Date Published: January 2014
Women's Fiction
Synopsis
Is it nature or nurture that drives sixteen-year-old, Mercedes Warren, to become a mass murderer?
Town Without Mercy, is contemporary women's fiction dealing with current event drama of mass shootings and gay marriage. Told through the eyes of the mother, a TV news correspondent, Adele must find the answer, even as it takes her away from Mercedes' deathbed where she lays in a coma from the police bullet that stopped the carnage. If Adele follows the leads, the cost could be her seventeen-year-old marriage to same-sex partner, Jodi Warren. The townspeople of Concord Park want revenge. They blame Adele and Jodi's lifestyle as the cause of their daughter's actions, but are they innocent of all blame?
Review by Jenna
Book provided by Author in exchange for an honest review.
Let me start off with the book description:
Is it nature or nurture that drives a teenage girl to open fire in a crowd at a 4th of July celebration? Told through the eyes of the mother, a TV news correspondent, Adele must find the answer, even as it takes her away from Mercedes where she lays in a coma from the police bullet that stopped the carnage. If Adele follows the leads, the price could be her seventeen-year-old marriage to same-sex partner, Jodi Warren. The quiet town of Concord Park
The topic of this book was one that definitely caught my interest right away. Although a terrible tragedy, I wanted to get into the mind of Mercedes and why she felt she had to go on a shooting rampage.
Unfortunately for me, there were not a lot of details on why exactly this young, 16 year old girl would do this. Instead the book mostly goes into detail about the girl's parent’s same-sex marriage. For 90% of the book, Mercedes is in a coma due to a great deal of blood loss, collapsed lung and other complications. When the reasons behind the shooting are revealed they are explained in literally around 2 pages.
I did enjoy the book, but I wanted (and needed, to be honest!) to hear more from Mercedes. I know there have been a few books based on the tragic shootings in schools and such and I think it makes for an interesting book to have the story behind the why's but also a portion of the book to be behind what the parents of the shooter are going through. Now again, this book DID have that, but too much. I felt like there was too much discussion on how rough the mother's of Mercedes had it because they are of the same gender.
The author does delve into the pain the parents are going through quite well and also their thoughts on why they think their daughter committed this act. The writing is also good but at some points I felt it was a bit too blunt, I wanted a bit more feeling. I also felt that there were certain things added to the book that were not necessary such as Jodi's sister visiting to "make amends" but in reality it was more to find her cheating husband. I could have done without that part. It did not add anything to the story.
All in all I will give the book 3.5 stars. Again, I would like to thank the author for the opportunity to read and review this book. I would be interested in reading more books from you!
Joanne Simon Tailele
Joanne Simon Tailele was born a midwest girl in Youngstown Ohio and wrote her first short story at the age of ten in blue colored pencil. For most of her life, writing was private, for her own enjoyment and therapy.
In 2010, she discovered NANOWRIMO and challenged herself to write a 50K novel in 30 days. She finished it, but admits it was awful. After joining an online writer's group, she picked away at the story for a full year with the help of the other girls in my group from all over the globe. It took another year of edits and rewrites before she I joined a local writer's group and felt the script was ready for the public eye. Two and half years later, ACCIDENT went public. Her second novel, Town Without Mercy, was released Janaury, 2014. Joanne currently resides on Marco Island on the SW Gulf coast of Florida with her husband. The proud the parents of 8 his-and-hers kids and 9 grandkids, they spend their time boating and enjoying the white sandy beach of Marco Island when she is not writing.
Synopsis
Is it nature or nurture that drives sixteen-year-old, Mercedes Warren, to become a mass murderer?
Town Without Mercy, is contemporary women's fiction dealing with current event drama of mass shootings and gay marriage. Told through the eyes of the mother, a TV news correspondent, Adele must find the answer, even as it takes her away from Mercedes' deathbed where she lays in a coma from the police bullet that stopped the carnage. If Adele follows the leads, the cost could be her seventeen-year-old marriage to same-sex partner, Jodi Warren. The townspeople of Concord Park want revenge. They blame Adele and Jodi's lifestyle as the cause of their daughter's actions, but are they innocent of all blame?
Review by Jenna
Book provided by Author in exchange for an honest review.
Let me start off with the book description:
Is it nature or nurture that drives a teenage girl to open fire in a crowd at a 4th of July celebration? Told through the eyes of the mother, a TV news correspondent, Adele must find the answer, even as it takes her away from Mercedes where she lays in a coma from the police bullet that stopped the carnage. If Adele follows the leads, the price could be her seventeen-year-old marriage to same-sex partner, Jodi Warren. The quiet town of
The topic of this book was one that definitely caught my interest right away. Although a terrible tragedy, I wanted to get into the mind of Mercedes and why she felt she had to go on a shooting rampage.
Unfortunately for me, there were not a lot of details on why exactly this young, 16 year old girl would do this. Instead the book mostly goes into detail about the girl's parent’s same-sex marriage. For 90% of the book, Mercedes is in a coma due to a great deal of blood loss, collapsed lung and other complications. When the reasons behind the shooting are revealed they are explained in literally around 2 pages.
I did enjoy the book, but I wanted (and needed, to be honest!) to hear more from Mercedes. I know there have been a few books based on the tragic shootings in schools and such and I think it makes for an interesting book to have the story behind the why's but also a portion of the book to be behind what the parents of the shooter are going through. Now again, this book DID have that, but too much. I felt like there was too much discussion on how rough the mother's of Mercedes had it because they are of the same gender.
The author does delve into the pain the parents are going through quite well and also their thoughts on why they think their daughter committed this act. The writing is also good but at some points I felt it was a bit too blunt, I wanted a bit more feeling. I also felt that there were certain things added to the book that were not necessary such as Jodi's sister visiting to "make amends" but in reality it was more to find her cheating husband. I could have done without that part. It did not add anything to the story.
All in all I will give the book 3.5 stars. Again, I would like to thank the author for the opportunity to read and review this book. I would be interested in reading more books from you!
Joanne Simon Tailele
Joanne Simon Tailele was born a midwest girl in Youngstown Ohio and wrote her first short story at the age of ten in blue colored pencil. For most of her life, writing was private, for her own enjoyment and therapy.
In 2010, she discovered NANOWRIMO and challenged herself to write a 50K novel in 30 days. She finished it, but admits it was awful. After joining an online writer's group, she picked away at the story for a full year with the help of the other girls in my group from all over the globe. It took another year of edits and rewrites before she I joined a local writer's group and felt the script was ready for the public eye. Two and half years later, ACCIDENT went public. Her second novel, Town Without Mercy, was released Janaury, 2014. Joanne currently resides on Marco Island on the SW Gulf coast of Florida with her husband. The proud the parents of 8 his-and-hers kids and 9 grandkids, they spend their time boating and enjoying the white sandy beach of Marco Island when she is not writing.
Website: http://www.joannetailele.com
Wow this story sounds like it will be tough to read on so many levels. I think the what makes me want to read it is how it could possibly play out and come to a head. As a mother I imagine this story is tough all around... can't wait to read it!
ReplyDeleteI agree Victoria! I couldn't read it myself - instead Jenna read it...such a brave soul! xo
ReplyDeleteI've never read a book like this before it will be interesting to see how it plays out sounds like it will be an emotional read!!
ReplyDelete