A Merciful Death (Mercy Kilpatrick #1) by Kendra Elliot

FBI special agent Mercy Kilpatrick has been waiting her whole life for disaster to strike. A prepper since childhood, Mercy grew up living off the land—and off the grid—in rural Eagle’s Nest, Oregon. Until a shocking tragedy tore her family apart and forced her to leave home. Now a predator known as the cave man is targeting the survivalists in her hometown, murdering them in their homes, stealing huge numbers of weapons, and creating federal suspicion of a possible domestic terrorism event. But the crime scene details are eerily familiar to an unsolved mystery from Mercy’s past.
Sent by the FBI to assist local law enforcement, Mercy returns to Eagle’s Nest to face the family who shunned her while maintaining the facade of a law-abiding citizen. There, she meets police chief Truman Daly, whose uncle was the cave man’s latest victim. He sees the survivalist side of her that she desperately tries to hide, but if she lets him get close enough to learn her secret, she might not survive the fallout…

Review: Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of A Merciful Death by Kendra Elliot that I was able to read and review.
I really enjoyed this book that was the first book a new series by Kendra Elliot. Mercy Kilpatrick returns to hometown for the first time in fifteen years to investigate the deaths of a number of preppers in Eagle's Nest. Mercy grew up as a survivalists but was kicked out of her family at the age of eighteen and became an FBi agent and has not spoken to her family since. Now that she is back home to try to find out who is killing men who are living life that she knows so well and why this is her chance to try to fix things with her family and reconnect.
While looking into the deaths she notices something in the crimes that is linked to crimes that took place eighteen years ago and also played a role in Mercy's past. Are things not what they seem? Is there more to the crime then Mercy and the FBI are looking for?
With the help of the local Sheriff who Mercy is growing closer to everyday will she be able to catch a killer who is after these preppers and also after her or will he end getting away with murder again?
This was an excellent start to the series and I can't wait to see where it goes. I loved the how the chemistry between Mercy and Truman kept building up throughout the book and I can't wait to see where the two of them end up going in the series. I also liked how the story built and how you had no idea who the killer was until the end.
Mercy is such a complex character that you are not sure how to feel about her because you as a reader really can't get to know her except a little by little and that part of the book is also really cool. She has so many layers with her being a prepper it was almost like she was hiding it from the reader to so there is a wall there between her and the reader that is slowly coming down as the book moves on and I like that part of her as well. I can't wait for the next book!
I am giving A Merciful Death five out of five stars.