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The Mayday: A Jack Merchant and Sarah Ballard Novel

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The Mayday is the second installment of an acclaimed new series featuring ex-DEA Agent Jack Merchant and boat repo contractor Sarah Ballard. This time they are searching for a man's wife and children, missing on the high seas.

310 pages, Hardcover

First published February 25, 2005

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About the author

Bill Eidson

10 books6 followers

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5 stars
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35 (57%)
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8 (13%)
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
5,305 reviews62 followers
August 11, 2015
#2 in the Jack Merchant & Sarah Ballard series. The final entry of the series and the end of eight book career for a talented writer who couldn't make it pay.

Jack Merchant & Sarah Ballard listen to Matt Coulter's story, which the authorities don't believe. He claims that after his sailboat foundered in a storm, his wife was killed, he was knocked out and his children were kidnapped by supposed rescuers. As they investigate, they find a trail of murder and insurance fraud.
Profile Image for Paul.
184 reviews
August 26, 2012
In this second book featuring ex-DEA Agent Jack Merchant and boat repo contractor Sarah Ballard, the pair are pulled into a bizarre case involving a wreck at sea, amnesia, infidelity, missing children, money laundering and murder.

Matt Coulter and his family are sailing off the coast of Rhode Island when their boat goes down. Matt wakes in a hospital a week later, the only apparent survivor, but with a story that neither the police nor anyone else believes. He claims another boat picked up his family, his wife was murdered, and now his children have been kidnapped.

Jack and Sarah have trouble swallowing it, too, given Coulter's past alcoholism and spotty memory, but agree to see if they can at least find the boat that Coulter believes pulled his family from the water. What follows is an investigation that slowly exposes the layers of a byzantine plot made all the more tangled by a series of chance encounters that has placed the Coulters in grave danger and brought threat of the same to Sarah and Jack's doorstep.

Bill Eidson's first book in this series, "The Repo", made me want to see Jack Merchant and Sarah Ballard again, and in "The Mayday", the author not only fleshes them out and deepens their relationship, but spins a taught story populated with well-drawn characters and filled with twists and shocks delivered at a stiff clip. If you enjoy a good page-turner - and especially if you liked the first volume in this series, you'll be glad you picked up "The Mayday".
Profile Image for Larry.
1,508 reviews96 followers
April 1, 2014
Jack Merchant, an ex-DEA agent, and Sarah Ballard, owner of a marine repo company, search for the kidnapped children of a yachtsman whose boat was sunk intentionally by the abductors. And what else were the abductors after? The second novel of what would be a nice continuing series features two interesting main characters who are engaged in the beginning of a relationship. The maritime details are good, the villains are nasty, and the pair of almost lovers have nicely complementary skills.
216 reviews1 follower
October 23, 2013
Good story. Action filled all the way.
Profile Image for Flo.
86 reviews8 followers
January 29, 2023
Liked this one even more than The Repo. Even brought a tear to my eye at one point. I'd like to read more of his in this series.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews

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