Mercury Striking by Rebecca Zanetti
Series: Scorpius Syndrome, #1
Published January 26th 2016 by Zebra
Genre: Romantic Suspense, Dystopia
384pages
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Find on Goodreads
Get it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3t65XgQ
With nothing but rumors to lead her, Lynn Harmony has trekked across a nightmare landscape to find one man—a mysterious, damaged legend who protects the weak and leads the strong. He’s more than muscle and firepower—and in post-plague L.A., he’s her only hope. As the one woman who could cure the disease, Lynn is the single most volatile—and vulnerable—creature in this new and ruthless world. But face to face with Jax Mercury…
Danger has never looked quite so delicious…
Review
I always wanted to read something from Rebecca Zanetti after reading a lot of positive reviews about her books. And then one time while I was window shopping at our local bookstore, I saw this book, Mercury Striking and it was on sale! I didn’t think twice, I bought it and my! I’m just glad that I did.
This story already got me intrigued as early as the first page and it made me ask so many questions. All I could remember is that this is going to be a post-apocalyptic romance story so the settings make sense. I’ve read apocalyptic stories before but only a few, and when I came across one, I always compared them with the hit TV series, The Walking Dead. But for this one, it’s somewhat the same with other post-apocalyptic stories I’ve read before, a virus accidentally released to the public and in return, billions of people died. Very common right? But that idea didn’t cross my mind while reading this story. I guess because as early as the first chapter, Jax Mercury is already messing my mind. When it comes to books I always have a thing for guys who are intimidating, dangerous and sexy at the same time. I think half the time I was reading this book, I kept on giggling and was looking at the cover almost every minute, haha. It’s kind of hilarious really and I look like a total perv haha.
To even up, Zanetti successfully incorporated suspense, action and mystery in this story which I am really digging. The idea about the virus killing billions of people may be ordinary but Zanetti worked her way out and made this story so exciting. I also find the Ripper thingy dangerous which makes this story more interesting than your normal virus-infected-person-turned-zombie stories. I actually love zombies and I wouldn’t mind reading some, but once in a while, it’s good to read something different.
For the characters, well, I guess it’s pretty obvious that I like Jax Mercury right? Haha. Aside from the suspense, I also like that little by little, we’ve got to really be acquainted with the characters especially Jax and Lynne. This book is taken from multiple POVs, although I like dual POV more, when it comes to stories like this, I wouldn’t really mind at all since it would also be interesting to see what the supporting characters were feeling and thinking too especially on some thrilling parts.
I’m not usually fond of series before because I hate cliffhangers, but for this story, there’s actually none. I’m glad that this book didn’t leave us hanging but still gets us thinking about what will happen next. The tension between the main characters were dealt early on the story so that was really good. But the two of them exchanging those three words that early? Wow, I wasn’t expecting that to be this fast. But I guess that’s for the best.
This is my first time from the author but I have to say that all those rave reviews about her were true. And I absolutely love her writing style. I guess I just met another addition to my favorite authors, *wink.
Mercury Striking is the first book in the Scorpius Syndrome series and it’s definitely a good start. For now, I am giving this story a 4.5 stars.
EDIT: I just found out that this series has a prequel and I haven’t read it yet since I obviously read book 1 first, haha. But as you can see, I was still able to understand the story without having to read the prequel first because all we’re properly explained.
Favorite Lines
- “Enough talking. Decide now. You want slow and building, or do you want fast and explosive? Want me to take you away?“
- “You’re smart and spirited, and I never thought I’d meet anybody like you. If there are bullets, I’m between you and them. If you get taken, I’m hunting you down till my last breath. And if you end up in hell, I’ll storm the fucking place until the fires go out.“
Challenges
- Goodreads Reading Challenge
- Mount TBR
- Alphabet Soup
- Review Writing
- You Read How Many Books?
- Strictly Print
- New Author
Book Preview
Check out my book shelf for book suggestions and recommendations!
I’ve heard a lot of great things about this author too. Hopefully I can get to her soon.
Karen @ For What It’s Worth
Yay! Glad you got the chance to start the series and read your first Zanetti book, Vanessa. The prequel is pretty good and talks about the beginning and how Lynn got her blue heart. I’m (impatiently) waiting for book five to come out this fall.