The Mercy Killers: A Novel - Softcover

Reardon, Lisa

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1582433372 ISBN 13: 9781582433370

Publisher: Counterpoint, 2005

Synopsis

When Jerry Simpkins finally gets his wish to die, his grandson Charlie takes the blame and heads to Vietnam to divert suspicion from his brother P.T., only to find himself embroiled in another murder when he returns.

About this title

About the Author:

Lisa Reardon is the author of two previous novels and six plays. She lives with her husband in Chicago, where she 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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About this edition

• Publisher: Counterpoint
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1582433372
• ISBN 13: 9781582433370
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 266