Beg for Mercy by Toni Andrews
Since she was a teenager Mercy Hollings has struggled with what she is - with her inherent talent to press people into doing her will. Orphaned and shuffled through the foster care system, Mercy is something of a loner - or at least she thought she was a loner. This book starts with the one person Mercy could call a friend: Sukey.
Sukey has this thing for big muscles and small brains - which basically defines Rocko the drug-selling goon she meets up with in a bar. When Sukey ends up in the hospital from a Rocko-induced heroin overdose Mercy gets very angry and presses Rocko to get out of town and flush all the heroin down the toilet. This would have been fantastic except for the fact that it wasn't Rocko's heroin and the owner happens to be able to press people in the same way Mercy does. He gives Mercy three days to find his heroin (even though Mercy knows exactly where it is - the sewage plant) or he'll start hurting her friends. This wouldn't be so bad for Mercy the loner except that she suddenly has friends popping out of the woodwork.
Mercy is a great heroine because she is constantly struggling with the moral quandry of her talent. What is acceptable to do? In her hypnotherapy practice is it all right to give more than gentle suggestions about improving people's lives? What is the extent that she can use her gifts and still be able to live with herself? There is no black and white morality here and even though Mercy continues to use her gifts (with greater frequency) to gather information and keep her friends safe the moral problems of it weigh her down. And through it all she keeps the secret of what she is able to do from most of her friends.
I was able to get this read it one night and pretty much found the action fascinating. I can't wait to see what Mercy gets up to in the second book.
Since she was a teenager Mercy Hollings has struggled with what she is - with her inherent talent to press people into doing her will. Orphaned and shuffled through the foster care system, Mercy is something of a loner - or at least she thought she was a loner. This book starts with the one person Mercy could call a friend: Sukey.
Sukey has this thing for big muscles and small brains - which basically defines Rocko the drug-selling goon she meets up with in a bar. When Sukey ends up in the hospital from a Rocko-induced heroin overdose Mercy gets very angry and presses Rocko to get out of town and flush all the heroin down the toilet. This would have been fantastic except for the fact that it wasn't Rocko's heroin and the owner happens to be able to press people in the same way Mercy does. He gives Mercy three days to find his heroin (even though Mercy knows exactly where it is - the sewage plant) or he'll start hurting her friends. This wouldn't be so bad for Mercy the loner except that she suddenly has friends popping out of the woodwork.
Mercy is a great heroine because she is constantly struggling with the moral quandry of her talent. What is acceptable to do? In her hypnotherapy practice is it all right to give more than gentle suggestions about improving people's lives? What is the extent that she can use her gifts and still be able to live with herself? There is no black and white morality here and even though Mercy continues to use her gifts (with greater frequency) to gather information and keep her friends safe the moral problems of it weigh her down. And through it all she keeps the secret of what she is able to do from most of her friends.
I was able to get this read it one night and pretty much found the action fascinating. I can't wait to see what Mercy gets up to in the second book.
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