The Mephisto Club: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel: A Novel [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Tess Gerritsen (Author), Carolyn McCormick (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2007

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


From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Bookmarks Magazine

The Mephisto Club, the sixth in the Jane Rizzoli/Maura Isles series (after Vanish), contains Tess Gerritsen's trademark lurid writing, grisly medical/forensic details, and chilling suspense. This time, as a satanically driven killer tortures and dismembers his victims, an esoteric cult considers the existence of a gene for evil. It's not a tale for the faint of heart; metaphysical inquiries into demonology and evil are matched, page by page, by grisly details. The only major criticism comes from New York Times Book Review, which cited a total lack of credibility. Otherwise, The Mephisto Club should provide "hair-raising, demon-hunting good fun" (Los Angeles Times).

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Random House Audio; Abridged edition (October 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0739353977
• ISBN-13: 978-0739353974
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 1 x 6.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (140 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #774,069 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm a physician as well as the New York Times-bestselling author of medical thrillers and the Jane Rizzoli crime thrillers.

Readers who are familiar with my graphic autopsy scenes and forensic details may be astonished to learn that my very first published novels were actually ... romantic suspense. So why did I leave writing romances and turn to thrillers?

It was all because of a chance dinner conversation some years ago. The man sitting beside me at a restaurant one night was an ex-cop who 'd recently been traveling in Russia. Moscow cops had told him that orphans were vanishing from the streets, and they believed the children were being kidnaped and shipped abroad as organ donors.

I was horrified by the tale. Weeks later, unable to forget those missing Russian orphans, I knew I just had to write a book about them. I wanted to bring into it all the medical and autopsy details that I'd learned from my years as a physician. The sights, the smells of the autopsy and operating rooms -- everything.

My first medical thriller, HARVEST, was released in hardcover in 1996, and it marked my debut on the NEW YORK TIMES bestseller list. It was followed by my medical thrillers LIFE SUPPORT (1997), BLOODSTREAM (1998), GRAVITY (1999).

In 2001, my books took another abrupt turn, to forensic thrillers. THE SURGEON was my first Jane Rizzoli thriller. Since then, I've written THE APPRENTICE (2002), THE SINNER (2003), BODY DOUBLE (2004), VANISH (2005 -- and an Edgar Award nominee), and THE MEPHISTO CLUB (2006).

I believe my readers want me to tell them secrets. And that's exactly what I try to do. I take them into the autopsy room, and show them what I've seen. But most of all, I hope I'm revealing what lies in the hearts of my characters. Jane Rizzoli and Dr. Maura Isles are real people to me now. I hope they're just as real to everyone who becomes acquainted with them!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This was my first Gerritsen book, but it definitely won't be my last., January 25, 2007

By 

Derek (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mephisto Club: A Novel (Hardcover)

I came across this book randomly while I was waiting for another book to be shipped to me from Amazon. I didn't know that this was part of the Isles/Rizzoli series, I just thought the descriptions of it sounded good and thought I'd pick it up. The whole time I was reading this book I kept going back and forth trying to guess the outcome of the plot and whenever I thought I was pretty sure it would be one thing, I'd come across something that would lead me to flip flop on that assumption. The whole book is engrossing and every chance I got I wanted to read to find out if my guesses were right.

Also, another huge plus of this book is that the protagonists/main characters are real people with real problems. Unlike a lot of other mystery/thriller books, the main characters here have both triumphs in whatever they're trying to figure out/accomplish, as well as major life problems that have potentially enormouos conseqences.

I recommend this book full-heartedly and will certainly pick up on the rest of Gerristen's novels.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The first 9/10's of the book were great...., March 30, 2007

By 

LB (Manchester, MO USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Mephisto Club: A Novel (Hardcover)

This book really pulled me in and I found it hard to put down. I contemplated many times who the 'bad guy' was going to be. I was so looking forward to the finale to find out which of the characters was doing all the dirty deeds!

But then - arrrrgh - not another book that has such a wonderful overall plot and then fizzles out at the end!! Noooo -- this book had so much promise. How could Tess Gerritsen write such an intricate and complicated novel and then finish it up with such a lackluster ending?

I was so disappointed to finish reading and find that Tess seemed to suddenly realize that it was time to turn in her manuscript to the publisher, so she wound up things very quickly with no real explanation at all. I seriously think that readers who stuck with this book for so many pages and chapters deserve a good conclusion that fills the readers in and gives them a satisfying finish to the story. It was so interesting up until it abruptly ended - psssttt......

28 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Starts Strong But Goes Rapidly Downhill!, November 21, 2006

By 

bobbewig (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Mephisto Club: A Novel (Hardcover)

Let me start off by saying that if you haven't read any of Gerritsen's books featuring her two main characters, don't even consider reading this book. So much about the characters deeply depends on your being familiar with their history. Even if you have read other books with these characters, The Mephisto Club, while starting off with a lot of suspense, is a disappointment. The plot drags and requires you to suspend belief way too much, there are too many subplots that are left dangling, and the ending -- what there is of one -- is weak and unsatisfying. All in all, I'd advise you to skip The Mephisto Club. Your time and money are too valuable to spend on a book that, at best, is mediocre.