The Mephisto Club

A Rizzoli & Isles Novel

By: Tess Gerritsen

Narrated by: Kathe Mazur

Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Evil exists. Evil walks the streets. And evil has spawned a diabolical new disciple in this white-knuckle thriller from New York Times best-selling author Tess Gerritsen.

PECCAVI. The Latin word is scrawled in blood at the scene of a young woman's brutal murder: I HAVE SINNED. It's a chilling Christmas greeting for Boston medical examiner Maura Isles and Detective Jane Rizzoli, who swiftly link the victim to controversial celebrity psychiatrist Joyce O'Donnell, Jane's professional nemesis and a member of a sinister cabal called the Mephisto Club.

On top of Beacon Hill, the club's acolytes devote themselves to the analysis of evil: Can it be explained by science? Does it have a physical presence? Do demons walk the earth? Drawing on a wealth of dark historical data and mysterious religious symbolism, the Mephisto scholars aim to prove a startling theory: that Satan himself exists among us.

With the grisly appearance of a corpse on their doorstep, it's clear that someone, or something, is indeed prowling the city. The members of the club begin to fear the very subject of their study. Could this maniacal killer be one of their own, or have they inadvertently summoned an evil entity from the darkness?

Delving deep into the most baffling and unusual case of their careers, Maura and Jane embark on a terrifying journey to the very heart of evil, where they encounter a malevolent foe more dangerous than any they have ever faced...one whose work is only just beginning.

©2006 Tess Gerritsen (P)2006 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Deftly plotted." (Publishers Weekly)

Another Well Told Story

If you enjoy the adventures of Rizzoli and Isles, then this is one to add to your list. The tale of murders at first unrelated are merged with the story of a young lady living in Europe. Well narated too.

Sit back and enjoy.

The Mephisto Club

Fascinating story of a shadowy group that calls themselves the Mephisto Club and a police woman and a woman medical examiner who are trying to track down who ever is killing members of the Mephisto Club

Must Read

I always enjoy this series of books and wasn't disappointed here either. It was interesting enough to keep me going with the unabridged version because there were so many details and events. It's one I will keep in my library to listen to again later.

A fun mystery...

This was fun to listen to, but its certainly not a classic. It has a real soap opera feel to it. If it were made into a movie it would be destined for the Lifetime Channel.

Love Tess

I just love reading Tess Gerritsen's books. Great author and always has something good to read. Love her characters. Bring on some more.

Entertaining

I have not read any other books by this author, so I was a little lost with the recurring characters. I found that their personal storylines were never resolved adequately, and this was the most bothersome aspect of the book for me. Even in serial novels, issues introduced are usually re-addressed or resolved within that book. This one left them wide open.

The main plot and writing were great and fully entertaining. The last hour, you won't want to turn off and it *does* leave you guessing somewhat. There is some suspension of disbelief and the end was a little hokey (just one part), but it did not affect the overall quality and suspense of the book.

I had few problems with the narrator. She lost accents and character voices rather quickly, so it was difficult occasionally to follow who was speaking, but those moments were few and far between. In general, I found her tempo was perfect and her tone never grating.

In short, this was worth the purchase price.

Disappointment

I was disappointed in this novel. There were no plot twists of any significance and the ending was a yawn. Time was wasted on details that could have been presented in 1/3 the time without sacrifice to story line. Might I call it padding? I found the references and uses of ancient symbology interesting although they turned out to have precious little impact on the plot. I smell a series coming but I won't be reading.

Edge of your seat excitement

I wasn’t sure about listening to this book, but the way the narrator does different accents and voices really helps you get into the book. I read along side the narrator because I am having a problem with comprehension lately, and now I’m glad I listened to this book. It surely was great!

Stranger than the other books

This one dealt with ideas of evil ones walking the earth. It was a decent book but not memorable for me.

Great pacing, dark, wonderful narrator

This was my first Tess Gerritsen, and I enjoyed it. The Mephisto Club's members search for actual evil in the form of Nephilim, the descendants of fallen angels and man, inspired by the book of Enoch. The main characters were well developed, and the plots were very well paced.
I had two main issues with the book. First, even though most of the plot lines were wrapping up quite nicely, the ending was too abrupt. Second, the scholars that were consulted dragged out everything they were saying, and while this could arguably have been character choices, all of the scholars consulted did it, so these parts felt like info dumps from cardboard cut outs. Thankfully, the main characters didn't consult them often, and the story took over.
Fast paced, well plotted, great narrator.