenge was her motive, and Ann needed Charley's help. He was a natural for the dangerous feats he had performed as a stuntman, but Ann's request required Charley to perform the biggest stunt of his life. Working as Ann's chauffeur, Charley's time was so entangled with Ann's husband, her mother, and her in-laws, that he did not realize he would eventually risk everything for Ann, including his own life.

Kam Ruble is an author who knows how to link characters and knit together the elements of their lives. She also knows how to have a surprise ending, one that the reader would never guess.

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Summary: Another Brilliant Mystery/Thriller
Review: Third in the Have No Mercy series, Black Lily represents Kam Ruble's solo thrust into the thriller field. She has produced a novel that follows the high standard set by the previous two books; she co-authored with husband Bobby. The book is one that will appeal to lovers of the Have No Mercy series.

Charley Sutton was born into a family where love was in short supply. If it did exist then Charley never found it. Ann Sutton, his mother, was a free spirit hemmed in by the obligations of marriage. She needed to follow her desires without any sort of constraints. When Charley was eight years old, she left the family home never to return.

The loss of his mother had a profound effect on Charley. He always was reckless, carrying out stunts that others thought too dangerous. When she left home his stunts became more bizarre; it was then that he decided to become a Hollywood stuntman.

Once in Hollywood, life was fast and furious for Charley. Soon Charley's talent and daring was in high demand in Hollywood. Known as Fearless Sutton, his name and dangerous stunts went hand in hand. Wealth and fame became part of Charley's life. Yet still he remained unsatisfied, he wanted to get married, raise a family and find his mother.

On location in Colorado, Charley met and fell in love with Ann Tailor. She moved from Colorado to Los Angeles to live with him. But with another agenda on her mind, Ann moved back to Colorado, leaving Charley devastated.

He worked extra hard to kill the pain he felt inside. Yet all it did was to make him feel worse and impair his judgment. During a car stunt, that involved a train crash, he made a timing error and did not get out of the car before crashing into the train. The accident ruined his back and his career as a stuntman.

Unable to work he drank heavily, ran up heavy gambling debts and tried to commit suicide. When his life was at its lowest ebb, Ann Tailor called him from Colorado. She offered him a job as her family chauffer in Mount pride. Charley agreed to her proposal, as he was in need to hide from his Las Vegas creditors.

Accepting Ann's job was to give Charley a life, like none he experienced before. It would get him involved in a world where greed and deceit were commonplace. The very nature of what he himself and others were made of would be laid bare for all to see.

Kam Ruble's artistry as a novelist knows no bounds. She has constructed a story full of twists and turns in the plot that will surprise the reader and make them hunger for more. Her characters display all of the strengths and weaknesses of the human condition in a realistic way.

Have No Mercy Three - Black Lily, is a brilliant piece of writing. It captures the essence of the first two books and builds on them. As a sequel it has few challengers in the literary world.

I have read the first two books in the Have No Mercy trilogy and thoroughly enjoyed them. Black Lily is a worthy addition and will thrill all fans of this series.

This is one book lovers of the mystery/thriller genre will not want to miss.



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Summary: Series Continues in "Black Lily: Have No Mercy III"
Review: This third book in the series and the first written solo by Kam Ruble returns the reader after considerable back-story to Mt. Pride, Colorado. The focus of this novel, primarily, is the tragic hero Charles Monroe Sutton who never fit into his family and was well aware that he was unwanted by his father.

"Cut from a different pattern, longhaired, urchin looking, free spirited Charley was nothing like his clean-cut, studious, white collar seeking brothers. From the days when they first learned to read, Abe and Bill seemed to always have their noses buried in books. Charley, on the other hand, could not sit still long enough to read but a few paragraphs of any written words. He was too active and too curious about living life, not reading about it." (Page 5)

Instead, he jumps off the roof of their shed thinking he can fly with the aid of a bed sheet. It doesn't work but Charley is undeterred. In fact, it becomes a challenge for him and he begins early in his young life to do more and more dangerous stunts. A situation made worse by his mother's decision to abandon her abusive husband and three sons leaving, Charley, the youngest by several years, for all intents and purposes alone in the world with a pseudo family that doesn't care about him at all.

Charley's love of danger as he grows up eventually leads him into a highly successful career as a stuntman. Known by his nickname of "fearless" his services are in high demand and Charley is making money fast and spending it just as fast in a lavish lifestyle. While in a bar during a movie shoot, he meets and befriends the bartender, Ann Tailor. He falls hard for her and for approximately a year they live together in California. That is, until her own painful childhood past coupled with her need for wealth and revenge causes her to leave him.

Her leaving devastates Charley and rekindles his intense feelings of abandonment. His work performance suffers, his gambling increases causing him to lose large amounts of money, and he is spiraling down out of control. Before long, he suffers another devastation in the form of a career ending back injury. In massive debt to the Vegas mob and with little left but the clothes on his back after a failed suicide attempt, he has little choice several months later when Ann calls to offer him a job as a chauffer.


He accepts the job out of desperation despite strong misgivings about being in Ann's presence as he still loves her depite her many flaws. Soon, he is living very well in Mt. Pride, Colorado on the estate and is performing his job as chauffer for Ann and her husband, Allen Clifford Eckard. By marrying the wealthy businessman son of the wealthy Mayor, Ann is doing very well financially. But, like Charley, no matter how good the current standard of living is, it isn't enough. Believing she is smarter than anyone around her as well as driven by her own history of abuse, she seeks revenge no matter the cost. Slowly, she seduces Charley into resuming their physical relationship as well as into her plot for revenge. However, the husband has plans of his own for his lovely wife. As people begin to vanish, Colorado Homicide Detectives Joe Warner and Eddy Konklin are brought in to work the case and untangle the webs of deceit, revenge and betrayal.

This third novel in the series features brief allusions to the earlier books but like them could be read and enjoyed as a stand-alone novel. While the dialogue occasionally seems a bit off and the author has taken liberties with the facts concerning a certain National Park, the overall novel is very enjoyable. This novel is more streamlined than the previous two and therefore moves forward at a significantly faster pace with less switches in points of view evidenced in the earlier books while retaining lots of character development. This could be due to the efforts of several editors or the fact that Kam wrote this novel solo. Regardless, this 368-page novel is an enjoyable read full of twists and turns with a final left hook punch to the reader at the very end.