No Mercy by Joanna Schaffhausen
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#triggerwarning #lawandordersvu #graphic
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Ellery Hathaway is a police officer on involuntary leave forced to attend one-on-one therapy if she wants to be reinstated. When Ellery attends group therapy for victims of violent crimes, Ellery finds an unofficial case or two to occupy her days.
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Schaffhausen’s No Mercy reads like a plot of Law and Order: SVU. Although SVU is the best Law and Order, it often has graphic and violent materials. The same applies to No Mercy. No Mercy should come with a trigger warning because some storylines contain horrifying details.
Ellery Hathaway is comparable to Lisbeth Salander. Stubborn, strong female badass at the center of constant conflict. Even if you haven’t read the first Hathaway novel, No Mercy is easy to follow as Schaffhausen incorporates all crucial information into the second novel.
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Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Minotaur Books for my ARC!
No Mercy by Joanna Schaffhausen will be out January 15th!

It was pretty fun. Even though I didn't read the first book for this series, it doesn't stop your from reading it because it was a different story after all..

It was pretty fun read and fast-paced but one thing that gets me is the way the story was "forcefully" being thriller and mysterious in way.

Because of Ellery's action from the first book, she was advised to be part of group therapy session wherein she found a spooky and fishy story of sexual assault and abuse to one of the member of the therapy and dive into finding out who is that man who assault this girl.

Okay, quite cliche but very forcefully drove into thriller/detective vibe.

But, wouldn't want some thrilling story.

The story is a roller coaster ride wherein there are certain parts that made me lost and ask "where I am in this?"

I hope the story focus more to the "girl/s who was assaulted" because at the end, their investigation to this mysterious peeing tom/sexual assault man drags a family issue/drama wherein I don't see the point of it to the main purpose of the case Ellery wants to find out.

Afterall, it was a fun read.

I liked The Vanishing Season a lot so hoped No Mercy would live up to the promise - and it certainly did! The characters are vivid and well-defined, and the action is nonstop. There are several intertwining stories that keep the narrative going. This is one of those books I just didn't want to put down. There were plenty of twists and red herrings that keep the reader guessing.

This book ended with a cliffhanger that absolutely promises another in the series. I look forward to it!!

The second in a series and this is one of those typical mystery series where each "case" is self contained in each book, but there is character development of the main characters from book to book. So I suggest starting with book one, but you can skip to book two if you wish.

Ellery Hathaway is on leave due to the ending of book one. She is attending mandated therapy and group therapy and while at group therapy she inserts herself into a current investigation and one from the past that maybe a little different then what people think. The FBI profiler, Reed Markham, is back from book one and I love the way the author brings him back and the dynamics they have in this book.

I think my most favorite thing about this book was that due to Ellery's inability to use all of her police insider stuff, she has to be creative to solve the two crimes. I loved how she had to really use different techniques to investigate because she couldn't use all the databases and such that she could have if she were a full time police officer.

The two cases were so different, so I didn't have a problem at all keeping them separate and enjoying each one of them. I think it was a good idea to have two in this book because they each had ebbs and flows in the investigative process and when one was a little stagnant the other picked up.

I hope there is more to come from this series, I enjoy the duo of Reed and Ellery.

Abgeschlossenes Buch mit einem einem aufregendem Cliffhanger zum nächsten Band.
Die Autorin schafft eine athmosphärisch dichte Geschichte mit sympathischen Charakteren mit Ecken und Kanten, voller Spannung und hoher Glaubwürdigkeit.
Macht definitiv Lust auf mehr.

4.25*
I am so happy to have a new series to enjoy!
This is book 2 of the Ellery Hathaway series, but no worries if you want to jump right in! It easily stands on its own! Joanna Schaffhausen cleverly gives enough detailed background that will make it possible to put you into the middle of the action.

Ellery has seen more than her fair share of horror. Remarkably, she’s survived a serial killers’ attempts on her life. On not one, but two separate occasions!
She is currently on leave from the police department while she completes her department-mandated therapy.
Except sending Ellery to therapy doesn’t quite achieve the Zen-like, inner-peace they were hoping for. Just the opposite! She’s made it her personal mission to help two women from her therapy group, putting her own need for help on the back-burner.

Wendy was brutally raped and left a shell of the woman and the person she was. Her rapist never caught. Can Ellery bring this animal to justice and give Wendy her life back?

Myra is confined to a wheelchair, covered in severe burns. She still mourns the loss of her dear, young son who died in the fire. The arsonist just came up for parole. Can she find enough reasons to keep him behind bars? But is that really where he belongs?

Ellery calls on her long-time confidant, close friend and FBI agent Reed Markham to return to Boston to help re-examine both these cases. Of course, Reed cannot say no. He can never say no to Ellery!
But is that purely for professional reasons? Hmmmm…🤔

Joanna Schaffhausen writes a powerful, suspenseful read that I quickly devoured in just a couple sittings.

