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)

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.

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.

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.

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?

Too Short!

I like this series despite the overly aggressive & possessive male characters. I'm always interested in what Mercy will decide to do next.

not her best

I love her books however this one is not as good as most of the others

good enough

it was good and i listened to it through but it wasn't as intriguing as the previous ones and I'm finding myself zone out more. hopefully the next one catches my interest again

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.