Sociopaths and Avarice — a nasty combination

 Big strong strapping Justice Department lawyer Theo Buchanan gets his life saved by Dr. Michelle Renard, a tough little lady from rural Louisiana, and it’s love at first sight…almost. First, Theo has to sleuth out who vandalized the doc’s brand-new hard-won clinic. At first, they think it might be the work of malicious teenagers, then of an angry patient, but pretty quickly they figure out that this was too professional a job, and that whoever did it was searching for something. Noah Clayton, a scarily lethal FBI agent and friend of Theo’s FBI brother Nick, is brought into the picture to help out. Adding a little humor to the plot is the doc’s father, bar-owner Jake Renard, who is intent on getting a lawyer and a son-in-law in one fell swoop, and has his eye on Theo from the get-go. Also added to the mix is Michelle’s brother Jean Paul, a scary survivalist type who will do anything to protect his sister.

Soon we are introduced to the Sowing Club, a group of four friends whose careers represent the law, finance, and the police, and who have figured out how to use their skills to skim/steal/embezzle millions without getting caught. White-collar criminals with greed to spare and not a lot of conscience, they step fully over to the dark side when one of their number convinces the other three to arrange the mercy-killing of his dying wife. Little do they suspect that the wife is not unaware of their Club shenanigans, and has a kind of insurance plan set up which involves—you guessed it!—Dr. Renard, the wife’s distant cousin.

There is plenty of action, plenty of humor, and plenty of romance in Mercy, which like a meal of junk food, tastes great going down but is not exactly memorable. A fun evening’s read.