Shades of Mercy - Bruce Borgos

 Shades of Mercy - Bruce Borgos

Pub. Date:  July 16, 2024

She read

This is the second in the Porter Beck series; I have read both of them although this would work as a standalone.

 After serving in Army intelligence, Beck has returned to his hometown in the high desert as sheriff, a position once held by his elderly father who is in beginning stages of dementia.  Porter has retinitis pigmentosa which makes him virtually blind at night.  Lincoln County, Nevada is usually a quiet place.  But  Porter no sooner returns from discovering a childhood friend dead by illegal fentanyl when another friend’s ranch is targeted by a hacked drone and his prize bull is blown up.  The hacker is a teenager residing in a detention center who happens to be friends with the rancher’s daughter and it turns out she is not just any hacker, she has a nefarious background.  And just what might the attack have to do with the rash of illegal drugs flooding the area?

Porter is joined by a cast of characters including his adopted sister, a munitions expert, members of his small department, a failed police dog named Columbo serving as his sidekick, and some help from outside the department including a character the author named after his golden retriever! There is a cast of villains here…a Mexican cartel, shady government “men in black”, Chinese operatives.  

Overall the plot is very good although there are many coincidences and some questionable plausibility.  Still, it is a thrilling read with lots of action, violence and (trigger warning) animal mutiliation. Personally, I liked the main character a lot better in this book than in the first installment. 

Thanks to #Netgalley and @stmartinspress #minotaurbooks for the DRC.

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