Angel of Mercy

by Andrew Neiderman

Whenever one of nurse Faye Sullivan's patients dies, her twin sister Susie moves in on surviving bereaved spouses who soon afterward die as well, and retired detective Frankie Samuels finds the occurrences suspicious. Reprint.

Genres: Fiction

Mass Market Paperback

First published May 25, 1994

About the author

Andrew Neiderman is the author of over 44 thrillers, including six of which have been translated onto film, including the big hit, 'The Devil's Advocate', a story in which he also wrote a libretto for the music-stage adaptation. One of his novels, Tender Loving Care, has been adapted into a CD-Rom interactive movie.

Andrew Neiderman became the ghostwriter for V.C. Andrews following her death in 1986. He was the screenwriter for Rain, a film based on a series of books under Andrews name. Between the novels written under her name and his own, he has published over 100 novels.

Reviews

[Tara Hall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Odd story with a good twist, if one I'd seen before. A lot more sex of erotic nature than I'd expect in a usual horror story.

[Adam Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh wow. Bad pie, Neiderman. Angel of Mercy just didn't work at all. It was too short to make me care about anything at all (familiar Neiderproblem), it really didn't

make a lot of sense to me (sort of familiar Neiderproblem), and it had an anticlimactic ending (massive elephant in the room Neiderproblem). It is a slightly

interesting idea to have an antagonist be some insane nurse who feels bad for those who have been parted from their loved ones by death. Mercifully, they will not have

to suffer for long because their caretaker will make sure they are reunited with said loved one much sooner than they may wish. Sound cool? I thought the same but, like

I said, the story just did not work at all. I guess this one might qualify as a medical thriller, but the only thrills you might get are thrills of horror at how damn

bad it is.

[Tim Popko · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not surprised I'm the only one to really review this book. It's so far off the beaten path for horror fans, and Andrew Neiderman reads like a trashy beach novelist. The story is simple, the narrative easy-to-follow, but the idea is psychologically mind-blowing. I read the book because I played the game Tender Loving Care as an adolescent (a horny one at that) and found the themes of a naughty nurse taking advantage of a frustrated husband and his enfeebled wife to be so deep it stuck with me. The concept was entirely plausible, which makes this book somewhat difficult to categorize; indeed, the PC game Tender Loving Care was based on the premise of a "psychological thriller", one where meaning and ambiguity is left to the reader to decide.

Is it a horror book, or a thriller? And what is to be made of the cuckold husband, who is torn sexually because of this live-in nurse? Is this not a true fantasy (or horror) for every frustrated husband who needs a live-in aide for an enfeebled wife? Are there nurses who legitimately live through their careers as borderline prostitutes or "sexual therapists"? And considering the results she was able to achieve, was she an evil, diabolical human being or was she a true "angel of mercy"? I deeply enjoyed the computer game because it forced me to take on such deep introspective questions. And for this story to do so to an adolescent in puberty, and leave such a mark on me 10 years later is saying something.