The "twist" ending was terrible, and took this book from a fun, fast read to a stupid one

This book is crushing, with a very melancholy end. But so so well written, I was turning the pages quickly wanting to find out what was next. The ending surprised me and left me feeling hopeful and helplessly sad at the same time. This author is becoming a quick favorite.

The plot sounded quite fascinating.

We have a musician who buys a one-of-a-kind piece of sheet music in a shop in Rome. When she plays it, odd and terrible things begin to happen around her daughter. The music is tied in to the story of its composer, a Jewish man who lived in Venice at the time of WW2.

The audio version definitely added a little something special to the telling as there were eerie violin music interspersed throughout and any audio book that contains foreign accents normally has me hooked.

The reason why I am not giving this a higher rating is two-fold:
1) The two vastly different tales just didn’t mash up well. The leap between the stories was quite jarring because on the one hand you have a modern story with an initial hint of the paranormal and on the other Nazi occupied Italy.

2) The final twist felt like a soft fizzle rather than a big BANG

I have little knowledge of fascist Italy during WW2 and the historical detail of Lorenzo’s story seems to have been grounded in a lot of fact. This and the author’s endnotes were quite interesting.

At a glance, other reviewers who are longstanding fans of this author do not compare this book favourably to her Rizzoli & Isles series, so perhaps I will give one of those a try.

This was not a bad story but I think the modern day portion could have been executed better.

I finished this in 24 hours. I couldn't put it down. It was suspenseful and haunting, a fantastic read.

This was such an interesting read! I love the dual timeline!

I am going to be purposely vague as the story is best left for the reader to discover. The story begins when Julia Ansdell discovers a piece of composition called the Incendio Waltz in a little antique shop in Rome. Julia is a violinist and loves collecting old music.

She returns home to her doting husband and three-year-old daughter. Mother and daughter spend their first day home together and while her daughter plays, Julia picks up the piece and begins playing it on her violin. As she becomes caught up in this haunting piece, something happens and she is pulled from the music to find blood on her daughter’s hands. From here, the tale is chilling as Gerritsen leads us on a tale to discover the music’s origin and save her daughter. Julia soon finds herself in danger, not only from those around her but also from an even bigger more powerful threat.

Gerritsen's tale is dark, beautiful and suspenseful. She held me completely spellbound. as the outside world slipped away. I tried to determine if our unreliable narrator was losing her mind or the only one who grasps what is happening. In between our riveting present day story, we learn about a young Jewish violinist living in Venice during WW II. Beautifully researched with characters I came to care about this aspect of the story was powerful giving the reader insight into this troubled time and the atrocities this young man and his family faced.

Playing with Fire was brilliant from the suspense to the story that unfolds. The way in which Gerritsen tied these stories together. The reveal on the origin of the composition itself and answers to our present day mystery raised the hair on the back of my neck and made me shiver. It is the type of story I will remember a year from now and ten year from now.

Playing with Fire was brilliant from the suspense to the story that unfolds. The way in which Gerritsen tied these stories together, and the reveal on the composition itself and answers to our present day mystery raised the hair on the back of my neck and made me shiver.

Playing with Fire is a must read for fans of mystery thrillers, unreliable narrators and Word War II history. Tess Gerritsen is an auto-buy for me and never disappoints. Her stories are fresh, chilling and beautifully executed.

Copy provided by publisher. This review was originally posted on Caffeinated Book Reviewer

I usually like Tess Gerritsen's work... this is not her best.

This is hard to rate because it was an exciting read, but the story is very flawed. The two interweaving plots are both fast-paced and intriguing, but their link and all of the complicating factors feel forced and rushed. I guess I would have preferred either a book twice as long with the rushed story threads fully fleshed out or a simplified plot with a tighter conclusion. I enjoy her writing very much so I would still say it's worth picking up, just be ready to roll with the punches.

I discussed this book with the author over at the All the Books Show podcast. Listen in here: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/author-interview-tess-gerritsen

I have the habit of not really reading the description of books before reading the book. So to say I was surprised by the way this story played out is an understatement.

Here's my review of this book, without spoilers. This is not like the Rizzoli & Isles books. But it was equally as fascinating to read. And while I spent the first part of the book deciding if this was really going to be a horror novel, it becomes a rich story with many historical aspects. Thoroughly enjoyed.