The Mercy Killers: A Novel - Hardcover

Reardon, Lisa

3.52

66 ratings by Goodreads

9781582433189: The Mercy Killers: A Novel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1582433186 ISBN 13: 9781582433189

Publisher: Counterpoint, 2004

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From a fierce new voice in American literature, a psychological drama that combines gripping suspense and unforgettable characters in a story of murder, love, violent passion, and moral responsibility Seventy years old, ill, and bent by the ravages of time and loss of self-respect, Old Jerry wants to die. Charlie Simpkins, Old Jerry's grandson, is a petty crook with a taste for trouble, alcohol, and the wrong sort of women; his older brother, P.T., is sweetly naive and very troubled and could just possibly be convinced that such a death would be a kindness. But when Old Jerry fails to show up for his birthday party and later turns up dead, Charlie wants to deflect attention from P.T. serves in Vietnam to avoid prison time. Several years later, Charlie returns, angry and dangerous with a new wife and lingering nightmares from the war. He finds that his brother is living happily in a half-way house, his ex-girlfriend is gone, and another friend is married. But family harmony eludes Charlie-he is torn between living straight with his new wife and returning to the familiar comfort and excitement of his criminal friends. this is one crime he had nothing to do with. his friends for the murder when he learns that, yet again, all evidence points to P.T.A small and isolated world-a world where laws and taboos are broken on a daily basis, and family loyalty replaces moral accountability. Lisa Reardon's new novel is a deeply involving and satisfying story that illustrates just how far fear can drive us, and where love can sometime send us.

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About the Author:

Lisa Reardon teaches creative writing at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center.

From Publishers Weekly:

On the eve of a milestone birthday in the spring of 1967, "Old Jerry" Moody tells his bar buddies at McGurk's in Ypsilanti, Mich., that he wants someone to kill him. While one of his grandsons, Charlie, is burglarizing a house with his best friend, Gino, his other grandson, the brain-damaged P.T., calmly smothers Old Jerry with a pillow. Charlie and Gino cover for P.T., playing dumb when Old Jerry is a no-show at his birthday party, but when his body surfaces in Ford Lake, Charlie takes the rap and enlists in Vietnam in lieu of prison. Returning to Michigan, Charlie settles down with his war pen pal Diane, but discovers the downside of domesticity and falls back into old habits. Bar owner Gil McGurk and a former hooker known as the Mississippi Blonde have a child together and a fraught relationship, and she confides in P.T. her desire to die. When P.T. does the deed, Charlie again tries to cover for him. But secrets of all kinds will come out, including some about the suicide of P.T. and Charlie's mother. Gino, another tortured vet, may be the only person who can convince Charlie not to take the fall yet again. Reardon's haunting, liquor-soaked story reveals the war that is daily living, even as it shines a light into the secret hearts of McGurk's regulars.
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