The Mephisto Club (Jane Rizzoli, Book 6)

Just love the duo of Iles and Rizzoli. Can't wait to read the new one.

I've been a Tess Gerritsen fan for many years now, having enjoyed her most recent of books rather than The Surgeon series. While the main characters are still haunted by ghosts from the past, this book added more intregue and juicy twists and turns to the storyline. Isles and Rizzoli are once again together, starting their tale with a gory murder scene once again. This time, they are called upon a scene at a house that looks like it was the scene of some bizarre Satanic ritual. A group looked like they were sitting down to dinner, only to find blood smeared on the walls and heads on platters. As if these scenes aren't enough to get our urban angst and paranoia peeked into high gear, they discover that one of the last phone calls made from the house was to a local psychiatrist who has a morbid fascination with all things morbid. From there, Isles and Rizzoli find themselves searching for a secret society, the Mephisto Club, who has ancient roots and keeps communion with the devil. Meanwhile, in Europe, a young woman is living on the fringe of society in Italy, clearly hiding from something. Their paths will intersect. What I liked the most about this book, besides the fascinating story they are working around, are the twists in Isles's and Rizzoli's personal lives. The previous book ended with Rizzoli's giving birth to her daughter, Regina. I was so happy to hear this part, I really was. At last, Rizzoli has found happiness with her wonderful husband, Gabrielle, and they have a daughter. While some have criticized her for being too hard and tough, I predict this will change. Marriage and motherhood will soften her up in time. But, while things for Rizzoli are wonderful, her family is in crisis. Her elderly parents have seperated! Her father is having an affair! [Side Note : Since the introduction of Viagra, there has been a rise in the divorce rate among the elderly. Maybe Mr. Rizzoli was pill popping.] As for Dr. Isles ... She and Father Brophy meet up again. It was just inevitable. He said in his first appearence in The Sinner that he had never broken his vows. He was bound to break them, and he was going to break them with Dr. Isles. Feels like The Thornbirds for the 2000s. This left enough eager anticipation for what will happen in the next book. I hope she's working on it NOW, because I'm just about to explode wondering what's going to happen next for these two gals.

It amazes me that Tess Gerritsen is able to write such awesome thrillers, time after time. And yet she does, proving that she is, quite simply, at the top of her game--and at the top of the psychological thriller/mystery genre! Many others have outlined the plot of THE MEPHISTO CLUB, so let me just say a few things: this is a great storyline, original, and handled deftly. The action-adventure is non-stop throughout the book, and although you know, basically from the beginning of the story, who the bad guy is, it doesn't stop the book from being interesting and intriguing. I loved that Father Brophy and Dr. Maura Isles finally "got together," but I need this relationship to go beyond The Thorn Birds - The Complete Miniseries!! There has got to be a resolution to this plot line, and soon! My only complaint with the story is Jane Rizzoli, who I actually love. However, her hard-a**, morally superior attitude in this book ticked me off. I want to see the softer side of Jane, the nurturing mother side, the love of Gabriel's life side--as well as the the tough-as-nails, ball-buster homicide detective. Believe me, though, THE MEPHISTO CLUB is another winner!

This latest sequel to Jane and Maura is one I could not put down! Although I could not remember all their history from previous stories, anyone just picking up with TMC will not be disapointed and since I own them I have made it a point to go and read them again. The references to Egyptian history and mythology was an especially appealing one for me since I enjoy this. Other interesting and thought provoking references to history and evil left me wanting to know more! Nephilim..hmmmm gotta google it. This leaves you knowing that EVIL is there regardless of what your ideology is. Ms. Tess did it again! Could the Mephisto Club be a sequel.. I hope so, I like the idea of that possibilty. If you like a good read this is the one, Ms. Gerritsen has not let me down yet and her books are on the top shelf on my bookcase.

A girl is brutally murdered in Boston. Her arterial blood has been pumped throughout the murder room, inverted crosses on the wall, drawn along with the latin word Peccavi written in mirror writing. "I have sinned," the word proclaims in that dead language. The victim has been dismembered, her head displayed in a bizarre and ancient way. Her left hand has been severed and if this isn't bad enough, when Boston ME Maura Isles does the autopsy, she finds the left hand left at the scene doesn't belong to the victim. There is another body out there. But before they find it, Dr. Isles and Detective Jane Rizzoli are confronted with the murder of a female police officer who was also working on the case, killed by the same man outside of the meeting of the Mephisto Foundation, a group of people dedicated to tracking down evil. Again they find inverted crosses at the scene. Then they find the body that belongs to that hand, but it was out of their jurisdiction, down in New York. This dead girl was a high school classmate of the first victim. And on the run in Italy is still another classmate who is running from something she believes too evil to be human. She is the link. As usual Tess Gerritsen has spun a thriller that grips right from the get go, but this time she has reached into the very history of evil and put it right up front, right in the faces of her two protagonists, plus she's given us more insight into the characters of Jane and Maura. Maura has sinned with a priest and it looks like the killer, who draws inverted crosses, is unhappy about it. The hunters of evil want her in their group, she doesn't want to join, but does she have a choice? Jane, even as her parent's marriage is coming apart and driving her up the wall, has to confront this serial killer and try and talk some sense into Maura in this gem of a book. Tess Gerritsen is one of my favorite writers and she is right on her game with THE MEPHISTO CLUB. I can hardly wait for her next thriller. Reviewed by Stephanie Sane