No Mercy

No Mercy
John Burley

No Mercy is a harrowing tale of suspense, brutal murder and the dark secrets that lie beneath the surface of a placid, tight-knit town.Perfect for fans of Harlan Coben and Linwood Barclay this is a page-turning thriller.The peaceful town of Wintersville is a place safe from the crime and congestion of city life, where neighbours feel like family. It’s the perfect place to live.But when a teenager is discovered brutally murdered in the woods, it becomes clear that a psychopath is roaming the streets. Dr Ben Stevenson, the town’s medical examiner, and father of two young boys, becomes entangled in the hunt for the murderer, determined to keep his family safe.But as Ben uncovers the dark secrets of his seemingly quiet community, he confronts a truth that will haunt him forever and puts those he loves in serious danger.

JOHN BURLEY

No Mercy

Copyright (#ulink_c6af5522-7c76-5f9c-86d2-2a11874a168f)

AVON

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First Published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2014

Copyright © John Burley 2014

John Burley asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780007559480

Ebook Edition © 2014 ISBN: 9780007559497

Version: 2015-06-23

Dedication (#ulink_0ef1cc08-918b-55ea-9e3b-5aee59d53f64)

For LGandMNGB

There is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there.

—Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho

What is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil.

—Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

Contents

Cover (#ub4cea08c-10e5-599f-b756-d921d1560364)

Title Page (#u856f0177-59de-51d3-9dd1-588200acd758)

Copyright (#u737e4b22-51e9-5d72-b618-fd710f9c74e4)

Dedication (#u32110830-0751-5eb3-a7d5-41d0fc231e7e)

Epigraph (#u2ac4b42c-010f-595b-ad02-c21591f1aa24)

Part one: The Young Man in the Black T-Shirt (#u15027224-78d3-53fc-b335-db324c2839a2)

Chapter 1 (#u92aea82f-9afe-5096-a6e5-77a063af868c)

Chapter 2 (#ueb9b3cce-8a47-5d5e-b4b4-f1e011068aac)

Chapter 3 (#u8aabed50-9c9d-509d-9479-86b9eddb104d)

Chapter 4 (#uaaa430f1-735e-56c9-872e-653e0cb7fca0)

Chapter 5 (#ucc8f9011-5837-5628-b648-ae474ffc3c48)

Chapter 6 (#u5f1682e8-1036-528b-bc73-c2ad881b19aa)

Chapter 7 (#ud9046f8c-c027-57dc-82e7-4606871a4d25)

Part two: To Witness the Dead (#uc61622b5-0b4d-5fd0-afb4-cf674975c11b)

Chapter 8 (#u7f4a2b38-acab-5f76-8c79-6ac25ca78d4e)

Chapter 9 (#u5dfaf713-c854-545a-811c-74b8104e1d0f)

Chapter 10 (#u5150c482-eb70-5b06-b33f-302f253fcd01)

Chapter 11 (#u34d8c15e-2380-53b2-b202-f65cd1371135)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Part three: The Girl (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)