No Mercy (Ellery Hathaway#2) by Joanna Schaffhausen

From the book blurb:

Police officer Ellery Hathaway and FBI profiler Reed Markham take on two difficult new cases in this stunning follow-up to The Vanishing Season.
No Mercy is award-winning author Joanna Schaffhausen’s heart-pounding second novel.
Police officer Ellery Hathaway is on involuntary leave from her job because she shot a murderer in cold blood and refuses to apologize for it. Forced into group therapy for victims of violent crime, Ellery immediately finds higher priorities than “getting in touch with her feelings.”
For one, she suspects a fellow group member may have helped to convict the wrong man for a deadly arson incident years ago. For another, Ellery finds herself in the desperate clutches of a woman who survived a brutal rape. He is still out there, this man with the Spider-Man-like ability to climb through bedroom windows, and his victim beseeches Ellery for help in capturing her attacker.
Ellery seeks advice from her friend, FBI profiler Reed Markham, who liberated her from a killer’s closet when she was a child. Reed remains drawn to this unpredictable woman, the one he rescued but couldn’t quite save. The trouble is, Reed is up for a potential big promotion, and his boss has just one condition for the new job—stay away from Ellery. Ellery ignores all the warnings. Instead, she starts digging around in everyone’s past but her own—a move that, at best, could put her out of work permanently, and at worst, could put her in the city morgue.

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My thoughts:

Last month I read and reviewed The Vanishing Season by Joanna Schaffhausen. The bar was set very high, but Joanna Schaffhausen doesn't disappoint. Her characters are as strong and the plot is as good, if not better!
The novel starts with Ellery being on a forced leave due to her using lethal force and shooting a murderer. There is no doubt, her childhood trauma of being abducted and tortured by a serial killer is a factor in how she aproaches everything in her life and work. Ellery is sent to group therapy in order to help her come to terms with what happened all these years ago, but once she is there her police officer's training kicks in and she knows there is a case or two to solve. There is a victim of a brutal rape whose perpetrator is still at large and there is also a survivor of an arson that killed a young child and left her in the wheelchair. Ellery knows what it's like to feel nobody is going to care enough to help you, however brutal the violence against was.
FBI Behavioural profiler Reed Markham and Ellery will always have a special connection. He saved her from Francis Cobin, although not before a considerable psychological trauma had been incurred. He will always feel he needs to continue rescuing the scared half-alive teenager girl as long as he lives. Ellery knowing that many victims live on a borrowed time (perhaps she even includes herself in this category) means she takes many risks and Reed willingly or unwillingly has to share them. Their relationship becomes deeper in this book and it will be great to see how it develops in the next part of the series.
There are twists and shocking reveals that will keep you turning the pages, but above all, this is a character-driven procedural that leaves you craving the next book. Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the review copy provided in exchange for an honest opinion.