The Mephisto Club

The latest to join the Da Vinci Code - Biblical Myths genre is Tess Gerritsen’s “The Mephisto Club, a thriller that supposes that an evil race of creatures inhabits the earth, a mixture of fallen angels and upstart women.
Following the fashion of Dan Brown, the book opens with a ritualistic and gruesome murder, and some cryptic signs and letters, including the word “Peccavi” – Latin for “I have sinned.” On the case are Gerritsen’s regulars, Boston medical examiner Maura Isles and Detective Jane Rizzoli, investigation collaborators over the course of five or six books.
Their fictional time together is only important in that – much in the case of other authors – there are continuing story lines that may not be as clear to a first time reader as they are important to those familiar with the characters.
Knowing that Gerritsen weaves plotlines in this fashion helps explain the unanswered questions at the end of the story, and gratefully, her references to previous cases are minimal. In “The Mephisto Club,” she brings in a group of sophisticated Sherlock Holmes wannabes who – despite their credentials – fair poorly against the symbol scrawling suspect, who is targeting the crime fighters.
There are subplots aplenty, and chases through several countries, as Gerritsen intertwines two seemingly separate stories. There is never a question which bad guy is lurking about, but her tight presentation and well-constructed twists keep the suspense level high until the conclusion. In the vein of Preston and Child’s “Brimstone,” Gerritsen skirts the edge of believability in providing a supernatural overtone.
Clearly, a depth exists in her primary characters, achieved over the course of numerous writings, and the solid storytelling in “The Mephisto Club” may be reason enough to visit the previous offerings featuring Maura Isles, Jane Rizzoli, and the remainder of the Gerritsen Club.