This book came pretty highly recommended by a friend of mine who I have come to learn shares a great deal in common with me idea wise, not so much entertainment wise. In her defense, straight up mystery is not generally my cup of tea, and I do know that Tess has a legion of fans out there so I’m certainly not in the majority on this opinion.
The Mephisto Club centers around two recurring characters in Garretson’s fiction: Maura Isles and Jane Rizzoli. Jane is a detective and Maura is a medical examiner. They work cases together and in this case, it opens with a gruesome murder early Christmas morning. It's not just any murder, though. "I have sinned" is written in blood, in Latin, on the wall at the scene of the crime. That’s not all, the body has also been ritually dismembered and displayed. Clearly, this is not your standard murderer. As the plot develops there are additional murders, one on the steps of the home where the Mephisto club is meeting that very night.
Over the course of the novel, the two women chase clues trying to solve the murder as Maura is slowly pulled towards the club, who, it turns out, searches out and destroys evil (read demonic evil) all over the world. There are several members, some of whom don’t survive the narrative, but honestly their introductions and reason for being in the club are so rushed I cared not a bit when any of their member got picked off.
I can only assume that this novel relies heavily on the fact that many readers have followed these characters from the beginning. I’ve read quite a bit about what strong female character Jane is and that’s honestly one of the reasons my friend suggested the book. I don’t see it. I thought both female leads were just shy of cliché. There appears to be no depth to Jane other than the haunting experience that happened in some other book with some other killer. The most interesting thing about Maura is that she’s having an affair with a priest, excuse me if I don’t find that very interesting. Maybe in 1956 it would have added to tension and mystery but 2012, c’mon.
Ultimately, the truth is I only finished the book because I was stuck on a plane with nothing else on the Kindle I hadn’t already read. I was bored for a good portion of the book and found the ending to be totally expected and uninspired. I don’t want to spoil it, but I would be shocked if the final 30 pages surprise any readers. Then like a bad movie, it finishes with confirmation that there are more devilish folk to come….
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