Bone Crossed

Mercy Thompson, Book 4

By: Patricia Briggs

Narrated by: Lorelei King

Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's Summary

In a world where "witches, vampires, werewolves, and shape-shifters live beside ordinary people" ( Booklist), it takes a very unusual woman to call it home. By day, Mercy Thompson is a car mechanic in Eastern Washington. By night, she explores her preternatural side. As a shape-shifter with some unusual talents, Mercy's found herself maintaining a tenuous harmony between the human and the not-so- human on more than one occasion. This time she may get more than she bargained for.

Have Mercy: listen to another Mercy Thompson chiller.

©2009 Patricia Briggs (P)2009 Penguin

Critic Reviews

“The preternatural culture of vampire seethes and wolf pack politics is deeply intriguing. Briggs provides plenty of detail about Mercy's complex world.” (Publishers Weekly)

“Mercy is not just another cookie-cutter tough-chick urban fantasy heroine; she's got a lot of style and substance and an intriguing back-story. Series fans will appreciate the resolution of some ongoing plot lines, and the romantic tension is strong.” (Library Journal)

Too much misery for Mercy. This book was a miserable ride.

Sorry spoiler alert ......raped by a human, mind controlled by a human, mind controlled by a vampire, caged, shot, abducted, tazed, put under the bond of two different vampires, bothered by ghosts, betrayed by her friend, targeted by whole group of vampires, despised by some of the wolves in her pack, targeted by the Gray Lords, targeted by humans, targeted by vampires, targeted by ghosts.....stop just STOP I know that in sci-fi and fantasy I have to suspend some disbelief but it was too much! no ones life is that miserable!...it made me feel miserable reading it....nothing like reading for hours about a super stressful situation to stress you out! NOT Relaxing! I know that the author is trying to show how Mercy is strong because she's an overcomer but it was an unhappy miserable ride and I won't be reading any more Mercy books!

Fast forward to the last two hours!!!

BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front): If you were to skip this fourth book in the series and jump to the fifth book you wouldn't miss much.

Plot: This book starts off with some excitement with Stephen the vampire, but then quickly dies down when Mercy goes to investigate some ghosts. Unlike the first three books that grabbed the listener and wouldn't let you go, this one didn't. After the initial excitement there was about 6 hours of plot development before there was any more action. Ghosts are the topic of discussion in this book, however I didn't really find them interesting and they weren't very well explained.

Narrarator: No complaints, Lorelei King continues to impress! Good voice inflection and variety throughout.

My first disappointing Mercy Thompson book

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Overall, yes, it was time well spent. I enjoy the universe Patricia Briggs has created and I'm already invested in Mercy's story, so I'm glad I didn't bypass this one. I am REALLY hoping the next novel in the series is better, though, and the characters are more on track with what I've come to expect.My major complaint is the characterization of Adam, and the development of the relationship between Adam and Mercy. I do understand the author wanted to transition from the unresolved sexual tension between Adam and Mercy to having them in a "mated" relationship; however, that transition seemed almost as forced as the annoying "is-it-Adam-or-Samuel-or-Stefan" dynamic that had been playing out for the first three books. I was able to get past that for the sake of the story, but I had a much more challenging time with the way all of the starch seemed to be wrung out of Adam's character. Having a strong female protagonist is awesome, but a major part of the appeal of these novels has also been the equally-or-even-more strong male protagonist. For an Alpha wolf with "territorial" and "authority" issues, in this 4th novel, Adam played out more like Mercy's b*tch than anything else. Mercy makes a major decision - granted, under duress - that involves giving another male character a significant claim over her, and Adam is as understanding as Dr. Ruth. Mercy makes another major decision, putting her own life at risk and allowing herself to be caged and imprisoned in order to save the lives of characters new to this book, and Adam's reaction is barely registered. This is NOT the strong Alpha male character Patricia Briggs has been portraying in the past 3 novels. Since Adam is such a significant character, that really hurt the overall story.I'm still willing to give book 5 a shot, but if it continues to be the All-About-Mercy show, I doubt I'll finish the series.

Would you be willing to try another book from Patricia Briggs? Why or why not?

Yes, because I'm invested in the story and willing to give her another shot to see if the next book improves.

Was Bone Crossed worth the listening time?

50/50

Any additional comments?

As always, Lorelei King's performance was excellent, especially given what she had to work with this time around.

Great books

This is the 4th book in the Mercy Thompson series and it didn't disappoint. I love the narrator Lorelei King and unfolding story from book to book. This was as good as all the rest but there is more that happens with her relationship with Stephen the vampire. Her relationship with Adam grows too as Mercy finally learns to rely on someone else. We find out more about her walker abilities in this book. These books are non-stop action from beginning to end and I really enjoy them. But audible where is book #5??? Where is Silver Borne?

Stong, smart, amazing heroine

Mercy is, without a doubt, the strongest, smartest, most amazing heroine there is out there today. She went through hell in the last book, things no woman should ever have to go through. She is damaged, desperately. But, unlike other authors, she KNOWS it is not her fault, she stands up, brushes herself off, takes control, gives the blame for what happened to her to the person who did it to her, not accepting the blame for herself. She relies on her friends to help her make it through. She knows that it will take time for her to heal, but she is willing to do the work to help heal herself. She is strong, smart, and did I say, amazing???

