The Mephisto Club

July 24, 2006
In this brisk, deftly plotted thriller from bestseller Gerritsen (Vanish
), Boston medical examiner Maura Isles and police detective Jane Rizzoli look into the murder of 28-year-old Lori-Ann Tucker, whose body is found Christmas morning in her apartment amid an unholy mess of severed limbs, black candles and satanic symbols rendered in blood. "Peccavi," reads one word scrawled across Tucker's wall—Latin for "I have sinned." Isles and Rizzoli must sort sinner from innocent among suspects who can be found on several continents and include a group of sophisticates—scholars, an anthropologist, a psychiatrist—who are either cult members or crusaders against evil straight from the pages of Revelation. Other murders follow, all gruesome, all involving apocalyptic messages. On occasion, the action shifts to Europe, to a young woman running from a man she's convinced is descended from a race of fallen angels. Gerritsen has a knack for stretching believability just short of the breaking point—and for amassing details that produce an atmosphere in which the most terrible possibilities can and, indeed, should occur.

Jane Rizzoli, Boston detective, again teams up with Medical Examiner Dr. Maura Isles in pursuit of a maniacal killer who writes "I have sinned" in the victim's blood. Carolyn McCormick develops each character with such convincing clarity that the listener assumes there's more than one narrator. She portrays Rizzoli with an authoritative, controlled voice as the detective pursues clues that lead to the Mephisto Club. This group believes in the supernatural, Satan, and even the Nephilim, an ancient race that resulted when angels mated with humans, referenced in Genesis. McCormick's excellent performance and characterizations coupled with superb plotting, apocalyptic messages, mysterious clues, and murder combine to make this an unforgettable thriller. G.D.W. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine