Mercy

“What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?” A daughter’s late-night question to her father sets this story in motion, and quickly takes us back to the gritty East Side of 1970s NYC and the night Eddie would regret for the rest of his life. The implications of that night ripple through the rest of the novel, which unfolds as a series of interconnected short stories laden with themes of abandonment, betrayal, and mercy. In rotating points of view, Silber takes us into the minds of a half dozen people directly or tangentially connected to Eddie’s biggest regret, exploring how both our decisions and pure coincidence entwine our fates with others. I inhaled this in an afternoon.