“The Merciless” is a novel about what happens when one is desperate to fit in. So desperate that they find themselves in a situation so bizarre that the only way out is through a river of blood. Ok, that might sound a bit dramatic but there’s no other way to describe this story. It’s as if the cast of Mean Girls decided to dispose of the burn book and pick up an Exorcism 101 self-help book instead – and test the methodology on Janis.