The Unraveling of Mercy Louis by Keija Parssinen

The Unraveling of Mercy Louis by Keija Parssinen
Published by HarperCollins on March 10th 2015
Genres: Coming of Age, Fiction, Literary
Pages: 336
Format: eARC
Source: Edelweiss
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In this intricate novel of psychological suspense, a chilling discovery near the high school ignites a witch hunt in a southeast Texas refinery town, unearthing communal and family secrets that threaten the lives of the town's girls.

In Port Sabine, the air is thick with oil, superstition reigns, and dreams hang on making a winning play. All eyes are on Mercy Louis, the star of the championship girls' basketball team. Mercy seems destined for greatness, but the road out of town is riddled with obstacles. There is her grandmother Evelia, a strict evangelical who has visions of an imminent Rapture and sees herself as the keeper of Mercy's virtue. And then there are the cryptic letters from Charmaine, the mother who abandoned Mercy at birth.

At the periphery of Mercy's world floats team manager Illa Stark, a lonely wallflower. Like the rest of the town, Illa is spellbound by Mercy's beauty and talent, but a note discovered in a gym locker reveals that Mercy's life may not be as perfect as it appears.

The last day of school brings the disturbing find, and as summer unfolds and the police investigate, every girl becomes a suspect. At the opening game of the season, Mercy collapses--and Evelia prophesies that she is only the first to fall. Soon other girls are afflicted by the same mysterious condition, sending the town into a tailspin and bringing Illa and Mercy together in an unexpected way.

Evocative and unsettling, The Unraveling of Mercy Louis charts the downfall of one town's golden girl while exploring the brutality and anxieties of girlhood in America.

Reading an entire book in just two sittings (or on the rare occasion, a single sitting) is always a huge sign of a great story-telling ability. Keija Parssinen’s The Unraveling of Mercy Louis is only the second book this year that has had me wishing I could read at a much faster speed. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough, with only the need to sleep prohibiting me from finishing the book in one day.

Taking place in a small deeply religious Texas town, The Unraveling of Mercy Louis delves in to the lives of the high school girls basketball team. In particular that of Mercy Louis, whose Grandmother Evelia, a strict evangelical who fears the end of the World on December 31, 1999, seeks to protect her from all evil.

After a horrifying discovery on the last day of the school year, the towns girls are labeled suspects and one of them must be guilty. The ensuing witch hunt leads the young female population along different paths, some rebelling and others reclaiming their innocence with Purity ball’s. By the time school is back in session the girls, one by one, quickly come down with a mysterious illness (think Megan Abbott’s The Fever).

There was a lot happening in The Unraveling of Mercy Louis, and although the ending left me a little puzzled (I felt as though some loose ends were left), it left me with a lot of thoughts and a desire to learn more about these small towns steeped in religious traditions.

For a much more put together review of The Unraveling of Mercy Louis check out the following blogs:

Books Speak Volumes
Sarah’s Book Shelves
The Book Wheel