vtsarah5 's review for:

Playing with Fire by Tess Gerritsen

4.0

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I'm a huge Tess Gerritsen fan so I was excited to read this book, a departure from the Rizzoli & Isles series. I found myself quickly pulled into the story and quickly identified with Julia. The underlying supernatural theme in the first part of the book was hard to reconcile with Gerritsen's previous fiction but once I wrapped my head around it I enjoyed it. Intertwining Lorenzo's story with Julia's helped support the plot unfold. I found myself more interested in the historical story than the modern story. Gerritsen did an excellent job of conveying the experience of the Jews deported from Venice and the horrors inflicted on countless humans by fascists and Nazis. I was sickened and angry as I finished several chapters. I was however, disappointed at the speed with which the novel wrapped up. A story of such breadth and depth was sadly tied up into a pat conclusion that felt trite. The epilogue was its saving grace and I was surprised to discover Gerritsen had composed Incendio. Overall a 5 star for the first 3/4 and a 3 star for the last 1/4. I'd give it a solid 4+