Lisa Reardon - The Mercy Killers (2004)
Chicago author Lisa Reardon offers The Mercy Killers, a touching, tender novel that tells the story of two brothers in Ypsilanti, Mich., in the 1960s.
Charlie Simpkins drifts through life as a petty thief, chasing women and drinking too much. He shows his more sensitive side, though, in his dealings with his older brother P.T., a gentle hulk left mildly retarded by their father's beatings.
When P.T. naively grants an old man's wish to die, Charlie is forced to take the rap in order to protect his big brother. Given a choice between prison and the Army, Charlie is quickly shipped off to Vietnam. That is where The Mercy Killers shines, telling the harrowing story of this desperate man enduring the horrific experience of war and the troubling time he has readjusting to life back home.
Sharply written and stylistically brilliant, The Mercy Killers is a wonderful novel of crime with an authentic human story at its heart.
Posted by David J. Montgomery in Book Reviews | Permalink
