SJ2B House Of Books: TLC BLOG TOUR (REVIEW & GIVEAWAY) MERCY HOUSE by Adam Cesare

Welcome to Mercy House, a state-of-the-art retirement home that appears perfectly crisp, clean, and orderly . . . but nothing could be farther from the truth. In Adam Cesare’s thrilling novel, the residents will find little mercy—only a shocking eruption of unfathomable horror.

Harriet Laurel notices the odor at Mercy House as soon as she sets foot inside, brought there against her will by her son, Don, and his wife, Nikki. In the early stages of dementia, Harriet has grown resentful of Nikki, blaming her daughter-in-law for failing to supply grandchildren. Yet even Harriet must admit that her mind becomes clearer as soon as she crosses the threshold. If it wasn’t for that annoying smell.

Arnold Piper is an eighty-five-year-old ex-Marine, a proud man who has cared for himself his whole life. But no longer. Betrayed by his aging body, Arnold is learning that the trials he survived long ago in war-torn Korea pale beside the daily indignities of growing old. Little does he know that his greatest nightmares are still ahead of him.

Sarah Campbell is an idealistic nurse whose compassion has been stretched to the breaking point at the chronically understaffed facility that is Mercy House. But now Sarah’s list of unpleasant duties is about to take a terrifying turn. For something wicked is brewing in Mercy House. Something dark and rotten . . . and deadly.

Advance praise for Mercy House
“Adam Cesare’s Mercy House is a rowdy, gory, blood-soaked horror tale guaranteed to keep you up at night. And if that was all it was, I’d have been a happy reader. But Cesare has a maturity far and away beyond his years. His characters are treated with a surprising capacity for understanding and empathy, giving them an unexpected depth rarely seen among the nightmare crowd. Mercy House is the kind of novel you sprint through, eating up the pages as fast as you can turn them, and yet it lingers in the mind like a haunting memory, or the ghost of a smell. Cesare is poised to take the reins of the new generation. Looking for the new face of horror? This is it right here.”—Joe McKinney, Bram Stoker Award–winning author of The Dead Won’t Die and Dead City

“Mercy House is 100% distilled nightmare juice. Adam Cesare notches up the horror to nigh-unbearable levels. Even my skin was screaming by the end of this book.”—Nick Cutter, author of The Troop

“Adam Cesare makes his presence felt with Mercy House. A no-holds-barred combo of survival horror and the occult.”—Laird Barron, author of The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All

Praise for Adam Cesare
“Of all the new writers busting out on the scene—and there are some great ones, without a doubt—Cesare’s the young guy with the greatest encyclopedic gorehound know-how, blistering cinematic pace, unquenchable love of both fiction and film, and hell-bent will to entertain. . . . [He] does just about everything right.”—John Skipp, Fangoria

My Thoughts:

If you're a fan of the awesome, Jack Ketchum, Wrath James White, Joe McKinney or Brian Keen, you may like this one, but only if you're not bothered about plot or getting answers.

The opening chapter of Mercy House by Adam Cesare introduces the main characters and is written stylishly well and gives enough character development to care and want to know what happens to them. Nikki and her husband Don are taking her mother-law, Harriet to reside at Mercy House an old people's residential home. Mercy House is a creepy gothic building from the outside but that's nothing compared to what's to come from the inside. Things go according to plan, albeit with some antagonism from Harriet towards Nikki as their relationship has a few snags so to speak but then all hell breaks loose when the crazy 'old folk' start causing mayhem.

Chaos enshrues as things take a downward spiral as the rejuvenated, extremely virile and now much stronger 'oldies' take over the home and conduct their rampage with a huge amount of overaged sex, elderly orgies, extreme sadistic violence, culminating in death for everyone else not in their older years.

The OAP's have an insatiable appetite for violence, sex, violent sex, rape, torture, killing in the most gory manner and displaying the corpses in the most grotesque scenarios, and cannibalism...that's pretty much it !

Over the years I've read a fair amount of this style of horror from the likes of Joe McKinney, Jack Ketchum, Wrath James White, and Brian Keen all of whom I enjoyed very much. They're certainly different from the mainstream. I hoped I would feel the same about Adam Cesare, but I didn't, not with Mercy House anyway. Maybe I've overdosed, maybe I've just moved on, but there is very little plot to speak of, and no explanation is even hinted at as to what may have caused the complete rejuvenation and the psychotic behaviour of the 'old fogeys' so I think that may have contributed to my complacency towards Mercy House. It was just 'gore' for 'gore's sake' and I quickly became bored and wanted it to end.

Don't just take my word for it though. See what others have to say about Adam Cesare's Mercy House on Amazon and GoodReads and in the TLC Book Tour.

Enter the GIVEAWAY below for a chance to win $25 e-gift card and a copy of Mercy House and judge for yourself.

Disclaimer: A complimentary digital copy of Mercy House was provided by Hydra via NetGalley in exchange for an honest unbiased review.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Adam Cesare is a New Yorker who lives in Philadelphia. He studied English and Film at Boston University.

His stories have been featured in numerous publications, including Splatterpunk and the upcoming Giallo Fantastique edited by Ross E. Lockhart, while his nonfiction has appeared in Paracinema, Fangoria, The LA Review of Books and other venues.

He's released three novels with Samhain Publishing and a handful of novellas and collaborative works through other publishers (Deadite Press, Broken River Books, Sinister Grin Press).

Source: Adam Cesare's website http://www.brain-tremors.com