Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
A Merciful Promise by Kendra Elliot
Series: Mercy Kilpatrick #6
Published by Montlake Romance on June 18, 2019
Genres: Romantic Suspense
Pages: 359
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Goodreads
Amazon, Libro.fm
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.
As Mercy disappears into the winter hills, something just as foreboding emerges. Mercy’s fiancé, Eagle’s Nest police chief Truman Daly, is faced with a puzzling series of murders—three men dumped in random locations after execution-style shootings.
Now, for Mercy, trapped in a culture where suspicion is second nature, and betrayal is punishable to the extreme, there is no way out. No way to call for help. And as plans for a catastrophic terrorist event escalate, there may be no way to stop them. Even if Mercy dies trying.
The Mercy Kilpatrick series feels more crime/ mystery suspense than a romance. You do want to read the series in order. There is kissing but the sex is off page. I’ve enjoyed the world-building of this small town in a rural mountain area with many survivalists. The preppers are fascinating to me and cool; I love DYI and self-sufficient people.
I was just going to start this at bedtime and ended up reading it in one sitting, ending at 2:40am. It was a fast, suspenseful ride with plenty of raking my emotions over the coals.
A Merciful Promise has a many different law enforcement people working together – Truman for the local town, Evan Bolton on the county front, Mercy for the FBI and some ATF folks. I had a bad feeling about the case from the beginning and so did Mercy. It was as expected – bad. Most of the book, Mercy is undercover and cut off from everyone.
Mercy was her usual resourceful self. The events went as I anticipated but the motivations and catalysts were more of a surprise. The family and personal growth are great to experience and wrap up some little loose ends. I can’t believe this is the final one – I’ll miss these people. There is a hint of a novella or Mercy showing up in some other books and I hope it happens.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2019 Releases
I’ll have to pop in and read your thoughts later since I still have this one to read. Glad to see your good ratings. 🙂
I thought it was a great ending to the series but I’d enjoy more on these characters.
oh no. the last one. maybe i can catch up now. 🙂
I have really enjoyed the series and hope you will too!
it’s an author I heard so much about but I haven’t tried any of her books
It’s a great series. I like the survivalist parts. It’s mostly mystery / law enforcement with some family drama and romance in the background.
Glad to see you’re still enjoying this series. I always thought it was more mystery with romantic elements.
It is definitely more law enforcement / mystery. The romance is very in the background.
This sounds perfect for me! Now I must try the series.
I really like it. There are 6 books and it is in KU if you have that. I have KU on a deal right now. I keep a running spreadsheet of all the KU books I want to read and I also put them on a KU shelf in Goodreads.
Another author that I see everywhere it seems with solid ratings. I will one day find time to read all the things.
Even as a full-time endeavor I’m not sure I could get to everything I want to read. But I like these.
I can understand why you stayed up late to finish this one, because it was a nail biter! You had to read to the end just to find out how it all turned out! I think this was the most harrowing case Mercy took on. I was also fascinated by the prepper aspect of the story. Being self-sufficient and able to survive if the world goes to hell is an attractive concept to me. I think as avid readers we imagine all kinds of situations (Hello, zombie apocalypse! Lol!) where that would be super handy.
I’m so sad to say goodbye to the series, but I’m hoping for a spinoff. Don’t you think Detective Evan Boltan and Britta could possibly team up to solve some mysteries? I thought there might be a spark between them. I guess we’ll see. 🙂
I’m sure I’ll be reading whatever stories she writes next. I really enjoyed all the cases and the romance being there but not the primary focus of the story.