Merciless: A Novel of Suspense (edition 2008)

The third in the Kevin Byrne / Jessica Balzano series; by now I know to expect plenty of hard police work shoring up plot-twists and digressions, and I wasn’t disappointed. In this instalment, people are dying according to some psychopath’s inner need to recreate scenes from fairy tales and fables. This recreation of tableaux is a recurring theme with Montanari, who artfully makes it fresh and distractingly gruesome every time.

Although most of the book (particularly the partnership between Byrne and Balzano) is more sleekly written than the previous two, this time the italicised voice of the perpetrator could have been dropped without a glitch in the atmosphere or story (in the previous two books, this device added a lot of creep). The introduction of a younger (Amish!) detective provided some amusement in the frustratingly-waiting-for-the-leads-to-come-together portion of the book, and this section is so drawn out that it’s almost like a real-time investigation. You don’t know anything until you know everything.

Even more riveting than the primary plot-line, is Byrne’s personal trauma du jour. The man who wants to take him out, and his motives, are beautifully rendered, and timed to perfection. I can’t help but wonder if it was included as a snap at anyone *guilty cough* who felt that the revenge-against-cops scenario had been overused over the last two books, but it works much better as a sub-plot than a relied-upon-motive.

These books were easy to read, enjoyable, hard-working crime fiction. Not my favourite in the genre, but I’m happy to have stumbled across them.

In the ‘random things that amuse me’ category, I note that the cover of my paperback copy (Arrow Books) is hilariously irrelevant to the story, more so even than the generic ‘no one can hear you scream’ on The Skin Gods. Broken Angels (a title that doesn’t exactly get to the heart of the story either, but keeps the three titles tidily religious), has pictures of burning crosses (for a plotline that uses fables and fairy-tales in its murder scenarios) and the tagline ‘Evil preys upon the fallen’. The immediate, unavoidable conclusion, is that they had a unused back-up cover design for The Rosary Girls going spare. And the award for ‘lack of effort in publishing’ goes to… ( )

Title: Merciless/ Broken Angels
Author: Richard Montanari
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
# of pages: 300
Start date:
End date: 5/22
Borrowed/bought: borrowed
My rating of the book, F- [worst] to A [best]: B+

Description of the book: A female victim is found facing the river at an old abandoned building, in an old fashioned dress with her feet and shoes severed off. Byrne and Balzano begin to find more victims in similar situations with their posed bodies and dress similar to fairytales.
Review: Awesome followup! A great storyline with the fairytale twist. Montanari does a great job in describing the people and scenery in Philly. If you enjoy murder mystery/detective series, don't miss out on this series. I hope the author writes more. ( )

A really good cop thriller with classic hard bitten detectives. He makes wonderful use of Philly and its environs to create a memorable whodunnit with all the macabre elements needed to raise the hairs on the back of you neck. For a guy with an Italian name he sure knows the Philly Irish. ( )

Wow!! Alls I can say is wow!!. This is another fantastic installment to the Bryne and Balzanno series. The plot is sort of complex, only because there are about 4 plots going on at the same time. Usually, I don't like it when authors do that, but Montanari does a wonderful job and devotes the proper amount of time to each plot.
This book goes by two names, Broken Angels and Merciless

The main plot is about a killer that picks his victims very carefully. They have to meet the killers needs, and not everyone can be his victim. The crafty killer is following a set of rules and has to follow certain guidelines for his victims. What is the killers guidelines? Well, you'll have to read it to find out. If you told you here, it would be a major spoiler, and I don't want to take away the surprise. I'll just say.....it was interesting. One other plot line I'll mention is that a man blames Bryne for the death of his wife, and then targets Bryne, and plans to make him pay.

Montanari has a wonderful writing style that will keep the reader hooked to the very last page. We can't help but want to spend time with Bryne and Balaznno. The characters have a lot of depth, all of them, even the killer. There are a lot of wonderful plot twists and turns that will keep the reader guessing. This book has one draw back, If you start it, I can promise you that you'll lose sleep because you'll want to know what happens next. I kept on say, "Just one more chapter.....just one more chapter...." This is that good.

If you've read the first two books in the series, then you know what a powerful writer Montanari is. If you haven't, then start the series. I can promise you, you won't be sorry. I know I wasn't. I can't wait to start the next installment. ( )

The victim is discovered sitting on the riverbank, dressed in an old-fashioned gown under a bright winter moon. Homicide detectives Byrne and Balzano are paired together once again and begin investigating this murder. They soon discover that a serial killer is on the loose and that the murder scenes of his victims are staged in fairytale settings. The murderer also leaves his mark at every scene - a moon painted on the victim in blood and semen. When a respected police officer is found murdered following his retirement party, Byrne and Balzano find themselves working with new partners. What they don't realize - the cases they have been assigned are definitely linked together. Montanari's written another great novel in the suspense genre and this reader will never look at Hans Christian Andersen's fairytales in quite the same way. ( )