Scan barcode
A review by paulabrandon
Playing with Fire by Tess Gerritsen
4.0
I was hesitant to read this standalone book by Tess Gerritsen, since The Shape Of Night was so terrible. However, since the new Rizzoli & Isles is coming out later this week, I decided to give this one a try. So long as it wasn't a Mummy porn ghost story, I figured it couldn't be that bad, right?
And indeed, this one surpassed my expectations. It's biggest drawback is the fact that it feels like two separate stories that don't connect together as well as they should. In the present day, Julia Ansdell is a violinist who discovers a musical piece called Incendio in an antique store in Italy, and brings it home. When she plays it, however, it ends with her daughter seemingly committing violent acts, first killing the pet cat, and then stabbing Julia in the leg with a shard of broken glass.
Julia is convinced there's something sinister going on behind the piece of music, and wonders who wrote it. Which is how we're introduced to Lorenzo Todesco, a young Jewish man living in Italy in the late 1930s, early 1940s, when Mussolini's fascist regime was coming into full effect. Italian Jews were progressively having their rights stripped away from them, leading to them being rounded up and transported to death camps. Lorenzo escapes this fate because of his prodigious violin skills. Julia's investigation into the music's origins puts her life in danger.
The present day narrative to frame the story wasn't thought out well enough. The suspense genre's over-reliance on unreliable narrators means we have the tiresome trope of Julia perhaps being "crazy" because her mother was once sent to an institution. Note: the plot raises the possibility that all is not as it seems with Julia's mother being placed in an instution and subsequently dying, but this is abandoned and never mentioned again.
The mystery of why Julia's daughter is apparently behaving violently was too silly and didn't match the tone of the rest of the book. There should have been a more realistic, believable reason for Julia to want to learn more about Incendio's origins. Because the whole mystery of Julia and her daughter gets resolved in a silly, convenient manner that still leaves plenty of unanswered questions.
However, there is no doubt that this is well written and draws you into the story. I'm not into history at all, but Lorenzo's chapters dealing with the horrors of the persecution of Jews in WW2 were horrifying, suspenseful and tragic. I actually wound up more involved in this story than the present day one. Nonetheless, although the present day narrative was predictable and too reliant on today's thriller tropes, it wasn't boring.
I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would. If only the present day framing story was more naturally and believably linked to the historical story.
And indeed, this one surpassed my expectations. It's biggest drawback is the fact that it feels like two separate stories that don't connect together as well as they should. In the present day, Julia Ansdell is a violinist who discovers a musical piece called Incendio in an antique store in Italy, and brings it home. When she plays it, however, it ends with her daughter seemingly committing violent acts, first killing the pet cat, and then stabbing Julia in the leg with a shard of broken glass.
Julia is convinced there's something sinister going on behind the piece of music, and wonders who wrote it. Which is how we're introduced to Lorenzo Todesco, a young Jewish man living in Italy in the late 1930s, early 1940s, when Mussolini's fascist regime was coming into full effect. Italian Jews were progressively having their rights stripped away from them, leading to them being rounded up and transported to death camps. Lorenzo escapes this fate because of his prodigious violin skills. Julia's investigation into the music's origins puts her life in danger.
The present day narrative to frame the story wasn't thought out well enough. The suspense genre's over-reliance on unreliable narrators means we have the tiresome trope of Julia perhaps being "crazy" because her mother was once sent to an institution. Note: the plot raises the possibility that all is not as it seems with Julia's mother being placed in an instution and subsequently dying, but this is abandoned and never mentioned again.
The mystery of why Julia's daughter is apparently behaving violently was too silly and didn't match the tone of the rest of the book. There should have been a more realistic, believable reason for Julia to want to learn more about Incendio's origins. Because the whole mystery of Julia and her daughter gets resolved in a silly, convenient manner that still leaves plenty of unanswered questions.
Spoiler
Why does Lily have some sort of ingrained memory of the music? This is never explained. I think the book is hinting that Laura was Lily in a past life, but that's just silly.However, there is no doubt that this is well written and draws you into the story. I'm not into history at all, but Lorenzo's chapters dealing with the horrors of the persecution of Jews in WW2 were horrifying, suspenseful and tragic. I actually wound up more involved in this story than the present day one. Nonetheless, although the present day narrative was predictable and too reliant on today's thriller tropes, it wasn't boring.
I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would. If only the present day framing story was more naturally and believably linked to the historical story.