MERCY

Mercy

David Kessler

UK & Commonwealth rights: HarperCollins (Avon)

German rights: Goldmann

Hebrew rights: Matar

All other rights available

- Poster advertising campaign at major London railway statioins on publication

"A cracking thriller" - James O'Brien, LBC Radio

"This will keep you on the edge of your seat right until the end" - Closer Magazine

San Francisco lawyer Alex Sedaka is surprised when the state governor offers eleventh-hour clemency to his client on Death Row in return for the client revealing where he buried the body of the victim. But he is even more surprised when his client turns down the offer, insisting that he was framed by the missing girl herself. Until then, Sedaka – who only recently took over the case – believed his client to be guilty. But now he is not so sure.

Thus begins a race against time to unravel the mystery, with the unlikely cooperation of the mother of the missing girl, who persuaded the governor to make the clemency offer in the first place. Aided by his secretary, legal intern and computer expert son, Alex finds circumstantial evidence that the alleged victim went to London just after her disappearance and visited a private clinic where she had an abortion.

But why go all the way to England for an abortion? Could it have something to do with the death of her estranged father in suspicious circumstances shortly before her disappearance? As Alex digs deeper, he finds evidence of school bullying, marital infidelity and even child abuse.

But with the clock ticking down to his client’s execution, Alex is frustrated at every turn by elusive evidence that casts doubt on his client’s guilt, but not enough to satisfy the rigorous requirements of the courts at this late stage. And it is beginning to look as if some one close to him is working against his efforts. But why? And is he misreading the obvious?

As the execution looms ahead, the race turns frantic… and dangerous.  Combining elements of Harlan Coben and Jeff Abbot with a touch of John Grisham, 24 and Prison Break, MERCY, the first in a series featuring US lawyer Alex Sedaka.

David Kessler dropped out of school at the age of 15 and was self-educated from then on. After struggling for 25 years to become a published author, he courted controversy by co-writing Who Really Killed Rachel (about the Wimbledon Common murder) with Colin Stagg, the man who was falsely accused of the crime. The book is now out of print, but since then, the real murderer - who was named in the book - has been convicted of the crime.

www.davidkesslerauthor.com