The Bookworm Sez: 'Without Mercy' will get your heart pounding

The Bookworm Sez: ‘Without Mercy’ will get your heart pounding

You ran into someone from your past the other day.

He didn’t recognize you, but you remembered him: same hair, same walk, same irksome laugh and swagger. He breezed right past you and you didn’t say a word, preferring to keep everything behind you. As in the new novel, “Without Mercy” by Bill Bass (c.2016, Wm. Morrow, $26.99, 345 pages), if only it could stay that way.

The boxes of bones pressed upon him.

Dr. Bill Brockton knew that he’d have to get to them sooner, rather than later. Once he was finished studying them, though, he wasn’t sure what to do with the remains of a long-decimated tribe of Native Americans; the government had laws, but no provisions for that kind of thing.

The bones whispered to him, but Brockton had other issues on his mind – for one, his research assistant, Miranda, was nearly done with her dissertation and would be leaving soon. That would leave a hole in Brockton ’s department. Then there was the body up in Cooke County, and the way the victim died gave Brockton the chills.

With a fifty-pound logging chain, the naked man had been attached by the neck to a tree in the woods. Someone fed him and kept him alive long enough to make him miserable – and then the killer smeared bear bait and raw bacon on the victim, set a camera in the branches, and left him to die.

It had been a horrible way to go. Brockton knew what criminals were capable of doing, but this murder left him with nightmares and too many questions. It reminded him of how his family had once been targets of serial killer Nick Satterfield, who likewise had a sadistic nasty streak.

But Satterfield was in a max-security prison now, some of Brockton’s Tennessee Bureau of Investigation colleagues were helping Brockton identify the victim of a murder that might’ve been racially motivated, and there was a pile of Native American bones to study. Brockton didn’t have time to overthink – until Satterfield escaped from prison, and he couldn’t think about anything else…

In “Without Mercy,” the tenth installment of the Body Farm series, there are some notable surprises that may rattle fans of Dr. Brockton.

First, Brockton is aging: authors Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson give him a lot more aches and insomnia than he’s had in the past, and he seems more impatient than ever. He’s not as self-assured as he was in previous books, either, and he’s increasingly introspective.

Most alarming: Brockton is bothered by a crime that he might’ve been more detached from before.

That may be because this book is more gruesome than all the other books with Brockton as character. There’s more blood and (literally) more guts in this novel, and the thrills have ratcheted up to triple-digits.

Don’t take this book to bed with you; that’s all I’m sayin’. But if you do, well, good luck sleeping tonight. Your heart will pound, your pulse will race, you’ll see blood behind your eyelids, as “Without Mercy” is a book you’ll run through.

The Bookworm is Terri Schlichenmeyer. Email her at bookwormsez@yahoo.com.

More in Life

Creamy pasta is served with smoked salmon and Parmesan. (Photo by Tressa Dale/Peninsula Clarion)
A dish for the mourning

Smoked salmon fettuccine served in a time of grief.

Artwork by Anastasia Clyde is seen as part of the inaugural exhibition of “Spirit of Soldotna: Showcasing Student Art” in Soldotna City Hall on Wednesday. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Soldotna opens student art showcase in city hall

The ongoing exhibition is a collaboration between Soldotna and the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District and Kenai Peninsula College.

tease
Off the shelf: Paradise versus privilege

“The Garden Against Time” is part of the Homer Public Library’s 2025 Lit Lineup.

Poopdeck Street, in Homer, became a reality in 1996, honoring Clarence Hiram “Poopdeck” Platt. (Clark Fair photo)
Poopdeck: Nearly a century of adventure — Part 1

Clarence Hiram Platt — who preferred to have people call him Poopdeck — may have been slowing down, but he rarely stopped moving.

File
Minister’s Message: Is it worth the risk?

What good is momentary fame, wealth, or admiration if it ultimately costs us what matters most — our soul?

The Ridgeway Rounders perform during Frozen RiverFest on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2023, at Soldotna Creek Park in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
10th Frozen RiverFest set for Saturday

The event will feature 19 breweries.

The Middle School Battle of the Books Team from Homer Connections, who won the district competition in February, stand for a photo. (Provided by Districtwide Librarian Julie Gottfried)
District Battle of the Books teams ready for state competition

Battle of the Books is an annual celebration of reading and teamwork.

File
Minister’s Message: Living in the community of faith

Many of us tend to stay within our own denomination for purposes of what we consider to be purity of doctrine.

Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
Artwork by Susan Nabholz, Charlotte Coots and Chelline Larsen is displayed as part of “Fiber” at the Kenai Art Center on Wednesday.
Focus on fiber

Kenai Art Center show transforms threads to art

Most Read