Mercy Street

Mercy Street by Mariah Stewart
Reason for Reading: ARC I recieved
Rating: 2.5/5

Describe the plot
Four teenagers enter a park to hang out, two are found shot in the head, two are missing. The two missing teenagers are the main suspects, even though they were all friends.

Through a series of connections, former detective Mallory Russo ends up being hired as a private detective to solve the case. She resigned from the force after rumors floated around and the other officers turned their back on her. Now she's teaming up with the new kid on the block, Detective Charlie Wannamaker to find the real killer.

What did you like?
I started to get into the mystery at the beginning of the book, and I thought Mallory was an interesting character with a good eye for picking up details. There was an especially great scene where she plots out a way to get one of the missing teen's younger sister to talk to her that. I liked her friendship with Charlie.

Having worked with people with disabilities, I was a little leery when an autistic character is introduced. I think the concept was handled pretty well, though, with the symptoms described realistically.

Why did you give the rating you gave?
I've read plenty of positive reviews of this book, so I admit openly that I may not have liked this one as much because cop mysteries aren't my genre. I started out really following along with the twists and turns in the plot until I realized that the story wasn't building towards any more plot twists. Everything was revealed early on except how they were going to bring the criminal in. I was annoyed at the abrupt romantic relationship that developed between two characters without any reason. Most of the characters (aside from Mallory) seemed like props to move along the plot, sort of like in an episode of CSI. In a book, I would expect more development, I guess.

If you enjoy the genre, you may find this book extremely enjoyable. If you've reviewed it, let me know, I'll link you here.