The 2009 Canada Reads panelists pose with their respective choices: from left, author Jen Sookfong Lee, journalist Avi Lewis, TV host Anne-Marie Withenshaw, singer-songwriter Sarah Slean, actor Nicholas Campbell. Slean's book, Mercy Among the Children, was the first one voted off on Wednesday. (Ryan Couldrey/CBC)

The third day of CBC Radio's Canada Reads literary battle ended with no mercy for David Adams Richards' Mercy Among the Children.

The novel, championed by singer Sarah Slean, was knocked out of the ring on Day 3 of the week-long battle among five notable Canadians arguing for their favourite book.

"I knew from the get-go this was a painful book to read," said Slean in a post-show interview. "But I thought people would come to the end to see the redemption and find the beautiful end and realize why it's important."

Richards' novel tells of a boy's pact with God, which causes his family to pay a price. Set in the Miramichi region of New Brunswick, the book chronicles the classic conflict between good and evil.

"I felt bad that I didn't like it," admitted panelist Anne-Marie Withenshaw, who is pushing Michel Tremblay's Quebec classic, The Fat Woman Next Door is Pregnant.

"It was the book that least sparkled in my heart," said broadcaster Avi Lewis on Wednesday's radio show.

In the end, Mercy Among the Children was voted off by Lewis, writer Jen Sookfong Lee and Withenshaw.

Other books still in the running, in addition to Tremblay's story, are:

• Lawrence Hill's The Book of Negroes, with Lewis backing it.
• Gil Adamson's The Outlander, championed by actor Nicholas Campbell.
• Brian Francis' Fruit, backed by Lee.

The debates air online and on CBC Radio One at 11:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. (2 and 8 p.m. NT).