Fasten your seat-belts…Oh my gosh, the ending!!
WOW! I cannot wait for book 3!!

A buddy read with Susanne!☃️

Thank you to Danielle Prielipp at St. Martin’s Press- Minotaur Books via NetGalley and Joanna Schaffhausen for an ARC to read and review.

Second book in the Ellery Hathaway series and it's a very good follow up. A complex and developed plot from this author and one I will certainly follow. I loved that ending and look forward to the follow up. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC. Reviews on Goodreads and Facebook.

No Mercy is the second book in Ellery Hathaway series and is best enjoyed after reading the first book, The Vanishing Season. In No Mercy Ellery is on involuntary leave and is forced to attend group therapy sessions in order to keep her police job. At the group therapy she meets other victims of violent crimes. With the help of an FBI agent and her only friend, Reed Markham, she starts to investigate two different crimes, an unsolved brutal rape of a young woman and 26 years-old deadly arson for which possibly a wrong man was convicted.

I enjoyed the first book immensely and No Mercy was just as good as the fist book. I liked both mysteries in this book, but for me the best part of the series is Ellery and Reed's relationship. It’s so dynamic and so complex and at the same time so confusing both for Ellery and Reed, and for the reader too. After the horrendous trauma Ellery endured at the hands of a serial killer when she was a teenager, she is unable to let go of the past, unable to form new relationships and her life in general is just a mess. Reed is one of very few people who can understand what she went through because he was the agent who rescued her. And sixteen years later he is still there when she needs him. As a reader it was painful to watch Ellery struggle with her past, unable to open up to anyone, even Reed. I just wanted Ellery to break the prison walls she built around herself. I am looking forward forward to the next installment to see how their relationship progresses and what other investigations they will undertake together.

3.85 Stars.

Ellery Hathaway has a tendency to run towards trouble instead of running from it. When she was young, she was the 17th victim of Serial Killer Francis Coben. She was the only survivor, thanks to FBI Agent Reed Markham. After that, she became a Cop - though she is currently on suspension - due to killing a serial killer (sounds crazy right?). Now she’s in mandated therapy hoping to get her job back. In group, she meets likeminded people who’ve also survived violent crimes. Hearing their stories she’s sure can assist some of them in finding justice, if only she can convince Reed Markham to help.

“No Mercy” is an interesting, fast-paced, suspenseful read. The characters of Ellery and Reed are tormented in their own ways. Both however are extremely likable and immediately draw you in. This is book two in the Ellery Hathaway series - though it was my first foray into her story. While some of the backstory was explained, some was not. Luckily for me, I read this with my trusted book buddy Kaceey who thankfully explained everything I needed to know. We both thoroughly enjoyed this and at one point, both of our eyes just about popped! Based on that alone, we will definitely be tuning in for the next installment!

This was another fabulous buddy read with Kaceey!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Joanna Schaffhausen for an arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Published on Goodreads and NetGalley on 12.13.18.

A good solid DI book. Like a story with a follow on and a before? This is for you. If you like a detective story ask for this for Christmas!

Thank you to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ellery Hathaway has moved to a new city after the events that took place in "The Vanishing Season". Ellery is attending mandatory counselling before she can be reinstated to her job on the police force. Her therapist invites her to join a support group for people that have been involved in violent crimes. Her investigative nature comes into play after meeting some of the other attending victims, she can't help but to look into their tragic pasts. Since her policing abilities are put on hold, she enlists the help of FBI profiler Reed Markham.
While looking into these past crimes the attraction between Reed and Ellery continues to brew.

I'm going to start with stating that I much preferred "The Vanishing Season" to this latest installment to the series. There just felt like there were too many splits in the storyline between Ellery's sleuthing of different crimes. In saying that it gave her lots of opportunity to find more trouble than she needed and gave Reed the reason to stick around to watch over her. Ellery still comes off as the strong independent woman battling her inner demons.

Fast paced book with lots of angles to keep your mind busy. Definite read for anyone who likes to try and get to the conclusion before the big reveal

What a great follow up to The Vanishing Season. Schaffhausen does an excellent job of writing the broken character in a realistic manner. The unlikely pairing of Ellery and Reed adds so much to the story and, once again, I’m looking forward to seeing where their relationship leads in future books in the series.

I read the first in this series, The Vanishing Season, and said I would like to read more about Ellery and/or Reed, so I was excited to see that they are both back in this book. Ellery is attending a victim support group and meets two women whose pasts she starts to look into. Wendy, a victim of a violent sexual assault, asks for Ellery's help in finding her attacker; and Myra, an older woman who was injured in a fire years earlier, is worried about the arsonist getting parole...but Ellery discovers that he may be innocent after all. I should feel like Ellery should stop meddling, but I can't dislike her the way I have disliked other characters in other books for similar reasons (*ahem, Tempe Brennan*). I like her and Reed working together as an unconventional team. I really liked this a lot, especially the cliffhanger-y ending that implies a third book in which Reed digs into his past. Four stars.

