‘Cry for Mercy’ by Karen Long is the first of a series featuring Detective Eleanor Raven that was originally published with the title In Safe Hands in 2014. Now it is being republished by Bloodhound with two other books in the series.
This book starts as it means to go on. We are shown a side to Eleanor that could actually, if ever discovered, end her career. That alone gives me the taste of what’s to come. It also showcases the fact that this woman is not a machine, I enjoyed the fact that she has a side to her that, in effect gave her a vulnerability while she worked to conceal it. It created a realness about her immediately which in turn got me hooked.
On the same night we are introduced to Eleanor, she is called out to a crime scene at a derelict power station. A young woman has been discovered, posed with cherry lipstick applied to her face. Eleanor and the team are determined to get this killer and are on the case. Before long another body is found posed in the same way with the same lipstick on her face. The investigation soon concludes that both victims are linked to a cold case and it seems, also involved in Eleanor’s secret side to her life, BDSM. She is now in a situation that upon following the leads could expose her secrets as well as very possibly solving the case.
What a belter! As I said, I was hooked straight away, I am used to dark secrets but this placed the book on a whole new level to me. Eleanor is a character that, while not entirely likeable she is dogged in her determination to catch this killer. While she also knows that she is under pressure not to be exposed, this creates a woman that doesn’t always show her ‘nice’ side. I hope there is room to explore her back story in another book, she is a fascinating woman.
To add to Eleanor’s issues, she has a new partner, Laurence Whitefoot. Her previous partner was her mentor and Laurence is new, Eleanor is not the type of woman who has time for a rookie. We see a partnership here that needs time to build and Eleanor hasn’t got time to wait she isn’t a patient woman, to say the least! I felt for Laurence dealing with this case and Eleanor, I would like to see how this one pans out as the series develops too.
An interesting case to deal with then, a dark and claustrophobic story at times. The author definitely set the scenes and I was on the edge of my seat with this, not exactly always comfortable read. The killer always staying one step ahead of Eleanor and the team, with the skilfully set up scenes that the killer had created. This gave me a rush of adrenaline as I sped through the book, hurtling towards the end. Hoping that Eleanor would get in front of this dark plot and find the answers.
Yes! As weird as it sounds this story is sooo good! Even with the dark themes and the fact that Eleanor is on the edge of being discovered, it created a read I didn’t want to leave alone. I am looking forward to another instalment soon.
Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for the book so I could give you my thoughts today.
sharonbeyondthebooks.uk 