Mercy River audiobook

Apparently, there is only room for two plots in the entire state of Oregon--Eco-terrorists or White Supremacists. In this book we get the latter.Van Shaw gets a call for help from a fellow ranger in rural Oregon. He goes down there, and finds a Ranger Convention, headed by a Colonel. There's also murders and robberies. Van has to get to the bottom of things, and before too long, there's the inevitable White Supremacists. Still, Hamilton manages to generate a lot of suspense and tension despite the cliches.Good hard boiled fiction. I'm already looking forward to the next book in the series.

A middle of the night phone call sends Van Shaw to the small town of Mercy River, Oregon. The call had come from fellow former Army Ranger Leo Pak, and Leo has been arrested for a murder in the community. Van thinks Leo is innocent, but Leo won’t answer Van’s questions about what happened. Meanwhile, the town is the site of an event for current and former Ranger, so the population is swelling this weekend. Will that help or hurt Van’s efforts to clear his friend?While this may sound like the set up for many of the books I normally read, it isn’t long before the plot branches off in some thrilling new directions. Those looking for a thriller will not be disappointed with the action scenes, yet the mystery is tied up perfectly. Since Van is out of town for much of this book, the series regulars are reduced to cameos, yet we still get some updates on them. The new characters are fully developed, and Van continues to be a complex main character. I appreciated how this book works in issues that vets face without slowing down the book by preaching. Like the earlier books in the series, this one does have flashbacks, but they don’t focus on any particular time in Van’s life while still helping us appreciate the events unfolding in Van’s life currently. This book has more language and violence than I typically read, but it fits for a thriller and never gets excessive. This was another compelling entry in the series. Anyone looking for a great thriller will be pleased this picked up this book.Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.

“Mercy River” is book four in Glen Erik Hamilton’s “Van Shaw” series. New readers will easily follow along because Hamilton includes any needed background as part of the current scenario. The story is presented as a first-person narrative by Donovan Shaw, former Ranger, former husband, and always friend. Readers learn about Shaw through his actions and reactions. He is concerned, helpful, devoted, prepared, and has untraceable guns. Readers know what he thinks, where he goes, what he fears, and what he wants. His present is molded by his past. “I can’t lead a regular life. Maybe I might have once, and maybe someday the chance will come around again. But it’s not who I am now.” Then a phone call changes everything; it calls him to action.“Leo was breathing heavily, his voice strained. There was a sound of quick movement before he spoke again. “They’re coming. I can’t make it.” … “This is the Mercy River police, who is this on the line?” A complex cast of secretive citizens and visiting soldiers drives the plot. Each player is fully developed and intricate, with varied feelings, plans, and fears. Readers also get to know people through Hamilton’s precise descriptions.“Her long blond hair was pulled back and held with a carved wooden comb. She wore a wine-colored coat, buttoned up against the autumn chill, Luce’s eyes could be the shade of rain clouds at times, but tonight, under the pale light of the streetlamps, they were the blue sky above the storm.”Hamilton sets the stage with scenic images. “The town of Mercy River lay in a haphazard jumble in the crease between two colliding hill ranges, as if its buildings and houses had been scattered across the land like big handfuls of dice, most of them tumbling to rest on the floor of the valley, with a few dozen strays left on the slopes above.”The plot is fast moving, intense, and at times violent. There is much more going on than just a Ranger Rendezvous, and some players are not who they seem to be at first glance. An unseen enemy lurks in the dark, and local law enforcement does not want any help from an outsider, especially not from Shaw who has never really been much of a “people” person. There is some offbeat humor amid the chaos. “That’s Daryll’s deer rifle,” Fain said as I set the leather carrying case on the table. “Where did you get that?” “From his room”...“A good choice if you’re defending covered wagons.”“Mercy River” is a tale of drama, destruction, and death. The pace is fast; the action is unexpected, and the tension is relentless. I was given a review copy of “Mercy River” by Glen Erik Hamilton, William Morrow, and Harper Collins. In the end, it is a saga of loyalty and justice, and hard to put down.

Award-winning thriller writer and Seattle native Glen Erik Hamilton was feted as a Guest of Honour at last month’s Left Coast Crime festival in Arizona, and you only have to pick up any of his books starring ex-thief and Army Ranger Van Shaw to discover why. Mercy River, the fourth in a consistently excellent series, sees Van Shaw travelling to a rural Oregon after he gets a troubling call from his friend and fellow former Ranger Leo Pak. Van was Leo’s sergeant in Afghanistan, and back in the States Leo had helped Van when he needed it most. Now Leo’s been arrested for the murder of a gun shop owner in Mercy River, on the eve of a popular Rally that draws hundreds of Rangers past and present to the tiny town. Has Leo been set up? Why doesn’t he want Van to help? Van’s investigations stir up a hornets’ nest of old grudges and dark secrets in a town that’s been home to a community of white supremacists and may be a hub for opiate trafficking. Hamilton’s assured storytelling quickly soaks readers into the troubled world of Van Shaw, a good man capable of bad things, and takes us on a heck of a ride. This is action-packed thriller writing with a character-centric heart. Themes of loyalty and brotherhood, and Van’s personal relationships, provide emotional wallop alongside the adrenalin rush.

