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Tess Gerritsen, “The Keepsake”

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Cover design, Julie Metz; cover photo illustration, Monica Gurevich; cover images, Veer (butterflies), Getty Images (woman); http://www.randomhouse.com/book/59278/the-keepsake-a-rizzoli-isles-novel-by-tess-gerritsenWhen a woman and her child are being stalked, hyper-vigilance is the name of the game. Aliases, double- and triple-locked windows and doors, handguns at the ready. It’s impossible to settle anywhere; roots stay stagnant in shallow holes and are easily ripped up and transferred when necessary. But how long can a mother-daughter team stay on the run? Won’t there ever be that one moment, that one night when a mistake is made, when absentmindedness or sheer exhaustion leads to a seemingly insignificant but fatal whoopsie? Perhaps like a window being left open to let in a pleasantly cool summer breeze after the burning sun has descended past the horizon?

Plot Overview: Archeology, Deception and Murder

For the inclusive group of archeology professionals and enthusiasts, the newly discovered mummified “Madame X” is fascinating. When a hospital scan, at which medical examiner Maura Isles is present, reveals that the woman thought to be thousands of years old is actually a recently deceased murder victim, the small society – and readers of the local Boston newspaper – are stunned. Enter Jane Rizzoli, ace detective, and her emotionally fragile partner, Barry Frost.

Jane and Frost dip into the mysteries of the Crispin Museum, a dusty edifice that had Madame X tucked away in its basement, and uncover one cryptic clue after another. The museum president, Simon Crispin, and archeologist Nicholas Robinson are open and trusting, but the museum’s Egyptologist, Josephine Pulcillo, is an enigma. She is able to manipulate Frost and make her escape once, twice, even three times, ever the mysterious lady.

After Madame X is revealed to be a 20-year-old corpse, other odd bodies begin popping up, including a well-preserved bog body and a shrunken head. As the link between the bizarre murders thickens, Jane and Frost crisscross the state, familiarizing themselves with sociopathic young boys and power-hungry older men. It’s only when the detective duo untangles the relationship between the aforementioned psychopathic creepers and Josephine and her mother that the details of the past culminate in a violent confrontation.

Criticisms and Compliments

Tess Gerritsen is one of the more well-known forensic suspense writers, due in large part to her bestselling novel The Bone Garden and the popular television show “Rizzoli and Isles,” which is based on her series. With such hype, however, comes high expectations, and The Keepsake, while regarded as one of Gerritsen’s stronger pieces of work, doesn’t quite hit the mark. The problems lie in several areas: the relationships between the characters (Josephine and Nicholas, Medea and Gemma, Maura and Jane, Jane and Barry), for whatever reason, read as a little shallow; the tidbits of archeology peppered throughout the novel are intriguing, but could have been further explored (nothing wrong with a little education, right?); and the events from previous novels aren’t clearly presented, leaving the reader in the dark. Are any of these factors deal breakers? Absolutely not. Could addressing them have made the story better? Sure.

The key to The Keepsake’s success, then, is not the relationships or the character development, but the twisting plot. Gerritsen has clearly mastered the cliffhanger ending, and it is impossible not to take a peek at the next chapter just to see what happens next. Like a good mystery, too, the action snowballs toward the climax so every chapter, every interaction reveals a new truth; this mad dash to the finish is what makes The Keepsake worth reading.

For future readers of Tess Gerritsen, it might be worth watching “Rizzoli and Isles” first just to get an idea of Jane and Maura’s characters. Warning, though: Angie Harmon (“Jane Rizzoli”) and Sasha Alexander (“Maura Isles”) are significantly better looking than their novel counterparts, and Maura, in the books, is a raven-haired, bobbed beauty, not a woman with glossy “brond” waves.

Source:

  • Gerritsen, Tess. The Keepsake. Ballantine Books (Reprint edition), 2009 ISBN 9780345497635


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