The Keepsake: A Novel | Tess Gerritsen | Takes stalking to new heights

The Keepsake: A Novel | Tess Gerritsen | Couldn't put it down ....

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The Keepsake: A Novel

	The Keepsake: A Novel Tess Gerritsen Ballantine Books, 2008 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 20 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen knows how to expertly dissect a brilliantly suspenseful story, all the while keeping fascinated readers riveted to her side. By turns darkly enthralling and relentlessly surprising, The Keepsake showcases an author at the peak of her storytelling powers.

For untold years, the perfectly preserved mummy had lain forgotten in the dusty basement of Boston?s Crispin Museum. Now its sudden rediscovery by museum staff is both a major coup and an attention-grabbing mystery. Dubbed ?Madam X,? the mummy?to all appearances, an ancient Egyptian artifact?seems a ghoulish godsend for the financially struggling institution. But medical examiner Maura Isles soon discovers a macabre message hidden within the corpse?horrifying proof that this ?centuries-old? relic is instead a modern-day murder victim.

To Maura and Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli, the forensic evidence is unmistakable, its implications terrifying. And when the grisly remains of yet another woman are found in the hidden recesses of the museum, it becomes chillingly clear that a maniac is at large?and is now taunting them.
Archaeologist Josephine Pulcillo?s blood runs cold when the killer?s cryptic missives are discovered, and her darkest dread becomes real when the carefully preserved corpse of yet a third victim is left in her car like a gruesome offering?or perhaps a ghastly promise of what?s to come.

The twisted killer?s familiarity with post-mortem rituals suggests to Maura and Jane that he may have scientific expertise in common with Josephine. Only Josephine knows that her stalker shares a knowledge even more personally terrifying: details of a dark secret she had thought forever buried.

Now Maura must summon her own dusty knowledge of ancient death traditions to unravel his twisted endgame. And when Josephine vanishes, Maura and Jane have precious little time to derail the Archaeology Killer before he adds another chilling piece to his monstrous collection.

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Takes stalking to new heights

Jane Rizzoli is one of the strongest female detective characters in the genre, and, after having her baby girl, she's back in action. Jane shines in this serial killer/stalker/confused identity thriller, as she struggles to unkink the many tangled lines in these crimes. Gerritsen appears to be attempting to show Jane as a whole person - mother, partner, cop, friend - and it's refreshing to see her uncertain at times, empathizing with other parents at others, trying to be supportive of her soon to be divorced detective partner. And the crimes in this installment are ingenious. While it's possible to make good guesses as to what "went down", there are some gratifying zigs and zags along the way, and at the conclusion, to keep the reader absorbed. 5 stars.

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Couldn't put it down ....

Back to her best ... Bone Garden was disappointing ... but she's back with Rizzoli & Isles. Great story, lots of intrigue, and scary! 5 stars, can't wait for the next one!

Murder, Mystery, Mayhem, and a Museum

Watch out Patricia Cornwell! Tess Gerritsen is at the top of her game with The Keepsake - the best novel I've read in a long time! I was really impressed with Gerritsen's The Bone Garden: A Novel published last year and thought it was her finest work to date, but The Keepsake may be even better! I am a slow reader, and was able to read the 349 pages of The Keepsake in less than a week. Chapters 17,18, and 19 seemed a little slow to me but the rest of the book is full of surprises!

One thing that helps make this book so great is having Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles working together again. The Crispin Museum serves as a great setting for a novel featuring Mummification, Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem. As an added bonus to a fascinating story, readers learn how the process of mummification works, how to create a "bog body" and are given detailed instruction on how to make a shrinking head (please don't practice these methods on your neighbors!). Also in The Keepsake, we learn the dire consequences of having a disorganized museum of freaky items that you can't account for.

Believable, intriguing, fast-paced, page-turning, easy to read - it's everything I love in a novel!

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It could have been a 5-star book

If "Jane" had been "Rizzoli", and there had been just a little bit more character development, this book would have been over the top. The writing, as always, is excellent. The plot twists. The archaeological information is fascinating. But the family life is missing. Maura's internal questioning continued her story, but I missed Jane's mother, and Gabriel Dean. They were shadowy figures dispensed with in a few paragraphs. I like to see the "Jane at home" parts of the story -- it adds such dimension to her character. It didn't, of course, keep me from staying up half the night to finish the book. The writing and the plot pulled me right along. I couldn't put it down.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

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