She Treads Softly: The Mailman

Friday, January 3, 2025

The Mailman

The Mailman by Andrew Welsh-Huggins
1/28/25; 360 pages
Mysterious Press/Penzler Publishers

The Mailman by Andrew Welsh-Huggins is an excellent, action-packed thriller and the first book in an entertaining new series featuring Mercury Carter, a highly-skilled freelance courier.

Mercury (Merc) Carter, a former postal inspection agent, is currently working as a mailman, a one-man delivery service. He takes great care to make sure his deliveries go directly to the intended recipient. When he arrives with a delivery at the Indianapolis home of married couple Rachel and Glenn Stanfield, he comes across a gang of violent criminals there, led by a man called Finn, who are about to torture the couple for information. Due to Merc's training as a federal agent, he is able to incapacitate the two goons sent out to eliminate him.

Finn and gang escape with Rachel as a hostage. Merc, with an injured Glenn in tow, takes off in pursuit of the men, so he can make his delivery to Rachel. Along the way he encounters numerous dangerous situations, which he skillfully handles, while uncovering a much broader conspiracy.

Once I started this well-written, high-octane, action-packed thriller it was quickly un-put-downable. This is a great choice for those who like intricate, fast-paced, intriguing thrillers where the clues followed are like a puzzle that must be solved. It is so satisfying to follow Merc's tenacity as he uncovers new clues and handles the numerous threats along the way.

Merc is an intelligent, determined, perceptive, and resourceful protagonist that never misses a delivery. He is an engaging character whose backstory is told in short segments as the present day action unfolds so readers are introduced to him while seeing his skills in action. Merc is comparable to Lee Child's Jack Reacher.

The Mailman introduces a new series full of action and I look forward to Mercury Carter's next delivery. Thanks to Penzler Publishers for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.