Review: Mercury Striking by Rebecca Zanetti

With nothing but rumors to lead her, Lynn Harmony has trekked across a nightmare landscape to find one man—a mysterious, damaged legend who protects the weak and leads the strong. He’s more than muscle and firepower—and in post-plague L.A., he’s her only hope. As the one woman who could cure the disease, Lynn is the single most volatile—and vulnerable—creature in this new and ruthless world. But face to face with Jax Mercury…
Danger has never looked quite so delicious…

Ninety-nine percent of US citizens have been killed by Scorpius, a bacteria. If a person survives the contagion, they became a carrier and could infect other people who have not yet been infected. Rippers are survivors of Scorpius bacterium, that is known to change brain chemistry. Some became sociopaths, some became serial killers, while other people have not changed in to bad of a way. Vitamin B seems to help keep the body protected from itself and the worst of the brain damage. Lynne Harmony, otherwise known as Blue Heart (because of her glowing blue heart) is the head of CDC and is blamed for being responsible with not only creating the virus but also releasing it.

Jax Mercury is the organizer of a group called Vanguard. An ex gangbanger who had joined a military after given a choice between that or prison.

When Lynne Harmony shows up on his doorsteps asking Jax to kill someone for him, he didn’t expect the woman to also peel away his carefully constructed layers and get under his skin. In the new world, Jax does not feel like he could afford that distraction - especially if he knows that Lynne is hiding something from him, something important.

Woah, this was a ride. I absolutely adored every minute of this book. This wasn’t easy to read at times and a warning in advance, do not get attached to too many secondary characters in this book. Zanetti knows how to craft an interesting, eerily real world of what could happen if some type of infection did spread across the US. Think The Walking Dead, without zombies, where the scariest thing left behind is the mind of an organized serial killer - the most dangerous of the kind.

There was just so much going on in this book. We get the sense that Lynne is hiding something big, and it takes a while to reveal what it is. Meanwhile, there is a whole other bunch of issues going on, mainly the fact that a lot of people in the Vanguard territory believe that Lynne and hers Blue Heart are a carrier of a stronger strain of the bacterium, thanks to the rumors that have been spread. Also, there is a huge price tag on her head and a rival gang member called the Twenty keep attacking their compound. It’s just a world wind of awesome.

I liked Jax. I liked his let’s kick ass and take names later persona, it’s very realistic with the situation he is dealing with. He is in charge of about 500 people and the supplies are very limited. You can tell that he is afraid to open up to the people in fear that he would grow to care for them, even people in his own territory. It seems much easier for Jax if he doesn’t have to get close and then watch the people die, because people do die in this world, sooner than others.

I really liked Lynne also because she stayed true to her character most of the time. She isn’t let’s kick butt type of woman, she needs help most of the time, which is okay with me because it kept her real.

This was so good, the writing was amazing and it brought out so many emotions. Anger, frustration, fear, interest, excitement. It seemed so very realistic and Zanetti was not afraid to hold back punches. I was so shocked and upset by some of the secondary character deaths, some took me by complete shock and surprise and even left me angry. I wasn’t expecting it, but isn’t that what makes it a good writer? It isn’t always easy to let go and some of the most shocking scenes can make or break the story.

Overall, I really liked the world that is being built and I cannot wait to see what happens next. The only thing I had an issue with was with what happened to Wyatt and Lynne’s sudden clumsiness at the end of the book. The next book is Raze’s story and I am for one excited about that one. Raze is this man with very few words who showed up on Jax’s turf out of the blue and is highly skilled at what he does.

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