Mercy 6 Paperback – September 2, 2014

A smart, interesting, well-written thriller.I have no idea why David Bajo isn't more popular. Somehow, a while back, I stumbled across Panopticon. Then read his other books as I could find them. This - the last of his I have found - is probably his best. Like Panopticon, it's literary very-slightly-speculative fiction. But perhaps a little better paced and more focused.It's a great ride. One of those books where, near the end, I'm checking to see just how many chapters are left, wondering how much more can happen, what could change - go wrong? - before the end. Grinning from ear to ear as the heroine kicks serious ass.Reading the other comments here, I'm surprised by the confusion. This is "real" writing. It's not YA or a mass-market thriller. It expects a certain level of effort from the reader. You need to pay attention. Understand that different characters have different viewpoints and listen to what they say. But that's all. It's not rocket science.If anyone else loved this and is wondering what else to read, here's my potted summary of his other works: Panopticon is the most similar to this (internet / surveillance rather than medicine); Ensenada Public Library is slower paced, more reflective; 351 Books is more ambitious, more complex, open-ended.Incidentally, this book contains no sex (something you can't say about the earlier books).

It's very difficult to describe "Mercy 6" by David Bajo; is it speculative fiction, sci-fi, a medical thriller? All of these? Yes, I think all of these.ER doctor, Anna Mendenhall, is on duty when four people drop dead in her hospital. Her initial concern is a virus and the hospital is quarantined. But she soon surmises that what befell these patients, and soon two others, was not a virus but something microscopic and ballistic that struck them down.I can't claim to understand everything about Dr. Mendenhall's hypothesis, but it doesn't really matter. The novel swept me away. It's a suspenseful "escape thriller" (Anna must leave to get help) and a wonderful page-turner. I enjoyed it very much and I think it would make a great film, as well.

I could not finish this book. It was such a chore TO READ! Did not like the authors literary style AT ALL. His prose jumped all over in a very disjointed way. It suggested an abstract and other-worldly atmosphere. Some may like it, but I did not. If his goal was to create cold, isolated characters that were hard to relate to, he succeeded. I found it off-putting to say the least.

I have a medical background and I thought this book would be an interesting medical mystery. I have to say, however, this is by far the worst book I've ever read. I kept waiting for it to get better, but it never did. A total waste of time - it's difficult to follow, incredibly boring, sometimes makes no sense, and has a disappointing ending. Other than that…

Interesting story, unusual writing style, creative astrophysics.

this book was a disappointment. I wanted to like it but it was just so hard to understand. i am a masters degreed engineer but still felt i needed the author to explain to me what exactly was going on. I want to be kind with three stars - it was a page turner and an easy read in that regard. But i would not recommend this book top many people.

I hate to give a poor review to someone who has obviously worked so hard on something I have never tried. However, this is the worst book I have read in years, and I read a dozen a month. One of the only reasons I finished it was to see if it ever made sense, and also to see if the author ever demonstrated any understanding of how hospitals really function.The doctor had the worst possible attitude to nurses. As an ER nurse for 35 years, I found it incredibly offensive, Also no ER could possibly manage if the only doctor kept abandoning her patients.Was this science fiction, a character study or medical mystery? Who could tell? The dialogue is incoherent and the ending very sudden and unexplained. The protagonist had no humanity to identify with, other than owning a dog. Was it supposed to herald the end of civilization? I just didn't get it, and I am a fairly intelligent person.Sorry Mr. Bajo, this did nothing for me.

Mercy 6 is the story of Dr. Mendenhall, a seasoned ER physician who receives four bodies from four separate parts of her own hospital. Their cause of death is a mystery, and the building is immediately shut down to prevent the possible spread of contagion.But Dr. Mendenhall doesn’t believe it is a contagion. In order to uncover the truth, she must navigate hospital administration, government officials, a hotshot virologist, and the architect who designed the hospital to contain just this type of epidemic.Mercy 6 is as much a medical thriller as it is a literary novel of ideas. While Mendenhall struggles with the difference between viral and ballistic injuries, the author explores the very notions of exposure and containment, or knowledge and objectivity. It is a book not just about a medical mystery, but also about the mysterious natures of memory, of science, and of truth.