Playing With Fire by Tess Gerritsen – Audio
Book Blurb:
The first time Julia Ansdell picks up The Incendio Waltz, she knows it’s a strikingly unusual composition. But while playing the piece, Julia blacks out and awakens to find her young daughter implicated in acts of surprising violence. And when she travels to Venice to find the previous owner of the music, she uncovers a dark secret that involves dangerously powerful people—a family who would stop at nothing to keep Julia from bringing the truth to light.
My Review: 3.5 stars
Playing With Fire is about a long lost piece of music and that finds itself in the hands of an American violinist and the mystery that is shrouded around it. This novel offers a dual storyline, one from 1930’s Italy and one in current day. Both were equally intriguing which seldom happens as I tend to enjoy one storyline more than the other.
The writing was fast paced due to the many mini mysteries throughout the novel: Was Julia’s daughter really psycho? Was the music haunted? Did Lorenzo survive the war? Did he get to be with Laura? All of these added layers of complexity to the story and a hunger to keep reading (or listening to in my case).
I’m new to Tess Gerritsen and was only familiar with her being the author of the best selling medical mystery/thriller series of Rizzoli and Isles. This book was a welcome stand-alone historical novel and I believe her first venture into historical fiction. As a medical doctor by trade, her venture into writing has certainly paid off.
As much as I enjoyed listening to this book, the end was too quickly wrapped up. The reader spent so much time invested in all the possible outcomes that I would’ve enjoyed a little more substance as to the character’s aftereffects.
Overall, this was a fast, enjoyable read that brought music, war, mystery and drama to the pages.
Quotes I liked:
Beware the ignorant, Lorenzo. They’re the most dangerous enemy of all, because they are everywhere.”
-“When you cannot see where you are going, when you do not know your final destination, every hour is its own eternity.”
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