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Julia's quest uncovers a dark, decades-old secret involving a dangerously powerful family that will stop at nothing to keep Julia from bringing the truth to light.
In a shadowy antiques shop in Rome, violinist Julia Ansdell happens upon a curious piece of music - the Incendio waltz - and is immediately entranced by its unusual composition. Full of passion, torment, and chilling beauty, and seemingly unknown to the world, the waltz, its mournful minor key, its feverish arpeggios, appear to dance with a strange life of their own. Julia is determined to master the complex work and make its melody heard.
Back home in Boston, from the moment Julia's bow moves across the strings, drawing the waltz's fiery notes into the air, something strange is stirred - and Julia's world comes under threat. The music has a terrifying and inexplicable effect on her young daughter, who seems violently transformed. Convinced that the hypnotic strains of Incendio are weaving a malevolent spell, Julia sets out to discover the man and the meaning behind the score.
Her quest beckons Julia to the ancient city of Venice, where she uncovers a dark, decades-old secret involving a dangerously powerful family that will stop at nothing to keep Julia from bringing the truth to light.
"Starred Review. Clear your schedule for this one - you won't want to put it down until you're finished." - Kirkus
"Gerritsen movingly depicts Julia's search, which has some surprising repercussions and builds to a satisfying crescendo." - Publishers Weekly
"The historical details and subtle twists take this nicely paced novel out of the realm of an ordinary thriller. The pages fly by as the fates of Julia and Lorenzo are revealed. This might appeal to readers who enjoyed Geraldine Brooks's People of the Book." - Library Journal
This information about Playing with Fire was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
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Photo © Brian Velenchenko
International bestselling author Tess Gerritsen took an unusual route to a writing career. A Stanford University graduate, Tess went on to gain her MD at the University of California, San Francisco. While on maternity leave as a physician, she began to write fiction. She published her first novel in 1987 and has since sold over forty million copies of books in forty countries, winning the Nero Wolfe Award and the RITA Award. Her novels have been top-three US bestsellers and number one bestsellers abroad. Critics worldwide praise her novels as "pulse-pounding fun" (Philadelphia Inquirer), "scary and brilliant" (Toronto Globe and Mail), and "polished, riveting prose" (Chicago Tribune). Publishers Weekly has dubbed her the "medical suspense queen." Her series featuring homicide detective Jane...
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Poetry is like fish: if it's fresh, it's good; if it's stale, it's bad; and if you're not certain, try it on the ...
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