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Short-listed for the 2006 Red Maple Award Tom Blake is a likeable but shy high school student, who fantasizes about adventure, romance, and discovering "portholes" to the past. Little does he know that all are about to come his way. Tom discovers that a local computer company is conditioning his fellow students for what he suspects is some evil purpose. He soon finds himself up against a corrupt organization with an agenda of genetic experimentation. Mercury Man evokes all the excitement of the best scifi, fantasy, and hero myths while never losing touch with ordinary urban contemporary reality.
Tom Blake, a teen plagued by loneliness and self-doubt, is a Peter Parker (AKA Spiderman) type who discovers his inner superhero in Ottawa author Tom Henighan's second YA novel Mercury Man. Henighan's sci-fi fantasy is an entertaining amalgam of comic book adventure and paranoid high-tech thriller.
Sherie Posesorski, Quill and Quire, October 2004
What happens when an ordinary teenager discovers his friends are being brainwashed by a huge computer company? Action and suspense, with some super-heroics thrown in. With Tom Blake, Tom Henighan has created a character that teens will identify with.
Aha Blume, 701.com
Who could refuse to read a novel that includes an evil corporation bent on domination of the world's teenagers, comic book superheroes, romance, family problems, a foxy grandpa, and a reluctant savior of his country? What more could a book need to make it a surefire grabber? Canadian Henighan's novel meets all criteria to be an authentic page turner.
... the book is sheer reading fun - a natural choice for all who love stories in which good triumphs over evil, an unlikely hero gets the girl, and superheroes are real.
— Jamie S. Hansen
This is non-stop action.
— Gail de Vos
Tom Henighan's numerous works of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry include The Maclean's Companion to Canadian Arts and Culture, The Well of Time, and the YA novel Viking Quest (2001). He lives in Ottawa, and teaches at Carleton University.