The Keepsake
By Tess Gerritsen
If you like page-turning thrillers that hold your attention page after page, you can’t go with any Tess Gerritsen book that has a “New York Bestseller” attached to it.
Synopsis
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.
Richard says…
I have read more than a half dozen Tess Gerritsen books, never being disappointed by any of them.
Gerritsen is a retired American surgeon, educated in California but likely residing in Boston as almost every book I read by her was set in Boston or Maine which is a comfortable car-driving distance away from the Massachusets capital.
The synopsis above describes this read well underlining it as being suspenseful, fascinating and enthralling. It is all that an more. Gerritsen weaves Egyptian mythology, the mummification process and murder into an engaging thriller that will have you awed at what depths of privation humans will descend. The way victims are killed is captivating and educational. Shrunken heads as written or depicted about is a fact and in this story it is a killing process.
Gerritsen blends fact and fantasy as she weaves them in a suspenseful and exciting story. Once again, an excellent read.
