Preview
  • The Absence of Mercy

  • By: John Burley
  • Narrated by: Adam Verner
  • Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (23 ratings)

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The Absence of Mercy

By: John Burley
Narrated by: Adam Verner
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Publisher's summary

John Burley's The Absence of Mercy is a harrowing tale of suspense involving a brutal murder and dark secrets that lie beneath the surface of a placid, tight-knit Midwestern town.

When a brutally murdered teenager is discovered in the woods surrounding a small Ohio town, Dr. Ben Stevenson - the town's medical examiner - must decide if he's willing to put his family's life in danger to uncover the truth. Finding himself pulled deeper into an investigation with devastating consequences, he discovers shocking information that will shatter his quiet community and force him to confront a haunting truth.

With its eerie portrait of suburban life and nerve-fraying plot twists, The Absence of Mercy is domestic drama at its best for fans of Harlan Coben, Laura Lippman, Jennifer McMahon, and Lisa Gardner.

©2013 John Burley (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers
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What listeners say about The Absence of Mercy

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5

This mystery kept me awake and
engaged with the author's well thought out thriller. I was as
baffled as the town sheriff -I was gonna say "right up to the end" but the cops swept in before I was ready and solved the case. This is good.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic story that left me craving more

The story was so wonderful and full of twists and turns. The amount of descriptive words that helped paint a vivid picture in my mind while I read helped really put me into the shoes of everyone involved in the story. The attention to detail and emphasis on the situation at hand really engrossed me in every encounter between characters. The constant movment of events ment there was never a dull moment. I'm left craving more, all that's left is to read again and pay more attention to the finer details for things I may have missed.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Spoiler review

If you've read Defending Jacob, The Bad Seed, or We Need to Talk About Kevin, you can skip this book. It's essentially the same story. There is a lot of medical terminology ( the author is a physician ) and some pretty graphic discriptions of violence. It actually made me queasy. I REALLY had a problem with the mother's complete dedication to protecting her son at all costs. HE'S a sociopath ! Yikes ! Where is her moral compass ? So, I didn't like this very much, but I must compliment the narrator, Adam Verner, for doing a great job with this unsavory material.

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