Salaset Reviews | Monster’s Mercy - William D Arand

Monster’s Mercy, by William D. Arand

One thing I’ve noticed about readers is that we all seem to have a collective fascination with true crime. I don’t know if it is a psychology thing, a creative thing, or the fact that it is real suspense. Unfortunately, that “true crime” aspect an also skew our perspective on the fact that these are real crimes, things done with real victims.

That being said, focusing on a fictional version of a psychopath can be more refreshing and less problematic. So reading a book that opens up with a psychotic hitman with a voice in his head telling him to kill people was a good hook.

Monster’s Mercy is another entry into the multiverse that William Arand has built. I’m not sure if he’s called it this, but I’m calling it the Otherlife Universe due to one of his other books which is on my reading list. The book follows Rene, a former assassin from our world that was killed and Isakied into another. Well, that’s not a fair term. He was given the chance to live another life, from birth, to do some good in the world. Who wouldn’t take that opportunity? Here is the synopsis of the book:

The cover of the book “Monster’s Mercy” by William D Arand

An existence spent being forced to kill others to satiate a Monster.

Where the only thing to look forward to was the blessed, if brief, period of time between paying that bribe.

Except that very same Monster is and isn’t Rene.

It just happened to live inside his own mind and force him to do what it wanted. Rather than being an actual Monster.

That was Rene’s entire life until a fateful day changed that.

A day that the career as a hitman for hire built on the Monster’s needs will end. Where Rene will be forced to atone for his actions. To be held accountable and judged.

Except the verdict is already long since passed and needs no deliberation.

His sentence was being sent hundreds of years into the past, into a different world even, where he must live a life for the betterment of others. Every action judged as it happens and weighed out against him.

But even this new idyllic life he’s been living in for eighteen years is about to go off the rails and Rene will be forced back into a life lived in the underworld.

Armed with a few gifts granted to him by the one who judged him, gifts better suited to a fantasy about living in a video game, Rene has to maneuver his way back to his new life while using all the things he’d learned in his old one.

Except using those skills is a double-edged sword. If he’s not careful, he’ll end up right back where he started.

Dead and on his way to hell.

My review of the book without spoilers is simple: 7/10. It is very fun, has Arand’s signature humor that appeases my lizard brain, and characters that are very memorable and believable. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its faults, however. There are some things that just don’t land no matter what.

Just to be clear, I am far from being a pearl clutcher in this situation, I am tactless in the best of times, but much of the adult scenes in this series felt… forced. I have no problem with adult scenes in this series, I fell in love with Super Sales on Super Heroes, but for some reason, they just didn’t land in this book. Well, I can tell you why they didn’t land, actually, at least for me.

In Super Sales on Super Heroes and Save State Hero (review pending), there was a great deal of sex, violence, and more, but all the characters felt like people more than props. Felix treated all the women that he ended up with as people, people he had sex with, but people nonetheless. Edmond was awkward and horny, but kept himself sane and human. Rene… Rene does neither of those.

Throughout the book, it is undoubtable that Rene loves the women that he meets and gets with throughout the series, but he his also rather aggressive toward them in a not-so-good way. Again, I’m not trying to pearl clutch, but there were a lot of scenes that just did not land right when it came to how they were written.

Spoilers ahead:

The book opens up with Rene getting killed in our world. It does a great job introducing us to him, who he is, and the “Monster” inside his head. He is working on an assassination of a target who is having an affair. He subdues the woman and works to kill the target. As he subdues the woman, the monster is screaming for Rene to kill her. He resists the urge and manages to knock her out so he kill his actual target. Shortly thereafter, he gets a hole blown in his chest.

Rene is then offered the chance at a new life with the one rule: Be good, do good. Desperate to get rid of his monster and atone for his sins, he does so.

Rene grows up in a well-to-do family and learns to care for his new family, the memories of his old life still present. Plot happens, and he ends up in a different city on his own after escaping kidnapers, finding refuge in a library and with their assistant Alana, help from a fellow kidnap victim Odilia, and from there, he works to continue doing his goal of doing good.

The kidnapping awoke some latent “powers” that he didn’t know that the God had given him when he was offered this opportunity, the powers of a video game character. What videogame? Pick one. He is able to sneak and level up in it to the point he can crouch and vanish. He is able to increase his “Safe Fall” and level up any skill that he practices. The levels increase his abilities substantially and make him one of the most overpowered humans there is.

Using his new powers, he decides that what he needs to do to cause the most overall good was to take over the underworld, to make crime less problematic and do overall less harm. Soon, he adopts several personas, the Mask Gang leader, the Black Hood bounty hunter, and Rene, the public facing kid.

To be honest, I could rant and rave about how much I like this book, even with the honest review of 7/10. There are so many hilarious moments and characters that I love, but I must be honest when I say that Rene has a habit of objectifying the average woman and viewing them like they are nothing more than product. It is unfortunate that this is the case, as it genuinely created an opportunity for growth in him to start not doing that, but as the book went on, it seems to be more of a character flaw that he couldn’t overcome.

I have no problem with him having said character flaw, my issue comes from the fact that the plot seemed to reward it rather than punish it. A good example would’ve been things such as when he is trying to use his magical influence on a lieutenant and having her nearly crumble, instead having it backfire harshly on him. Or when he is playing up the fake identity of the Mask being a lunatic, having him get kicked in the nuts by a person who was just not having it. Instead, the plot seemed to reward the behavior, which was a little disappointing.

That being said, I was very angry when I found out that I had already gone through all three books in a week. This series was very well written and is another fantastic entry into the Otherlife Universe. I’m working on another of Arand’s series now, and I’ll be back with an honest review of that as soon as I can.