A gritty action packed thriller from start to finish. Brilliantly written and a page turner. Believable characters and a style of writing that really suits them. This is the first DavidMark book that I have read and I now want to go and read the rest.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for a review copy of Cruel Mercy, the sixth novel to feature DS Aector McAvoy of Humberside police.

Valentine Teague, McAvoy's brother in law, has disappeared in New York and worse the two men he was travelling with have been shot, one dead and one in a coma. Back in Ireland the dead man's family hold Valentine responsible for his death and are threatening his family. Roisin sends McAvoy to New York to find Valentine. He soon finds himself out of his depth in far deeper waters than he could have imagined and ends up leaning on his boss Trish Pharoah for support.

I enjoyed Deep Mercy but with its complex plotting and structure and multiple characters I needed all my concentration to keep up. I think that it is novel to be read in one or two sittings otherwise it would be easy to lose some of the threads. The structure of the novel is complex with multiple timelines and points of view which make it difficult to work out what is going on. When it all finally becomes clear I must admit to finding it rather preposterous, unlikely and disappointing.

Despite this the novel is intriguing as McAvoy fights his way through all the obfuscation to arrive at the truth. It is well paced with information coming to him slowly but surely but the reader is snowed under with all sorts of information, characters and history it is difficult to make sense of until closer to the end. Chuck in the Feds, the Mafia and the Russian Mafia and all that is missing is the kitchen sink!

The novel is saved with some excellent descriptive writing which allows the reader to really picture the scenes and McAvoy's personality. He is a big lump of a man, courageous and straight laced. He is always ready to do the right thing but often questions himself. Fortunately the love of his family and the bolstering from his boss, Trish Pharoah keep him going. It is a joy to read about him.

Cruel Mercy is very much a mixed bag. I think the structure is unnecessarily complicated and the reason for it all unlikely but the action and Aector McAvoy are excellent. I think 3.5* is a fair assessment.

This is the 6th book in the DS McAvoy series and unlike the previous novels which are set in Hull this spin off is set in New York.
McAvoy travels to America to look for his brother in law, Valentine, who is suspected of murdering fellow Irish boxer Shay who is from a rival traveller's clan. Valentine, Shay and their manager Brishen have all travelled to America for mysterious reasons which gradually become apparent during the course of the book. This murder threatens to set off a clan war back in Ireland and McAvoy's wife Roijin is caught up in it.
The story then progresses to gangster and Mafia crimes set both in the present and the past. There is even a serial killer thrown in as the investigation continues.
Unfortunately this book really did not catch my interest despite the fact that I had enjoyed Mark's previous novels. Although Aector McAvoy was a well defined character and his feelings of alienation in New York a clever twist, I really missed the Hull setting and Aector's interactions with his boss Trish and his wife Roijin. It just wasn't the same when he skyped them every so often.
The convoluted and over complicated plot did not hold my attention either and at times I skipped several pages whilst reading as the book was not as compelling as the earlier ones in the series.
This novel had the feel of an English author reaching out for an American audience and for me it just did not work.
I am hoping that the next book about McAvoy will be set back in Hull, a city the author knows well. New York did not do it for me, particularly as there are so many US authors who could do it so much better although to be fair, Mark had obviously done his research.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

Aector McEvoy, a Scottish Detective Sergeant who works for the Humberside police force. So what is he doing in New York City?
Brishen Ayres, a boxing coach, took his star fighter Shay Helden to the USA for his big break, and they were followed by Valentine Teague, a rival boxer. And then something happened that left Helden dead and Ayres mutilated and left in a coma. But the Teagues and the Heldens are rival Traveller families in Ireland, and Valentine Teague is Aector’s brother-in-law. On a desperate mission to stop the family rivalry from escalating into wholescale violence, Aector is determined to find Valentine and bring him home.
But things are far more complicated than they appear. The New York Mob and the Chechen gangs are on the verge of a gang war and deadly killers stalk the streets. And a crime long since forgotten is about to be brought to light…
Book six in the Aector McEvoy series, a series that I’ve always been very fond of, not least because I was lucky enough to be sent a review copy of the very first book, Dark Winter – thinking about it, it may have been the first review copy that I was sent. Certainly the first one that I enjoyed, certainly, thinking of the review that I promised the publisher that I would never refer to again. And it’s a series that I always enjoy, with the compelling character of Aector taking front and centre, providing the light in the (fairly) unrelenting darkness of the crime that surrounds him. The relationship between Aector and his wife is one of the most enjoyable things that I’ve read – one of the most honest and believable portrayals of simple love that I’ve seen.
The plot here is as complex as ever, with reveals, double-crosses, surprises and, on occasion, some violent bits, although I find those very easy to overlook when the writing is of this high quality. The many plot-strands gradually weave together into a cohesive whole, and while the “whodunit” element of this one is less important than in books past (deliberately so), the plot keeps driving forward. I was torn when reading this, whether to read it all in one go or to savour it. I settled for a bit of both (partly due to a massive pile of work appearing on my desk) but ended up reading the second half of the book in a single sitting. Utterly compelling.
Having said that, I wouldn’t start with this one – either Dark Winter or Sorrow Bound are the best jumping on points and I think it’s with Sorrow Bound that David Mark’s writing really begins to stand out. Not that this book spoils what has gone before, but these are the chronicles of a believable character that you will care about, and it’s always best to experience a life in the right order, isn’t it? Anyway, in case, you haven’t guessed, this is Highly Recommended.