The Opposite of Mercy

by John Connor

When soldier Paul Curtis, recently returned from active duty, is approached covertly by an old school friend's father and asked for assistance he falters only momentarily before agreeing to help. His old friend, Chris, is dating Lara, a beautiful British Asian woman whose brother, Pasha Durrani, is furious about their relationship.

As Paul steps into the breach it soon becomes clear that this is no low-level domestic disagreement. Durrani is heavily involved in organised crime, the roots of which lead back to a powerful terrorist network in Pakistan - and Lara has been offered to these people as a prize. Suddenly, Paul, Chris and Lara find themselves taking on a force more deadly and widespread than they could ever have imagined.

By turns gripping and terrifying, THE OPPOSITE OF MERCY is a sharp, insightful and compulsive thriller.

320 pages, Paperback

First published June 23, 2011

About the author

John Connor is the pen name of Tom Winship. John Connor recently left his job as a barrister to write full time. During the fifteen years of his legal career he prosecuted numerous homicide cases in West Yorkshire and London. He advised the police in numerous proactive drugs and organised crime operations, many involving covert activity. He now lives in Brussels with his wife and two young children.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Stuart Haining]

6/10, VFM 11%. Very jumbled plot, non-sensical ending, not really worth reading beyond being a bit of a page turner, so suitable as a holiday read but not a place in your library!

[Tiana Nairn]

Fast pacing and an interesting premise kept me turning the pages - I read it in one day. The chapters alternating between a few different points of view worked well. However, the plot had insufficient depth and twists to carry a full novel well. I didn’t mind this too much until the resolution of the key police mystery was very disappointing and the lead female’s actions towards the end did not ring true. Also, death scenes were given greater detail than the characterisation of the females - with their roles being very much as simple and eventually unbelievable props for the hero and villains roles. Overall, a great start, good tension build across the book and a disappointing finish.

[Gemma]

I picked this book up in Waterstones for around £2, and after having read it, I'm shocked that it was discounted so far. I'd certainly have bought it at full price. Winship has a real talent for this kind of storytelling, constantly upping the stakes and raising the tension until the main event. It wasn't quite in the 'can't put it down' category, but I was certainly eager to keep going back to it. The Opposite of Mercy is rare in that I wasn't convinced that either of the main characters would make it through to the end, and that kept me going back to it.

Where I was slightly disappointed though, was in the aftermath of the main event. After having set the story in the midst of drug and crime wars in Pakistan (and played into racist narratives more than I am comfortable with), Winship turned this on its head by blaming the ultimate fallout on problems with the UK and US security services. It was a good way of drawing attention to the stereotypes that his characters played into throughout the rest of the book (albeit with some criticality), but ultimately fell a little flat. I would have liked to have seen this throughout the rest of the book as well. That said, I certainly enjoyed it and will be hunting out more of Winship's books.