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    Playing with Fire: A Novel
    Playing with Fire: A Novel
    Playing with Fire: A Novel
    Audiobook6 hours

    Playing with Fire: A Novel

    Written by Tess Gerritsen

    Narrated by Julia Whelan and Will Damron

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    In a masterful standalone thriller by New York Times bestselling author of the Rizzoli & Isles series, Tess Gerritsen, a mother is haunted by a very old piece of music she finds in a strange antique shop in Rome.

    The first time violinist Julia Ansdell picked up the Incendio Waltz in a darkened antique shop in Rome, she knew it was a strikingly unusual composition. The minor key and complex feverish arpeggios have a life of their own. But when she plays the piece, Julia blacks out and awakens to find her small daughter implicated in acts of surprising violence. When she travels to Venice to find the previous owner of the music, she uncovers a heart-stoppingly dark secret that not only dates back to the horrors of the Holocaust, but also directly involves a dangerously powerful family who would stop at nothing to keep Julia from bringing the truth to light.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateOct 27, 2015
    ISBN9781501248030
    Playing with Fire: A Novel
    Author

    Tess Gerritsen

    Internationally bestselling author Tess Gerritsen is a graduate of Stanford University and went on to medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, where she was awarded her M.D. Since 1987, her books have been translated into 37 languages, and more than 25 million copies have been sold around the world. She has received the Nero Wolfe Award and the Rita Award, and she was a finalist for the Edgar award. Now retired from medicine, she writes full time. She lives in Maine.

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    Reviews for Playing with Fire

    4/5

    312 ratings67 reviews

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    • 1/5
      Nice read but very sad. i keep thinking of all those people in the camp and how they carried on living.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      An amazing book!!! I flew through it! The twist ending was a shock!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Phenomenal audiobook, haunting, informative. The music is a really great addition
    • 5/5
      Haughting. A sad story that must always be told.
    • 5/5
      Ok, I really nearly loved this book. Maybe my expectations were too low and that made it better for me. There were twists and turns and a tragic love story and WWII and a possibly murderous little kid. I couldn't stop reading and I very much enjoyed the resolution.

      It's not out until the end of October but if you like mysteries and thrillers, you may want to put it on your list.

      I'd give it 4.5 if I could.
    • 5/5
      While in Italy, Julia buys an old piece of sheet music titled Incendio by an L. Todesco, whom she’s never heard of. When she plays the composition at home in the U.S., Lily ...her 3 year old daughter...appears to go crazy...killing their cat...stabbing Julia in the leg with a shard of glass and causing her to fall down a flight of stairs. Does the music possess an evil quality? Or does the problem lie within Julia herself, as her husband, Rob, thinks? As Julia flies off to Italy to try and find out more about the piece of music...we switch time periods to 1940 to learn more about the composer. This is war-torn Italy and many dreams are not coming true for the people of this era...and such is the case for young Todescoa and the love of his life...Laura. As the two plot lines converge...people die...and Julia places herself and others in mortal danger. In fact the stakes are even higher than she ever imagined. My advise...clear your schedule and bring plenty of food with you when you start reading. You will not want to put it down.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book very much. I have read many other novels by Tess Gerritsen, she is one of my favorite authors. This was a fine addition to her works.

      The book felt more like two shorter books. The first one tells the story of Julia, a musician who discovers a piece of old sheet music in an antique shop in Italy. The second is the story of Lorenzo, the composer of the sheet music, and his life in Nazi occupied Italy.

      Lorenzo's story was amazing. Very touching and compelling. If the whole book had been about him, I would have been satisfied. It was a beautiful story of love and destruction.

      Julia's story was a little less interesting. It seemed more ordinary. When she plays the music it seems to induce violent outbursts in her 3 year old daughter. Yet no one believes her. I was annoyed that her husband was not more supportive of her, and tried to make her feel that she was crazy. Julia runs away to Italy to track down the story of the music, and that's when her story starts to feel a little silly. But the story of Lorenzo is so tragic and beautiful that it elevates the entire book.

      I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley
    • 5/5
      One of the best books I have read this year! Just read it.
    • 5/5
      This is a standalone book from Tess Gerritsen and it was not what I was expecting at all, it was however, a good story. It is actually two stories, Julia's in the present and Lorenzo's in the 1940s. These two stories come together with a piece of music.

