THE KEEPSAKE
Tess Gerritsen
Ballantine Books
Thriller
ISBN: 9780345497628
It is becoming increasingly easy for fans of thrillers and mysteries to select their favorite novel by Tess Gerritsen. All they have to say is “her newest one.” She consistently has been topping herself --- particularly over the course of her last five or six books --- and her latest, THE KEEPSAKE, keeps that string intact.
Gerritsen has made a practice of basing her novels on subjects that are somewhat out of the mainstream. The central theme of THE KEEPSAKE is archaeology, beginning with the excitement surrounding Madam X, a mummy presented to Dr. Nicholas Robinson of the Crispin Museum in Boston. Madam X is scheduled to undergo a CT scan in order to possibly determine her age, condition and cause of death. Robinson has invited Boston medical examiner Dr. Maura Isles to the procedure for the purpose of obtaining a medical pathologist’s perspective of the results.
When modern medical science meets antiquity, however, anything can happen, especially the unexpected. Among other things, the CT scan reveals that Madam X sustained a bullet wound, indicating that her death occurred much more recently than originally thought. As a result, Boston police detective Jane Rizzoli is assigned to the case. Her investigation slowly begins to reveal that other women have been murdered, and preserved, in similarly unique ways.
The focal point of the killings seems to be a young, attractive Egyptologist at the Crispin Museum named Josephine Pulcillo, who is disturbed by the discovery of the deaths (one of which involves her in a very bizarre manner). As the reader soon learns, Pulcillo is carrying the burden of a number of secrets with her, the revelation of which may well mean her life. Rizzoli and Isles ultimately discover that the corpses that are turning up blaze a trail into the past marked by passion, obsession and revenge, as secrets kept for decades are inexorably revealed --- or not --- in a final showdown that will reunite some individuals and separate others forever.
THE KEEPSAKE is wonderfully plotted and exquisitely paced. Yet, for all the attention that Gerritsen pays to her story, she never ignores the development of her characters, keeping their individual lives moving forward at different speeds. Isles, for example, is involved in a passionate and frustrating affair with Daniel Brophy, a priest wedded not to another woman but to his clerical duties. The return of Anthony Sansone from THE MEPHISTO CLUB --- just at a point when Isles is in danger and Brophy is unavailable --- portends some intriguing plot developments for the future. But what is especially noteworthy about THE KEEPSAKE is that Gerritsen’s primary focus is not so much on her regular characters but rather on the person and personality of Josephine Pulcillo. Pulcillo is on the run, and for good reason. The “why” and the “who” are the issues that will keep you reading the book from first page to last.
While THE KEEPSAKE is a thriller to its very core, the seed of its center is a mystery. If you are in thrall of Gerritsen’s ability to keep you reading while unconsciously perched at the edge of your seat, it is almost easy to overlook the fact that she has created a perplexing puzzle that seems to defy explanation. Actually, she goes a step further here. Taking the reader to the solution of the mystery that lays at the heart of the novel --- the unseen hand behind the unseen hand, if you will --- she removes another layer that many other authors would have left in place but glossed over. Gerritsen’s ability to probe, and reveal, the nooks and crannies that might otherwise be ignored is but one of the elements that makes her books consistent winners.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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