Playing with Fire

by Tess Gerritsen

What if your child wanted you dead? Julia doesn't understand what is happening to her daughter, but she thinks she knows what's causing it. She is terrified for Lily, and for herself, but what scares her more is that no one believes her. If she is going to help Lily, she will have to find the answers alone, embarking on a search that will take her to the shadowy back streets of Venice. There, Julia uncovers a heartbreaking, long-buried tale of tragedy and devastation - a discovery that puts her in serious danger. Some people will do anything in their power to keep the truth silent...

• ISBN13: 9780593075296
• Publish Date: 5 November 2015 (first published 27 October 2015)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 27 January 2016
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Bantam Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 288
• Language: English

Reviews

[wyvernfriend]

hints at paranormal Intellectually I knew that there had been Jewish people in Italy during the Second World War and that the Nazi's had taken over, for all intents and purposes, but it never really occurred to me that Italian Jews were sent to death camps, of course they were, I had just never truly realised it.
 
I'm not normally a huge fan of audiobooks but this was perfect as an audiobook. There was music intertwined in the story, as there was in the story being told, when there's musicians and mystery pieces of music, audio is a useful medium.
 
The story starts with a violinist, Julia Ansdell, discovering a piece of music in a book she finds in a small Roman antiquities shop.  As she starts to play the piece she realises that it has layers.  However strange things seem to be happening around her daughter after she starts to play. She's afraid that the piece is affecting her daughter. Haunted by her mother's insanity she has to try to keep herself together to find the truth behind the piece.  At the same time there's a story of a lutier family and a gifted magician and the tragedy of being Jewish in Italy during World War II.
 
There are some suggestions of paranormal during the story but most of it is simply explained in ways that somewhat left me feeling cheated.

[Leah]

This was an interesting read, it's Gerritsen's first stand alone since The Bone Garden (and even that featured the lovely Maura Isles) so it was weird to read a Gerritsen book that wasn't Rizzoli and Isles, but it was still a good read.

I was literally stunned when on the second or third chapter there was a dead cat. I mean, books with animal violence really should come with a warning. And it was pretty freaky to realise it was all down to a three year old girl, Julia's three year old girl, all seemingly done because of a piece of music. A piece of music with one of the most devastating back stories I've ever read, and Lorenzo's story was so sad, so awful, you forget how bad the world used to be, especially as it was only 70 years or so ago.

Playing With Fire genuinely surprised me. The twist at the end was magnificent - and I didn't see it coming! I did not see it coming at all. The way the stories intertwined were so good, and it made for a very compelling read.

[kimbacaffeinate]

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

[pamela]

I've always been a fan of crime novels and Tess Gerritsen has long been on my list of crime writers to try. I was expecting a gritty, arson, crime novel when I picked up Playing With Fire but my expectations couldn't have been more wrong!

Playing With Fire is a beautiful novel about love, loss and music set against a modern backdrop of a musician with a familial history of mental illness hanging over her head, and a historical backdrop of Italy in the build up to, and the apex of the Holocaust. It was bittersweet and tragic, yet beautiful and hopeful. There was no voyeurism, just a beautiful homage to those who lost their lives for simply being who they were or for protecting those around them.

This book was such a pleasant surprise, and while there were certain plot elements which were resolved just a little too quickly and conveniently, the overall feeling of the book carried it through and left me feeling humbled and hopeful.