Had to go back and read the first book in this series before I could give this one a proper read and review. I loved both of them! The characters are great, the plot was just right and I loved it. Simple as that. Thanks NetGalley!

Ellery Hathaway is on forced leave from the police force after shooting a murderer. She is also being forced to take psychological counselling. At a group session for victims of violent crimes she encounters a number of people but there’s one in particular that her doctor believes she has something in common with. This person turns out to be Myra who lost her toddler son and was very badly burned herself in a deliberately set fire at their business. Twenty-odd years later and she’s still going to therapy. Ellery decides she has nothing in common with Myra. The arsonist may make bail this year, she tells Ellery, but she’ll just have to deal with it. As she’s leaving she’s approached by one of the other members who recognized Ellery as a police officer. She pleads with Ellery to help her. She tells her story of being brutally raped and left for dead. Ellery tells her there’s little she can do as she’s on leave. But of course she gets her old pal FBI Agent Reed involved and off they go. There are lots of twists and turns here which involve old cases. I was fully invested in the plot. I hadn’t read the first book but I don’t think it mattered at all - it was a good stand alone. I found this a tense and exciting read.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

Thank you NetGalley, Joanna Schaffhausen and St. Martin’s Press for the free e-book in exchange for a honest review.

Ellery is on suspension from the police force after shooting a murderer in cold blood and being unapologetic about it. To get her job back, she must go to group therapy for victims of violent crime, but there she finds something more important than identifying her feelings. She suspects one member of the group may have convicted the wrong man of an arson incident over twenty years ago and another was a victim of a violent rape and asks Ellery to help her find the man responsible. She calls her friend from the FBI Reed who was the one to find her in the closet of a serial killer when she was a kid. Reed is repeatedly drawn to this unpredictable woman who he can’t quite save from herself.

I really enjoyed the first book of this series and was so excite to receive this book from NetGalley! I was excited to get back into the life of Ellery and her need to hunt down those who are guilty of heinous crimes. I found the chapters in this novel a bit longer than I would have liked because it made it hard to read on the go when there wasn’t really a good place to put it down, but I also didn’t want to have to put it down because I was addicted to the fast paced nature of this novel. I also enjoy Ellery’s knack for getting into trouble and getting involved in things that don’t at all involve her. I adore Ellery’s character and I really enjoyed Reed’s as well and I loved their interactions with one another and how they find it hard to be together and also apart. I really enjoyed the ending of this novel and I loved how you have no idea who the villain is and where they will find him. I can’t wait for the next novel in this series and see what happens with Ellery and Reed!

Pick it up January 15th!

I did not read the first book in this series, but the author mentioned enough about what had happened in the past so I felt very comfortable not having read it. Ellery is on leave from her police department in Boston and Reed Markham is with the FBI in another state. Reed comes to Boston and together they try to solve a string of rapes and an old arson case. There was a lot of action in this book along with some twists and I really enjoyed it. It definitely is a page turner. I am looking forward to going back and reading the first book and I can't wait until the next book in this series comes out. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this really good book in exchange for an honest review.

Police officer Ellery Hathaway and FBI profiler Reed Markham take on two difficult new cases in this stunning follow-up to The Vanishing Season. Ellery seeks advice from her friend, FBI profiler Reed Markham, who liberated her from a killer’s closet when she was a child. Reed remains drawn to this unpredictable woman, the one he rescued but couldn’t quite save.

The trouble is, Reed is up for a potential big promotion, and his boss has just one condition for the new job—stay away from Ellery. Ellery ignores all the warnings. Instead, she starts digging around in everyone’s past but her own—a move that, at best, could put her out of work permanently, and at worst, could put her in the city morgue.

At first I didn't realize this was the second book in a series, so I read the first one then this one. I think my favorite character is Ellery's dog, Speed Bump. I also liked the flow between the two main characters, it didn't feel forced or unrealistic, so I enjoyed their little back and forth. This is a great series and with a cliffhanger like the one in No Mercy, I can't wait for the next book!

Thanks to #NetGalley and especially St Martin's Press for granting my wish and giving me an ARC of #NoMercy
Pub Date: 15 Jan 2019

The second book in the Police Officer Ellery Hathaway series. While this is a series, this book is well written enough to be a stand alone novel. Readers will love the two cases and Ellery's interaction with FBI profiler Reed Markham.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading No Mercy by Joanna Schaffhausen. In fact I tried to find more books by her centering around Ellery and her FBI friend, partner, support and potential lover Reed Markham . Ellery has had an extremely frightening past and Reed Markham was a support for her. In his book she turns to him for help and he leaves his FBI job and comes immediately to her side.. SHe doesn't trust many people but she needs his help. They work together to learn who solved a big fire that took place a while ago. The also work together to find the man who raped a woman Ellery met in her support group. I would like to see if Ellery and Reed can ever get together and form a strong satisfying relationship. Please write another book!