The Mephisto Club

Detective Jane Rizzoli is called to an upscale Beacon Hill house in the dark, early morning hours of Christmas day. Along with medical examiner Maura Isles, she is drawn into a crime of epic proportions, a crime that virtually transcends comprehension. Is it a mad man or a demon? If a demon, has he been summoned on a holy day to mock the believers? As the story unfolds Jane and Maura find they cannot escape their own demons—those that walk the streets as well as those that haunt the recesses of their minds.

When Detective Rizzoli is first called the crime scene she takes a cold, analytical eye at the evidence before her. Training and determination to bring the victim’s tormentor to justice over-ride her emotions as she views a scene laid out with care, a tableau of a criminal who clearly enjoyed his kill.

When a young female officer, in a desperate attempt to solve the crime on her own, ventures to another expensive and fashionable house, Rizzoli and Isles are again called to the scene, this time because one of their own has been murdered. It is at this second house they meet, for the first time, certain members of the Mephisto Club. The enigmatic leader, Anthony Sansone speaks of his ancestor and his need to right his wrongs. An ancestor who Anthony resembles so strongly one wonders if he is more than an ancestor and what secrets lurk behind his seeming good intentions.

An ocean away a young woman named Lily flees for her life. Taking odd jobs throughout Europe, always a step ahead of an unknown evil pursuing her, never able to settle in one place for more than a short time. A secret from her past hides the key to solving the crime in Boston…yet she cannot trust the very people who could save her life.

Each character seeks to solve the crime, yet with each step towards the answer, another dark secret threatens to unravel for each character. Will the secrets stay safe, or will each character die a macabre death?

THE MEPHISTO CLUB is the first of Ms. Gerriston’s book this reviewer has read. It is by no means the last. Within the first few chapters this reviewer was hooked not only on THE MEPHISTO CLUB, but on this eminently talented author. Each page ads more secrets, more suspense to the final outcome. The reader is not given a moment to stop his or her head long read to catch their breath, almost as if the killer pursues the reader. It was virtually impossible to put this book down from start to finish.

Each character is unique, believable and could very well be someone the reader knows…including the devil of the story himself. Each is realistic down to each of their own human failings. The reader will like and alternately hate each one in turn as their secrets unfold.

Ms. Gerriston does a fabulous job of making the reader feel like he or she is part of the story. When Lily is forced to spend the night in a field because the evil has pursued her from a safe haven the reader feels the grit of sleeping on the cold ground through the night. When she flees the catacombs with evil in pursuit through the dank walls the reader feels the stale air of the dead. When Maura gives into the passion evoked by the one man she cannot, should not have, the reader feels the loss of a great love. Lulled into a sense of holiday beauty this reviewer had her breath knocked out of her with the depiction of a ritualistic killing…yet because of this writer’s talent to weave a tale, kept reading. The surprise ending left me with a dropped jaw.

If you are looking for one of the best reads this year, THE MEPHISTO CLUB is one you must choose. You will not be disappointed. Fans and newcomers, as this Reviewer was, to Ms Gerriston’s writing will find themselves completely hooked by this wonderful read.

November 2006