When Cam comes home early from work one afternoon and finds Mia snooping in his bedroom, he cannot help the feelings that overwhelm him. The more time Cam spends with Mia, the stronger this feeling becomes. Mia is new to town, but when Cam looks at her, he feels as though he has known her his entire life. Allie goes to visit Jamie and insinuates herself in his life.Īllie has hired Mia Townsend to work in her flower shop. Allie, Cam's wife, is fascinated with Jamie and Maggie's story and the idea that Jamie could do such a powerful thing in the name of love. Cam charges Jamie with murder, but then hires a local attorney anonymously to defend Jamie. Jamie's wife, Maggie, was suffering from an incurable cancer and was in a great deal of pain.Ĭam does not want to charge Jamie, but because Jamie has scratches on his face and hands, he cannot be completely convinced that Maggie was a willing participant in her own death. Jamie says he did this, because his wife asked him to. Jamie freely gives a confession, telling Cam how he held a pillow over his wife's face until she stopped breathing. Cam sends Jamie's wife to the funeral home where the local coroner works while he interviews Jamie. Cam finds Jamie McDonald, a cousin of his, waiting at the police station in his pickup truck. It seems a man wants to confess to murder and will only do it with the police chief, Cam. Before Cam can even ask her name, he is called back to the police station. Mercy is a story of the tests that challenge people everyday and the mistakes that define a life.Ĭameron McDonald goes to have lunch with his wife in her flower shop and finds himself face to face with a woman who makes his heart jump into his throat. It is not until his wife learns of this affair that Cam finally realizes that he never really intended to leave his wife or the life they have built together. In rebellion against this weight, Cam breaks his loyalty to his wife and explores a relationship with a woman who has the freedom he craves. Cam is a man to whom responsibility is a suffocating burden he must bare. However, this man's story is second to that of the police chief, Cameron McDonald, who finds the love of his life five years after marrying the woman in his life. The novel begins with a man confessing to the mercy killing of his wife who was suffering a painful and slow death to cancer.

Mercy is a novel that explores the meaning of not only the word mercy, but love and loyalty, as well.

Mercy by Jodi Picoult