Van Shaw finds himself in a strange little town with a mystery involving an old friend. I must say that I am hooked on this series, it's great. Love the characters development.I strongly recommend this series.

The 4th Van Shaw novel is a very good read. Shaw responds to the dire need of a fellow ranger veteran arrested for a murder that he didn't commit. The book is tough-minded and exciting.

Van Shaw finds himself in a strange little town with a mystery involving an old friend. I must say that I am hooked on this series, it's great. Love the characters development.I strongly recommend this series.

In keeping with the series, Glen Erik Hamilton doesn't disappoint in his latest Van Shaw thriller, Mercy River.Van Shaw is trying to be a good guy, but who may rely on his criminal past too frequently, in his pursuit of trying to do the right thing. It's this sense of loyalty and justice that brings Van Shaw and his motley crew of semi-criminal (well, some not so semi) associates to Mercy River on a mission to help his army buddy, Pak.Van Shaw has become one of my go-to characters when I am looking for a well paced, solidly plotted, take-me-away mystery. A great option for when I want the quick pacing and unexpected qualities of a mystery, but am not in the mood for a crime procedural or psychological thriller. This series is perfect for fans of Lee child, Vince Flynn, Craig Johnson, Elmore Leonard, Denis Lehaine, and John Sanford.

5 stars for sheer enjoyment factor and for the fact that I never suspected the actual murderer(s).In Mercy River, ex-Army Ranger Van Shaw has decisions to make and once again those decisions take him a step outside the law. To be honest ... more than a step, but when your skill set includes those learned in your early years as a thief ... well, skirting the law to get the job done comes naturally.Recommend: Yes. Start with the first in the series Past Crimes and then continue. The books keep getting better and better.

Welcome to Mercy River, Oregon where you’ll “feel a growing energy in the town like kids before summer vacation. Or maybe animals before an earthquake.” Author Glen Erik Hamilton shares a gripping mystery thriller where friendship is tested, and dangers surround criminal actions that threaten a person’s belief in whether justice can ever emerge. This is the fourth novel in the award winning Van Shaw mystery series that started with the first book winning the Anthony, the Macavity, and the Strand Magazine Critics awards. Now Van’s friend and fellow Veteran Leo, is accused of murder and jailed in the secretive, small town of Mercy River in Oregon. The victim was the front man for a team of private military contractors hired to recover stolen opiates. The accused is doing little to help his own defense, and is eerily silent on much of what happened that night. The bonds of brotherhood and friendship are sorely tested as Van works to uncover what actually happened and tries to show his friend’s innocence. This drama unfolds over the background of a raucous U.S. Army Rangers weekend reunion and town-wide party of a growing Veteran support network. Devoted celebrants rally around this network’s founder and highly decorated special operations general. The memorable characters are skillfully created. Van Shaw is an Army Ranger Veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and within his tough exterior he hides a loyal heart and a haunted spirit. He’s motivated by an ethical code formed through his own extraordinary experiences. A loner, he struggles with the complicated emotions of a life of what could have been, with his ex-girlfriend Luce. She also turns up in Mercy River, in the name of friendship. Now Van must focus his energies to try and survive a chilling fight against this deadly adversary who is lurking in plain sight. This award winning, best-selling author knows a lot about the Pacific Northwest. He grew up aboard a sailboat in the Seattle area, and spent much time sailing the islands in the area. He now lives in Burbank, California with his family, but left his heart in Seattle and visits frequently. To hear more from the author listen on YouTube where Wendy Kendall & Carl Lee Co-Host A Novel Talk with Glen Erik Hamilton

I am happy to report that Glen Erik Hamilton continues his win streak with MERCY RIVER, the fourth book in his Van Shaw series. Shaw is a former Army Ranger who combines his considerable combat skill set with the larcenous abilities that he acquired from his grandfather Dono, a well-known and somewhat benevolent criminal in the Seattle area who operated a quiet tavern as a legitimate business front. The novel exhibits a slightly different side of both Shaw and his creator, adding an interesting dimension to both.MERCY RIVER is a bit of a slow boil at first, but things get moving rather quickly. The festivities begin when Shaw receives a mysterious and unexpected early morning call from Leo Pak, his superior officer in their Ranger platoon during their military tour in Afghanistan. Pak is obviously in distress and in trouble, a fact made more clear when a voice identifying the owner as a Mercy River police officer gets on the line. Shaw quickly learns that Mercy River is a small town in Oregon and that Pak is being held there, under arrest for the murder of a local resident named Erle Sharples.Shaw drops everything and makes the six-hour drive from Seattle to Mercy River to help his friend. The situation he encounters upon his arrival is by turns confusing and surreal. It develops that Sharples, a local gun dealer, had been employing Pak in his store. Pak really doesn’t seem to want the help that Shaw is bringing, including a high-priced Seattle defense attorney. The small town also is in the grip of a major annual event called The Rally, a large gathering of former and active-duty Army Rangers, which is both a social event and a means to raise money for a number of organizations benefiting Rangers and their families. It is the brainchild of a retired general who is benevolent as can be, at least on the surface.However, Shaw soon discovers there are layers upon layers of secrets in Mercy River that intersect with Sharples’ murder, as well as a group of white supremacists who had set up camp in the town’s vicinity but had been chased out. It takes him some time to discover precisely what is going on, primarily because everyone, including Pak, is lying to him, though for different reasons. What Shaw discovers leads him from Mercy River to Seattle, where a dangerous plan erupts violently and causes him to retrace his steps to Mercy River, where the final truth is revealed and leads to a deadly denouement where ultimately very few will survive.The ending is artistically satisfying for Hamilton and the reader, but is a mixed blessing for Shaw, who continues to find that life back in the civilian world is not what he expected it to be. MERCY RIVER is more than complete in itself, but some of the vignettes that occur may play themselves out further in future installments of the series. Hamilton, like his creation, walks the walk and talks the talk, which is worth the price of admission all by itself.Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

