A Merciful Promise (Mercy Kilpatrick #6) by @KendraElliot #CrimeFiction set Oregon #BookReview

Author: Kendra Elliot

Published: June 2019 by Montlake Romance

Category: Crime Fiction, Suspense, Thriller, Book Review

The job: infiltrate a militia amassing illegal firearms in an isolated forest community. FBI agent Mercy Kilpatrick is the ideal candidate. She knows Oregon. She’s near the compound. And having been raised among survivalists, Mercy understands the mind-set of fanatics. Lay low, follow rules, do nothing to sound an alarm, and relinquish all contact with the outside world. She’s ready to blend in.

FBI Agent Mercy Kilpatrick is recruited to join ATF agent Chad Finn, already working undercover in an anti government, arms selling militia group called America’s Preserve.

She is to pose as his girlfriend and between them find out what the group have planned with a cache of stolen weapons. Mercy has two days to learn the ATF created history for Jessica Polk, and the very dangerous role she is about to play in an environment where women are decidedly inferior to the men.

In Mercy’s favour was the fact she’d grown up with survivalist prepper parents and knew the likely mindset of the group. The condition Mercy was really struggling with was the no contact rule. She couldn’t tell anyone, even police chief Truman Daly, the man she was about to marry, where she was going. There were no mobile phones allowed in the compound and she had no backup, only herself to rely on.

Supposedly Chad had convinced Mercy—Jessica—to leave her miserable waitressing job in Moses Lake and come and live with him and his like-minded friends at the compound for a new beginning.

Meanwhile Truman was kept busy as first one body, then another is discovered dumped, both bearing similar gunshot injuries, indicating executions, which also raises the question of a serial killer. Despite all this going on his thoughts were never far away from Mercy, desperate for her assignment to be over. When a third body is found it changes the whole dynamic of both cases.

At some point Mercy had become essential to him. To his happiness and peace of mind.

As with all these stories, the romance element takes a backseat to the action, investigation and Mercy’s assignment. There seems to be an alarming trend for anti government militia/patriot groups in America, breeding racism and hate, making this story and the associated dangers all the more realistic. It’s fast paced, shocking and intense, with an interesting, engaging cast of main characters.  The well devised storyline flows well, from Mercy’s and Truman’s perspectives, with some surprising twists in the plot.

Sadly, A Merciful Promise is the last in the Mercy Kilpatrick series, but it’s ended on a high with everything tied up nicely, and it’s very good to know the characters may be popping up in future books. I’ve enjoyed the series very much.

Book links ~ Amazon UK | Amazon US | Hive 

About the Author

An Amazon #1 selling author, Kendra Elliot has sold over 5 million books. Get a free insider’s guide to Kendra’s books at www.KendraElliot.com. She grew up in the lush Pacific Northwest and still lives there with her family and three cats. She’s fascinated with forensics, refuses to eat anything green, and dreams of living every day in flip flops.

The BONE SECRETS NOVELS: HIDDEN, CHILLED, BURIED, ALONE, KNOWN and VEILED (a novella).
The CALLAHAN & McLANE novels are a spin-off of the Bone Secrets books. VANISHED, BRIDGED, SPIRALED, and TARGETED.

The MERCY KILPATRICK series, a spin-off of the CALLAHAN & McLANE series, A MERCIFUL DEATH, A MERCIFUL TRUTH, A MERCIFUL SECRET, A MERCIFUL SILENCE, A MERCIFUL FATE, and A MERCIFUL PROMISE.

She also writes the Widow’s Island and Rogue River novellas with author Melinda Leigh.

A seven-time Wall Street Journal best selling author, 2014 International Thriller Writers finalist, a three time Daphne Du Maurier winner, and a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice finalist. 

Author links ~ Website | Twitter | Facebook