Shades of Mercy by Bruce Borgos #bookreview #audiobook #series

Thank you Minotaur Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of Shades of Mercy in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library.

Publisher: Minotaur Books / Recorded Books

Published: July 16, 2024

 

Summary:

In the usually quiet high desert of Nevada, Sheriff Porter Beck faces one of his greatest challenges—a series of unlikely, disturbing and increasingly deadly events of unknown origins.

Porter Beck is the sheriff in the high desert of Nevada, doing the same lawman’s job his father once did now that he’s returned home after decades away. With his twelve person department, they cover a large area that is usually very quiet, but not of late. One childhood friend is the latest to succumb to a new wave of particularly strong illegal opioids, another childhood friend—now an enormously successful rancher—is targeted by a military drone, hacked and commandeered by an unknown source. The hacker is apparently local—local enough to call out Beck by name—and that means they are Beck’s problem.

Beck’s investigation leads him to Mercy Vaughn, the one known hacker in the area. The problem is that she’s a teenager, locked up with no computer access at the secure juvenile detention center. But there’s something Mercy that doesn’t sit quite right with Beck. But when Mercy disappears, Beck understands that she’s in danger and time is running out for all of them.

 

My thoughts:

This is the second book in the Porter Beck series and I am still in shock by how much I am enjoying it. I’m so glad I decided to give this series a chance – the payoff has been totally worth it and I am already desperate to get my hands on the next book!

This is the perfect blend of crime fiction and police procedural and I love that we are dropped right into things. There’s no warm-up here. It’s fast-paced, high-octane from that start and it stays that way the entire time. While there are many moving parts here, I found myself completely invested in what was going on – we have a teenage hacker, Mexican drug cartels, lots of Government agencies involved and Chinese spies. How does everything tie together?

The twists and turn this one takes kept me on edge and guessing all the way through. And I love that throughout all of this, we continue to learn a bit more about Beck Porter himself. He is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters and I feel we have only scratched the surface on what really makes him tick. He has such an interesting background and I love how he is not letting his own medical issue stop him from doing the job he loves.

This series is one that I cannot read fast enough and I really do hope another book is on the horizon…I need more Beck Porter in my life!

 

Audio thoughts:

Once again, I went the audio route and was thrilled to see that James Babson was narrating this book. He was the narrator of the first book in this series and I loved how consistent he was with the voices. I hope he continues to narrate the rest of the books in this series…if he does, I will definitely be listening!

 

Books in this series:

1. The Bitter Past
2. Shades of Mercy

 

 

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