The Absence of Mercy

September 30, 2013
Early in Burley’s fine first novel, a psychological thriller, Dr. Ben Stevenson returns one afternoon to his house in Wintersville, Ohio, to find his wife, Susan, terribly upset. Susan has just learned that an unidentified high school boy has been found in the local woods, apparently fatally stabbed on his way home from school. Ben and Susan have two sons, one high school age. Ben, the medical examiner for Wintersville, conducts the autopsy on the victim, who was mutilated. This vicious attack proves to be only the first of a series of assaults and murders. Ben, who’s beset by nightmares involving his sons, finds himself drawn far more deeply into the case than he’s mentally and emotionally prepared for. Burley, an emergency room physician, peppers the taut, cohesive narrative with plenty of authentic forensic detail. Only an unexpectedly hasty wrap-up that leaps forward in time rings false. Agent: Paul Lucas, Janklow & Nesbit Associates.

October 1, 2013
Abandoned in the woods, the first victim is a local high school student, a 15-year-old boy. The brutality of his death contrasts with the precision of the blows, head wounds accurately driven into the weak points of the human skull. It appears this is not the murderer's first execution. This serial killer lurks in the idyllic town of Wintersville, just miles from the Ohio River. He savages his victims with not only a long, tapered, mysterious instrument, but also his teeth, ripping flesh, shredding blood vessels, amputating fingers. Medical examiner Ben Stevenson methodically catalogs the wounds, recording each laceration and avulsion with clinical objectivity. Simultaneously, Stevenson wants to protect his family and his young assistant, Nat, from the horror, but no one is safe from a murderer who strikes in broad daylight. The case weighs upon Ben, straining his relationship with his wife, Susan, a family practitioner, and their two sons, 16-year-old Thomas and 8-year-old Joel. His fears prompt nightmares of close calls with his own sons--a clown that menaced Thomas, an accidental fall that left Joel comatose. Hopes rise when a victim is found alive, barely clinging to life. Although Monica Dressler replays much of her ordeal in her dreams, she unfortunately recalls little of her assailant. As Thomas helps Monica recover and Susan becomes increasingly anxious, Ben works with law enforcement to piece together the evidence. Using his experience as an emergency room physician, Burley skillfully uses the step-by-step discovery of evidence to ratchet up the tension in his debut novel. Tool markings on the victims' bones, DNA evidence collected from their skin and even unusual dental impressions lifted from their wounds add up. Soon, Ben can no longer deny that the evidence points much too close to home. A smart, disturbing and heartbreaking thriller.

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November 1, 2013
Parents' fears for their children are at the heart of this chilling debut. Small-town Wintersville, Ohio, is shaken when violence strikes its youth, first in the mutilation and murder of a 15-year-old boy, then in an attack obviously by the same perpetrator on 16-year-old Monica Dressler, who somehow survives being brutally stabbed, bitten, and maimed. Having autopsied the first victim and seen the damage done, Coroner Ben Stevenson fears for the safety of his sons Thomas, 16, and Joel, 8. As police reach a standstill, with their only suspect ruled out, Ben's physician wife, Susan, withdraws from discussing the case and discourages Thomas' increasingly close relationship with the still fragile and traumatized Monica. Then a perceptive young detective puts some pieces together, further tearing the town apart. Physician Burley sensitively portrays parents dealing with damage and loss in a well-constructed plot with increasing tension. An occasional passage of too-florid prose is easily forgiven in this relentlessly readable thriller that will leave readers of suspense waiting for more.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)