The elevator pitch for the Van Shaw series is Jack Reacher if he were brought up with Parker as his Granda. An ex-Army Ranger who grew up as a burgeoning thief under the tutelage of his Grandad Dono, a career thief. In this fourth instalment, Van heads for the small town of Mercy River, where his Army buddy, Leo, has been locked up for the murder of the local gun shop owner with the evidence solidly against him.Initially this one errs more on the Reacher side (or what I imagine that is, having never actually read one) with Van arriving in a small town stirring up trouble in order to find out the truth behind the murder. In amongst this is the fact that Mercy River are hosting a Ranger Rally for serving and former Army Rangers celebrating their status with booze, competitions and other shenanigans in support of raising money for veterans in need of treatment and care for the physical and psychological ailments they're suffering. I struggled with some of this and wondered how such a thing could conjure up the page count that it did.I shouldn't have been so downhearted though as through the machinations of the plot, which also worried me when I easily guessed from the offset a certain plot point, the Parker side of the Van Shaw coin is brought to bear. It is skillfully done how we get here and from there the pace of the story picks up and makes the last third really enjoyable.This instalment didn't include a subplot from Van's youth as the other books have, which have always been as, if not more, enjoyable than main plot. Not sure if these will return, but the combination of the mystery with this element always gave the earlier books an emoitional core and an easier way to play off the split character traits.So I clearly know which side of Van I enjoy following more, but with the next instalment due in July I will be sure to continue following his adventures.

Van Shaw heads to Mercy River, Oregon to help old friend Leo Pak , who has been jailed for murdering Erle Sharples, a gun shop owner, he had been working for,loading bullets to be used at The Rally. Leo's fingerprints are on the murder weapon and when he was apprehended, he was running from the law. Despite his initial claims of innocence, Van can't seem to find any reason or 'fact' to help Leo out of his predicament. Van thinks Leo is protecting his new girlfriend Dez who turns out to be the daughter of Cecily Rae Desidra, who Erle married shortly before her death from cancer. Van gets a close up encounter with all the citizens of Mercy River because they are all intent on celebrating The Rally, an event put together by General Macomber- to help veterans after their release from the service to help get them what they need after their release.. Van meets several members of the Rangers and finds that the Rangers and The Rally are in the thick of the mystery, including Zeke Caton, Wayne and Lester Beacham.Van must call in several favors to help solve this mystery and set hid friend Leo free. Very entertaining story and great read. I received an ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review. 4 1/2 stars.

The theme of an outsider, a stranger arriving in an idyllic small town and immediately arousing suspicion is not uncommon. Hamilton gives us an engrossing spin on this topic. The seemingly tranquil name Mercy River evokes images of white picket fences and hospitality. Nothing could be further from the truth as Van Shaw arrives to save a fellow former Army Ranger possibly ensnared in a conspiracy. The tension is immediate as the reader is introduced to a realistic and not overdone cast of secretive townsfolk and visiting soldiers. The possibility remains that not everyone is who they seem, and an unseen enemy lurks in the dark. Even the physical evidence is enigmatic and by the time Shaw realizes who he can trust and what must be done, both he and the reader are on a dizzying ride. Visit your favorite travel website and book a trip to Mercy River.

I am a HUGE FAN of this series by Glen Erik Hamilton. I am always glad to be back in the environment of the Pacific Northwest where I lived and traveled for 17 years. To make it even better, Hamilton is a superb writer with a nicely paced style and characters you know well enough to often correctly anticipate their responses. The plot and action are vivid and exciting. Even though I usually race through such books, I do not read Hamilton's quickly. I enjoy his writing and the amazing details of the adventure, that I tend to savor it and read it more slowly. Like many loyal readers, I understand why it takes so long to write and publish a book such as this one, but I find it so hard to wait for the next installment!I was reminded again how well Van Shaw would translate to a TV series. I hope it happens soon!