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Max Greengrass is a stringer for the New York Herald. He is not on the staff per se, but gets paid when they choose to publish an article. As one can imagine, this makes his fortune and livelihood unstable. Greengrass stumbles upon the corpses of four cats laid out in front of a brothel. This could be the story that he is waiting for. While investigating the cat murders, he finds the Midnight Band of Mercy. They claim that they work in association with the ASPCA and their actions are for the benefit of the cat community. For whatever reason, the Band of Mercy tend to kill healthier cats that are obviously someone's pet. Greengrass quickly realizes that the Midnight Band of Mercy has much darker goals; goals that threaten his own security and that of his nephew. Greengrass must stop them before they have the opportunity to carry out their cruel plan. THE MIDNIGHT BAND OF MERCY does a great job of capturing the feel of New York and this time period. Although some authors do a slightly better job of creating an atmosphere, Blaine hits on the social constraints and contradictions that formed the city. There were numerous reforms aimed at both the police department and the government in general. By 1893, several of these were in effect; yet, much work remained to be done. This book is based on historical events; however, much of it was rearranged and changed in order to create this narrative. The ideas of the Eugenics Movement play a huge role in the Midnight Band of Mercy as well as the city of New York itself. The Eugenics Movement is a movement that is interested in improving human stock by having the best people breed and prevent those of 'damaged' stock from reproducing. The implementation of this movement can be on cats or humans. THE MIDNIGHT BAND OF MERCY, which is Michael Blaine's second novel, combines historical fiction with historical movements in order to create a fast-paced mystery novel.
Reviewed by Sarah Dudley, July 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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