If you love strong urban fantasy, a main character who doesn't whine, doesn't blame herself for the actions of others, and can kick fanny and take names, you are going to adore Mercy.

The story moves forward beautifully in this book, and doesn't fail to continue the story in a wonderful manner. You get much more insight into Mercy's family, her friends and the world building continues to amaze. Mercy and Joanne Walker are my absolute favorite characters in urban fantasy today, and Lorelei King IS Mercy. I own the printed copies, but Lorelei assures that I spend much more time listening than reading. I TOTALLY DISAGREE with those who say Lorelei isn't a wonderful narrator for Mercy - she has a beautiful voice, clear and beautiful.

It IS IMPORTANT to read the books in order, and I can guarantee you that the investment is worth it. If you love them as much as me, every time you want to go back and read wonderful books over again, these are definitely the ones to go back to.

Mercy is not your typical female heroine. First off, she never intended to be a heroine. She is more interested in keeping her Volkswagen repair shop running, paying her bills, and living a quiet life in her 70's model trailer with her Manx cat. Oh, yea, and tormenting the werewolf in her back yard. The Alpha werewolf. Uh huh. Well, she WAS raised by werewolves herself, by the Maraq, in fact, the leader of all the werewolves in the US. A pretty good feat for a woman who shifts into a coyote. This books starts working out the whole Alpha thing, and it is fun, funny and keeps Mercy strong rather than making her weak, as some UF authors do to their heroines.

What develops is one of the more well developed series in UF. When Mercedes, or Mercy as she is called (yep. A Volkswagen mechanic named Mercedes) takes in a new, young, isolated werewolf, her life takes a new, and dangerous turn, leading her back into a life she thought she had left far behind.

Next to Kate Daniels (Ilona Andrews 'Kate Daniels' series) Mercy is one of the best realized female UF lead characters on the market today. She doesn't whine, cry, piss, moan, or otherwise turn into a whiny little boy-toy. As time goes along, you can see a romance coming on, but like Kate, Mercy's story is about the story, not about the smex. Thank goodness..... I like a good love scene as well as anyone else, but I am MUCH more interested in the story. There are none of the "seedy, ridiculous sexual encounters" (thanks to Leslie Sims of Denver for that little snippet) that are so common in other supposedly UF stories (read "the label says UF, and there are a few weird characters in there, but it is mostly about the sexual encounters).

I have read the whole series multiple times (there is nothing like reading a strong female character when you are feeling low!) and I am really looking forward to "Frost Burned" due out in 2013. I am rereading the series in order and have downloaded "Frost Burned" already - LOVE LOVE LOVE MERCY!!!!

Absolutely Loved It!

I'm finally getting around to reading this series and it just keeps getting better.

Mercy who is finally getting mated to the alpha just can't seem to stay out of trouble. She finds herself in another life or death situation where she takes the " I see dead people" to a whole new level.

This is a captiving and suspensful story and I look forward to listening to the others in the series.

The Trouble with old friends

This is a strange book. One one hand it references the events of the previous book, it doesn't really seem to matter. While Mercy does have repercussions from the last adventure, it didn't seem to have major implications on the plot like it should have. While that felt a bit weak, the plot of this book seemed more of a filler story that seemed to have little impact on the overall narrative. Mercy is contacted by a former college roommate to help with a ghost problem. Mercy goes to help to get out of the Tri-Cities and encounters some sinister dealings with a local denizen. Dangerous antics ensue and Mercy must make some deals that could put her future in jeopardy. She works through the issues and with the help of the Pack and some other friends she resolves the issue. There's some appearances by Uncle Mike which was a really fun part of the book. Bran visits and it's a heartfelt visit, the same with Mercy's mom, even though there's some tension between all involved. This book is fine, but it's not my favorite in the series.

Lorelei King does a solid job, even with the new characters, they're performed different and it works out well. I would like to see a more stripped down Mercy novel next time, with less new throw-away random characters.

can't listen to this more than once

normally I absolutely adore Patricia Briggs and Lorelei King, but this is the only book in The Mercy Thompson Series I can't listen to again. it deals with a sensitive topic and rather will all things considered, but it's not something that I can enjoy.

Super Creepy and Fabulous!

The Mercy Thompson books are good and only get better. The narrator is strong and makes the story come alive. If you haven't entered this world you're in for a treat. !My only regret is I'll have to wait for the next installment!

Not an easy book to put down

First, it IS important to read this series in order. Second, I am really enjoying Mercy's stories. My only problem is that these stories don't have any slow spots, so it's very difficult to find a place in the books where I can stand to put it down and get some sleep! The characters have a lot of depth and are well described. The narrator has done very well, being consistent with voices and reasonable with accents. Stephan's accent could be less "bad vampire movie" -ish and more Italian, and I imagined Adam with a deeper voice when I read the first book in paper format, but a human voice can only be so flexible. She gets the humor in the right places with different touches for each character in such a way that I've laughed out loud several times. A few times I heard laughter in her voice when she was describing a scene, but it added to the experience of listening to the book - it didn't detract. I'm not sure why anyone would give any book in this series a low score just because they didn't like the narrator, unless they had already decided in their heads what each character should sound like and simply disagree with how Lorelie King chose to portray the characters. To me, that still would not justify a low score - these stories are great! I'm looking forward to books 5 and 6, as well as Patricia Brigg's other books. As soon as I catch up on my sleep.