Book Review: This Dark Road to Mercy

Wiley Cash has once again created a page burner in This Dark Road to Mercy.

With a similar structure to A Land More Kind Than Home, the reader is this time treated to another tale and battle between good and evil but now with two sisters, an ex-detective and an often absent father on paths that converge to battle one bad ass dude.

Easter and Ruby are left (somewhat) orphaned after their mother’s pervasive drug addiction takes her from them at a very early age. Their father, Wade, has been absent for most of their lives, and has indeed signed a court document relinquishing his parental rights to the girls. It is a document he is now sorely saddened to have signed and is desperate to have the girls returned to him now that their mother is gone.

Wade isn’t the greatest stand-up guy around and has done quite a few bad things in his past, and most recently has stolen a vast amount of cash and is desperate to get his girls back. He feels his only option is to steal them in the middle of the night and spend the rest of his days trying to turn his wrong by them into a right.

Brady Weller is an ex-detective turned home security salesman and also a volunteer guardian. He is also Easter and Ruby’s court appointed guardian. He is now on the chase to find and bring back Easter and Ruby. Mixed into all of this is the one big, huge and juiced up dude named Robert Pruitt. While Pruitt is essentially hired to recover the stolen cash from Wade, it’s only a quarter of the real reason he wants to get his hands on Wade.

While the bad guy in this story wasn’t anywhere near as evil, or gave me the creepy, scared feeling the way Pastor Chambliss did in A Land More Kind Than Home, Easter is a well-written, wizened old-soul and her story and her fight to keep her sister safe and loved is one that will tear at your heartstrings. This Dark Road to Mercy also has an ending with a few unexpected twists that will leave you with a few tears staining your face. Another great read and I’m once again looking forward to more from Mr. Cash! (and to discovering what intriguing title is given to it. I love his uniquely named novels.)