Click to Buy Book on Amazon
MERCY is an example of an epistolary novel at its best, for though many have written the same sort with the hopes of adding a sense of greater realism perhaps, many have also lost the heartfelt connection to the characters (by the reader) in the process.
So, while this zombie apocalypse storyline is quite interesting in its own right for its breaking free from lots of others in the same somewhat saturated vein, I’d consider it a character-driven book primarily. It mostly revolves around the character of Georgina Fulci since it’s comprised of her journal entries, and therefore her point-of-view. Most mothers will commiserate at some level to her plight of being caught in a catastrophic zombie uprising after being plane-wrecked on an unknown island while her young daughter’s whereabouts and safety is unknown.
It’s not revealed till near the end of the novel, in an exciting and rather rapid denouement, whether or not her daughter, Mercy, is alive or not. No spoiler alert here, so that’s all I’m going to say about that, but I will say that other main characters’ fates are also revealed about the same time. Characters most readers will really grow to love for various reasons—including their heroics and their flaws.
Plus, many of the characters represent a great cross-section of society coming together for the common good—well, the common good of humans who are still alive at least…can’t say the formerly-human ghouls fare that well. It’s also to Patterson’s credit that some different-than-standard-fare zombie lore is revealed. For instance, a zombie’s bite in his book won’t turn a human into a zombie. Something else does, and there are also some unanswered questions as well that have me convinced that both a prequel and sequel would be quite well-received reads!
Review by G.L. Giles
