Sometimes you go into a book expecting one thing and you end up with something completely different. That is what happened with Mercy House. For me, it was a DNF at about 45%. From the synopsis, I was expecting a spooky, maybe ghost story. Instead, I got a gorefest that started very soon into the book. I was just turned off by the violence of the elderly in the book. Old people and blood, sex and gore don't go together in my head. 
 I'm not saying this is a badly written book. I think for lovers of blood and guts and just plain gore, this is the right book for you. It just wasn't for me.