The 1998 home run race, when Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa competed to break the long-standing record, was one of the high points of Major League Baseball, and also serves as the backdrop for This Dark Road to Mercy, a new novel by Wiley Cash.
Easter and Ruby are sisters who’ve lost their mother and are settling into their new foster home when their father, Wade, who disappeared years earlier, returns for them. But since he gave up his parental rights, his only choice is to show up at their bedroom window in the middle of the night, convincing them to leave with him.
Brady Weller is the girls’ court-appointed guardian who takes it upon himself to find them as the local police force is occupied investigating an armored car heist of millions of dollars. Also on the hunt for Wade is Pruitt, a ruthless hit man who played minor league ball with both Wade and Sammy Sosa, hired by a local baddie who believes Wade is involved in the heist.
The story alternates between Easter, who at 12 is wise beyond her years due to her junkie mother’s inability to take care of the girls, Brady, a former cop who left the force after an accident that resulted in a child’s death, and Pruitt, who has a grudge against Wade going back to their baseball days. While Easter’s voice is authentic and clear, the two men were at times indistinguishable, which is somewhat disconcerting as they are quite different in personality.
As the tension in the story mounts, with Pruitt and Brady both closing in on Wade and the girls, the home run race also starts getting good as both McGwire and Sosa hit homer after homer. As a baseball fan I enjoyed the baseball references, everyone in the story is captivated by the historic event and has their own preference as to who they want to set the record.
This Dark Road to Mercy is a gripping story about family and trying to let go of your past.
Nancy remembers the home run race fondly, even if the later steroid controversy mars the records set that season. She write about her boys, books and life in Colorado at Life With My Boys and Books.