Review: No Mercy by Joanna Schaffhausen

No Mercy

by Joanna Schaffhausen

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Pages: 320

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Police officer Ellery Hathaway is on involuntary leave from her job because she shot a murderer in cold blood and refuses to apologize for it. Forced into group therapy for victims of violent crime, Ellery immediately finds higher priorities than “getting in touch with her feelings.”

For one, she suspects a fellow group member may have helped to convict the wrong man for a deadly arson incident years ago. For another, Ellery finds herself in the desperate clutches of a woman who survived a brutal rape. He is still out there, this man with the Spider-Man-like ability to climb through bedroom windows, and his victim beseeches Ellery for help in capturing her attacker.

Ellery seeks advice from her friend, FBI profiler Reed Markham, who liberated her from a killer’s closet when she was a child. Reed remains drawn to this unpredictable woman, the one he rescued but couldn’t quite save. The trouble is, Reed is up for a potential big promotion, and his boss has just one condition for the new job—stay away from Ellery. Ellery ignores all the warnings. Instead, she starts digging around in everyone’s past but her own—a move that, at best, could put her out of work permanently, and at worst, could put her in the city morgue.

Kritters Thoughts:  The second in a series and this is one of those typical mystery series where each "case" is self contained in each book, but there is character development of the main characters from book to book.  So I suggest starting with book one, but you can skip to book two if you wish.

Ellery Hathaway is on leave due to the ending of book one.  She is attending mandated therapy and group therapy and while at group therapy she inserts herself into a current investigation and one from the past that maybe a little different then what people think.  The FBI profiler, Reed Markham, is back from book one and I love the way the author brings him back and the dynamics they have in this book.

I think my most favorite thing about this book was that due to Ellery's inability to use all of her police insider stuff, she has to be creative to solve the two crimes.  I loved how she had to really use different techniques to investigate because she couldn't use all the databases and such that she could have if she were a full time police officer.  

The two cases were so different, so I didn't have a problem at all keeping them separate and enjoying each one of them.  I think it was a good idea to have two in this book because they each had ebbs and flows in the investigative process and when one was a little stagnant the other picked up. 

I hope there is more to come from this series, I enjoy the duo of Reed and Ellery.   


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2018 Challenge: 97 out of 100


Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from St Martin's Press.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.