The Mystery of Mercy Close

The Mystery of Mercy Close
By: Marian Keyes

Outer back cover: Helen Walsh doesn't believe in fear - it's just a thing invented by men to get all the money and good jobs - and yet she is sinking. Her work as a private investigator has dried up, her flat has been repossessed and now some old demons have resurfaces.
Not least in the form of her charming but dodgy ex-boyfriend Jay Parker, who shows up with a missing-persons case. Money is tight - so tight, Helen's had to move back in with her elderly parents - and Jay is awash with cash. The missing person is Wayne Diffney, the "Wacky One" from boy band Laddz. He's vanished from his house in Mercy Close and it's vital that he's found - Laddz have a sell-out comeback gig in five days' time.
Things ended messily with Jay. And she's never going back there. Besides, she has a new boyfriend now, the very sexy detective Artie Devlin, and it's all going well, even though his ex-wife isn't quite "ex" enough and his teenage son hates her. But the reappearance of Jay is stirring up all kinds of stuff she thought she'd left behind.
Playing by her own rules, Helen is drawn into a dark and glamorous world, where her worst enemy is her own head and where increasingly the only person she feels connected to is Wayne, a man she's never even met.

You know when you read a book you kind of "become" the main character? Well, I was kind of depressed while I read this book because the main character was depressed. I guess that means it was well written though. But it was a bit too depressing for my tastes, but that's just because I don't like feeling like that. It was very realistic.

My favourite character was Bella, Artie's daughter, she was so funny and sweet.

I loved the ending. I didn't see it coming but when it did it was like "of course!", which is actually what Jay said in the start of the book.

I really like reading about the Welsh family, in case you don't know; most of Marian Keyes' books is about them, and reading this made me want to read the other book again as I can't remember much of the other book any more.

This book is part of the What's in a Name Challenge as the topographical feature (road).