After reading the fantastic THE VANISHING SEASON, I was eager to get my hands on the sequel, NO MERCY. I was not disappointed!

Police officer Ellery Hathaway is now on involuntary leave because she shot a murderer at the end of the last book. The public also knows that she once was the single living survivor of a serial killer, which makes her something of a curiosity. Ellery hates this unwanted attention, as well as being required to attend group therapy for victims of violent crimes. All of this leads to her starting to investigate both an arsonist and a serial rapist. So she turned to her friend, FBI profiler Reed Markham for help, the man who saved her all of those years ago.

It was great reading about Hathaway and Markham again. They work well together, and also have great chemistry. Case-wise, the plot of this book did not thrill me as much as THE VANISHING SEASON, but, then again, it was more of a personal story for Ellery in the first book. This time she deals with a couple of cases that have been brought to her, or she found on her own. These cases have very unexpected endings.

NO MERCY is a darn good book. The writing has the same wonderful a flow to it as the first book, and I like Ellery and her tendency to find trouble everywhere. I can't wait to read the next book!