Mercy Row

A Story of Progress, Crime, Love, Murder, and Revenge

Fiction - Action
182 Pages
Reviewed on 06/04/2013
Buy on Amazon

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Natasha Jackson for Readers' Favorite

In the opening pages of "Mercy Row" by Harry Hallman, you realize this is a serious story where some really serious stuff is about to go down. Rather than being a typical mob story replete with gunfights and explosions, "Mercy Row" is the story of beginnings on many levels. Jacob builds his dream of running North Philly while Franklin is quite literally building homes. It can be difficult to talk of gangs and mobs without focusing solely on the violence and ruthlessness but Hallman has been able to make the story about more than that. Set in the 1920’s and 1930’s, the story gets the dialogue spot on, or at least what I imagine is spot on for the time. I could hear the Philly accents mixed in with the accents of the individual homelands. Even though there are few neighborhood descriptions, I don’t think there need to be as these types of neighborhoods could be in any city around the country during this time period. This is a story about the people of Philly and how they labored to build better lives for themselves while unwittingly tearing apart the only thing that matters besides the gang and the money: family.

The characters are quite colorful with even more colorful language, but none of it is gratuitous. The language and the people and their way of life are just right for the times and the neighborhood. This isn’t a feel-good story even though family plays an important role to these men. This tale is gritty and brutal and captivating. Hallman does a great job of telling the story of Jacob Byrne and his big dreams of dominating North Philly.