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The Quality of Mercy
The time: 1979
The place: a top-secret US Air Force base in the Cotswolds
The actors: carefully selected, healthy-living personnel
The missions: long-range reconnaissance flights
The problem: is there any connection between these flights and the growing menace of a strange blood-cancer disease that is spreading through the world? Several of the more intelligent and intuitive realise that there is. There are those who retain their integrity, and doing so, lose their lives; and there are those who live silently in their knowledge, condemned to lives of emotional death.
- GenresScience Fiction
Paperback
First published January 1, 1967
50 people want to read
About the author
D.G. Compton
47 books36 followersDavid Guy Compton has published science fiction as D.G. Compton. He has also published crime novels as Guy Compton and Gothic fiction as Frances Lynch.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 3, 2020
Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...
"D. G. Compton’s first science fiction novel, The Quality of Mercy (1965), is a forgotten work which deserves to be read along with the rest of his canon. I’ve found Compton’s lesser known works to be on the whole quite solid — with the dismal The Missionaries (1972) the lone exception so far. Both Synthajoy (1968) and The Steel Crocodile (1970) are among my top reads of [...]"
"D. G. Compton’s first science fiction novel, The Quality of Mercy (1965), is a forgotten work which deserves to be read along with the rest of his canon. I’ve found Compton’s lesser known works to be on the whole quite solid — with the dismal The Missionaries (1972) the lone exception so far. Both Synthajoy (1968) and The Steel Crocodile (1970) are among my top reads of [...]"
October 16, 2025
A bleak and depressing, but well written, SF novel about an Air Force captain taking part in a secret project to maintain a missile launch detection screen above Soviet airspace. Much of the story feels like a Cold War techno-thriller with light science fiction tropes. Eventually, we see dystopian elements slowly introduced, both in the form of a deadly virus as well as an oppressive and manipulative government. The nature of the missile defense project is also questioned as we reach the conclusion of the story. Could it somehow have caused the deadly virus that is killing millions? Will the main character join the fight to reveal the terrifying truth?
Overall, this was very well written and has made me want to read more of Compton's novels. Though the story features a thrilling scene as the Air Force captain flies a mission over Soviet airspace, the pacing slows a bit in the second half. Some attention is given to a romantic interest outside of the captain's marriage. While this is important in what is ultimately a character drive story, it would have been nice to have spent more time building up to the big reveal of the "terrible truth" instead.
Overall, this was very well written and has made me want to read more of Compton's novels. Though the story features a thrilling scene as the Air Force captain flies a mission over Soviet airspace, the pacing slows a bit in the second half. Some attention is given to a romantic interest outside of the captain's marriage. While this is important in what is ultimately a character drive story, it would have been nice to have spent more time building up to the big reveal of the "terrible truth" instead.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews