The BookLife Prize Critic’s Report In this tense and savage thriller, a PTSD sufferer becomes a killer. Bentley has a clear handle on building suspense, while the focus on mental illness and trauma provides an anchoring force to the unconventional circumstances…The concept behind this brutal and intense novel is highly original and will undoubtedly keep readers guessing…Bentley creates an … undoubtedly keep readers guessing…
Bentley creates an intriguing and complex character in Phil Mercer, effectively exploring the impact of trauma and an external brainwashing force. Readers will at moments sympathize with the lead character, even as his sadism emerges.
There’s a killer lurking in all of us. Sometimes you just don’t know it.
Take Phil Mercer, for example, what dark secret from his past changes a decent man, and respected professional into a man with murder on his mind?
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Comfort Zone opens with what appears to be stalking, which turns into a kidnapping, that turns into a horrific murder.
And that was just the prologue!
Phil Mercer, an English barrister, has lost much… his brother, mother, and beloved wife, Liz, all in two short years.
Phil also appears to be losing his mind.
A “voice” who introduces himself as Vincent is encouraging Phil to kill… to take revenge on those people he believed to be friends, but they instead hindered or stifled his legal career and financial situation.
While he agrees with Vincent, Phil Mercer isn’t a killer. Or is he?
The back and forth with Phil/Vincent reminded me of Smeagol/Gollum and I wondered who would win in the end.
Phil decides retribution is his to take, but as he moves closer to his parlor game, a summons from court convinces him he’s going to prison for perjury and he sinks into depression. However, spurred on by Vincent, he sets his plan in motion.
Stephen Bentley’s plot twists kept me on edge. Learning Phil’s military backstory brings clarity… and pity for the barrister, but things are still not as they seem and I don’t know who’s more confused, Phil or me. HA!
I’m not saying anyone deserves to die because that would be… wrong, of course, but Phil Mercer is surrounded by some pretty awful people who evoke little sympathy in every stage of his life, and even after, however, in the end, I still can’t decide if Phil is crazy, or crazy like a fox.
This quick read is great suspense with psychological and noir elements you won’t see coming. It looks like an easy, open and shut case on the surface, but trust me, there’s nothing easy about Phil Mercer or the Comfort Zone.
Enjoy!
I just finished reading Comfort Zone: A Tale of Suspense by Stephen Bentley, former undercover British detective, now crime author. The book is different than Bentley’s previous novels. Comfort Zone is a thriller and a crime story, but not as fast-paced as The Steve Regan Undercover Cop Thrillers Trilogy or Mercy: A Detective Matt Deal Thriller. Comfort Zone is more complex.
Phil Mercer is one of the most intriguing characters I’ve read about in a long time. Mercer is a British veteran who returns home from the war in Afghanistan and studies law, then becomes an attorney in London. He is also a murderer who is not completely evil even though he’s done evil things. He defends the poor and underprivileged citizens. Phil Mercer is not a one-dimensional character. The author writes about the humanity of a person who has taken the lives of other people. Like when watching a tragic play, I felt sympathy for Mercer at various times and then cringed at the murder scenes. The novel is also a mystery because the parts of the story come together in the end, similar to how the different parts of Mercer meld into one. I think he comes to accept his fragments and acknowledges them.
The title comes from the name of a parlor game at a dinner party that Mercer gives for his friends and colleagues in the legal profession. He’s invited them because he wants to show off his cooking skills and to play the game he’s invented. Every detail of the menu, the wines, the guests and the game is planned with precision.
Phil Mercer suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD) from his war experiences. His role as an attorney is stressful, but he’s able to do a good job. The author uses Mercer’s military background to explore issues that many veterans experience such as long-lasting, even permanent, mental, and physical illnesses. Many serious traumas may cause PTSD, but since Mercer is a combat veteran, his wartime experiences continue to influence his life. War always has an enemy no matter whose side you’re on, and Mercer’s nemesis haunts him when he attempts to live a normal life. The opposing roles of Phil Mercer, a murderer given in to the temptation to kill, and an attorney, driven by order, logic, and law, make for a unique protagonist. Bentley does a great service in the way he writes about Mercer’s interior dialogue, hallucinations, depression, and memory problems. He does not make Phil Mercer a stereotype of a mentally ill person. Mercer is a sympathetic character; one who is approachable for the reader. I liked Phil Mercer so much that I can visualize his character in further novels by the author.
Told through flashbacks, dream sequences, and various points of view, Comfort Zone is a first-rate story. Crime novel fans will be entertained by Comfort Zone. I highly recommend reading this book. I received this book from the author as an ARC.
Comfort Zone: A Tale of Suspense, my eighth read from author Stephen Bentley. Very different than my last 3 Steve Regan Undercover Cop books. Hannibal Hill’s narration adds greatly to a good book’s enjoyment. “I received a free Audiobooks.com copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.” The gifting of this book did not affect my opinion of it. I own 13 other books by this author and look forward to reading more from him. As an aside, I am NOT a fan of Audiobooks.com. You can’t adjust the playback speed. (RIP Marley January 20, 2014 – July 24, 2018).
Wow! This is quite the story! There is just no way I could figure out what was going to happen next!?! A super, terrifying, frightening, loss of memory, murdering, torturing, mysterious, complicated, dark, highly entertaining read!
I struggled with always understanding the narrator, his accent and the English slang.
Emotionally intense. PTSD and its sequela wreaked havoc with Phil Mercer’s life. With all the losses in his life, he must have had a tremendous will to live, that he continued to go on. Vincent was an intriguing character as well as Phil. I was surprised with that twist, and there are several in the story. This is not your average tale of love, sadness, friends, colleagues, family, career, war and life. Love it or hate it, you can’t put it down, and you will never read another one like it.
Phil Mercer is a man suffering PTSD following his experience during the war. He later went on to practice law until his brother died, his mother died, and his wife died … all within a very short time. And now his career is threatened by something innocently done years ago.
He starts to think about all the people who he feels has wronged him in one way or another. So he plans a dinner party, inviting all his back-stabbing colleagues.
He creates a parlor game … COMFORT ZONE. Each person must tell a story about what they fear most. But his plans go awry …..
This is very different, unique kind of crime fiction. Several topics are explored … mental illness … depression …. feelings of rage …. As the book continues, the suspense builds,, the angst is heightened. With this complex plot comes twists and turns that lead to an unexpected conclusion. As a former undercover British detective, and a barrister, I expected a great amount of credibility. I was not disappointed.
Many thanks to the author / BooksGoSocial / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
Stephen Bentley does it again! He drew me in with the character Phil Mercer. The British veteran is a complex character, evoking sympathy as he struggles with his personal demons. Don’t let this writer fool you, within the character are the darker side that will stand your hair on end.
The portrayal of Mercer as he suffers from PTSD is compelling and heart-wrenching. Many may feel this trauma is another antagonist in the story as the key character falls prey to his own mental and physical illness.
The conflicted of Phil Mercer, in one flash a man battling the temptation to kill, which is against his passion for the law and justice. Stephen Bentley is compassionate in his creation of Mercer and the impact this illness has on his life. Phil Mercer is a character you will root for and pray for.
In short, crime novel fans will enjoy Comfort Zone, I highly this book.
This is quite an unusual book, very cleverly written and very believable. It deals with the sensitive subject of mental illness in an unusual but very effective way.
The book starts with a rather graphic murder, but we don’t learn who the killer was until later in the book, just one of the twists and turns which are at the heart of this book.
Some of the book is written in the third person, and some in the first person, the first person passages are from the viewpoint of Phil Mercer, an intelligent man who works as a barrister, but who is suffering from a reversal of his fortunes and not getting enough work to cover his expenses.
It gradually becomes clear that he is suffering from a mental illness as he hears voices telling him that the people he blames for his failure must be made to suffer.
Further into the book the difference between reality and Phil’s delusions becomes more blurred and we learn that he definitely has a very dark side, but what caused the dark side is truly shocking when it is revealed
With lots of plots twists and realistic characters the book is certainly brilliantly written, however, for many the descriptions of what Phil went through and also the descriptions of the various murders will take many readers out of their ‘comfort zone’.
I received an advance copy of the book, but have voluntarily written this honest review.
Be prepared for a deep, dark, and extremely intense story. The author takes you inside the mind of a man who suffers from PTSD after brutal abuse and mental torture while imprisoned during the Afghanistan war.
You won’t want to put this book down as it pulls you in through slow twists and turns of powerful drama.
I’ve read all of Stephen Bentley’s books. This story is very different from his previous work. It shows another side to his amazing talent with words; one you won’t soon forget.
I received an advanced reader copy but the opinions and review are my own honest comments
Phil Mercer, a lawyer has invented a parlour game and is set out to get revenge on all who has harmed in one way or another. Phil Mercer doesn’t let go of grudges and is hell bent on making people pay whatever the cost. All he needs is them all in a room at his dinner party and then the game begins. Rules are simple, tell something about yourself that no one knows already. Comfort zone is anything but…….
This story opens so many possibilities for other stories relating to it. Brilliant back story for starters, so many twists and turns, I didnt know which way I was facing by the end lol. The book deals heavily with mental illness as a result of past traumas, PTSD and DID mainly (i have some experience with these disorders but not personally).
The book hits you right away with a murder which is revisted later in the book after certain other events are revealed and for me it was a AH moment as it hit me who the murderer was.
Comfort Zone was anything but that and as a result a brilliant read and I hope we see Phill Mercer again one day.