Title: Mercury Striking
Author: Rebecca Zanetti
Series: Scorpius Syndrome #1
Pages: 273
Lynne Harmony has been on the run for weeks. She is making her way to post-plague L.A. to find Jax Mercury, who is potentially her only hope at a future and continuing her research for a cure. What she doesn’t expect is to be attracted to this ruthless man.
This book picks up a few months after the events in the novella, which I do recommend reading because it provides important context on this plague and on why Lynne is so being hunted. Scorpius Syndrome has basically spread across the United States, and potentially the rest of the world. Communications and the internet are basically non-existent anymore. Most of the population has either died, turned into a ripper (extremely crazy and violent), turned basically unemotional, or seemed to have survived without any major side effects. The situation is still very new to the survivors so it’s unclear if there are other types of side effects at this point.
Lynne is extremely smart and determined to help survivors anyway she can, but first she has to survive her ex, who happens to now be the President. Lynne has had an extremely rough few months. She was infected, had to be a lab rat because of it, is dealing with a toxic ex, and trying to survive this new world. She is a tough lady and I really liked her.
Jax is a military man who is determined to keep his little community of survivors alive. He is extremely dominant and likes to be in control in the bedroom. Jax keeps Lynne under house arrest in his bedroom and it leads to them quickly realizing they both want more from each other. I enjoyed this forced proximity story, especially seeing Jax open up to love and embrace emotions. Jax and Lynne had great chemistry and some very steamy times in the bedroom.
Overall, this was an action packed and steamy read. I enjoyed seeing how much the world has changed since the novella and how this plague is affecting everyone. I am excited to see what happens next.
Trigger Warnings: death of family discussed; grief; PTSD; death of a teenagers (on page); death of a mother and unborn child briefly mentioned; death of main side characters; gang violence discussed;
Previous books and reviews for the series:
#0.5 Scorpius Rising
Red-Haired Ash Reads 