      Julia is a violinist who collects old music. While in Rome, she comes upon an old music book of Gypsy music. When she opens the book, a piece of handwritten sheet music falls out and she wants to play the score, badly. She purchases the book and extra sheet music. Once home, she begins to play the waltz which is extremely difficult and haunting. While practising, it appears her daughter stabs the family pet, stabs Julia with a shard of glass and purposely leaves a toy on the stairs to trip her mother. Julia in convinced that this haunting piece of music has caused her three year old daughter to become evil. She wants to find out more about the music.

      Enter Lorenzo, an Italian Jew in 1939. He is an violinist who with his beautiful partner, Laura, enter a music contest. When they are kicked out of the contest because he is Jewish, Laura tries to stand up for him and he is beaten. They fall in love, but Lorenzo knows they cannot be together. He captured and deported in the facist regime during WWII. Because he is a musician, he is not sent to the death camp, but kept at the transit camp to play in an orchestra for the commandant. The camp eventually builds a creamatorium due to the number of prisoners and those killed or tortured to death. While there he pens the music for Incendio, while listening to the screams and smelling the burnt flesh.

      While Julia continues to search for the history of the music, a political intrigue develops. The book ends in the pulling all the storylines together with a very satisfactory ending.
    • 4/5
      Playing with Fire is an amazing read that is hard to put down, with an incredible and emotional storyline.
    • 2/5
      A mothers mental disturbance with a potential haunted piece of music (potentially haunted by the emotional pain of Italian Jewish lovers from the Holocaust), not my favourite Gerritsen.
    • 4/5
      It seems a bit cheap to use the Holocaust as a back story for mysterious goings on, but in fact this sort of sideways glance at it is more interesting than the cover story. I've been to Venice and never really got a feel of the place. This is part of its history. I suppose it feels a bit Dan Brownish.
    • 5/5
      After listening to Playing with Fire by Tess Gerritsen, I wanted to share it with everyone. The beautiful violin music binds the story together and gives it deep. Starting out with a gentle waltz and ending in a sort of dark panic. There are two stories that come together because of the written score of this music.Lorenzo, a Jewish violinist in the 1940s in Italy falls in love with Laura, a cellist who was beautiful but badly burned by tipping over something on the stove by accident. Laura is not Jewish and is naive about the dangers of being a Jew in that time but she loved Lorenzo with all her heart.Flipping forward in time, Julia, a violinist is shopping in Italy for a memento of her trip. She finds an old book of music and a handwritten score on a separate page falls out when she examines a book. She purchases and decides to master it. After she returns to United States, she begins to feel that the music is cursed because of what happens when she plays it.So, this is music, mystery, historical fiction and a love story all in one tale. The music is what made this story so much richer and meaningful.I hope that you listen go the audio version of this book.
    • 3/5
      As usual, Tess Gerritsen doesn't fail to engage the reader and suck them into the world created in her pages. I liked the way she formed the characters and detailed their backgrounds. However, I felt that the book seemed cut short. As if she decided to just wrap up the book and left a lot of open ended questions. While the book had a lot of promise in the beginning, I felt it ended too abruptly.
    • 3/5
      Thank you to Librarything for a copy of this book from their giveaway program. Tess GerritSen is always a good read and she does not disappoint with this book.I love historical fiction and a mystery and this book delivers both of these genres. This book takes place both in Italy and the United States. It also takes place in present day and during World War II. The story revolves around a piece of music that was bought in an antique store in Rome. This is not atypical Tess Gerrit Sen novel but as a masterful storyteller it works quite well and kept me turning the pages!
    • 3/5
      I continue to read Tess Gerritson because I liked her early work quite a lot. The Surgeon is the one I remember best. Her most recent books have not appealed nearly as much.In Playing with Fire a child seems to be influenced in a terrible way by a piece of music her mother plays on the violin. Before we can resolve this, we learn of the history of the piece, and mom investigates, presumably to find the truth as well. Then things get crazy - murder and mayhem. The plot takes a ridiculous turn to explain the violence before the final resolution of the original mother and child conflict. It was all too much for me.
    • 4/5
      Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.Julia Ansdell, a professional violinist, finds an old music manuscript in a creepy antique shop in Rome. The music seems to have a drastic effect on her young daughter, and eventually there is conflict in her marriage as she becomes obsessed with the music. She sets out to discover the source of the mysterious manuscript, and stumbles on a dangerous secret.This was a compelling story. It took a brief turn about 1/3 of the way along, in a direction I didn't expect and didn't like; but that's not really the direction the story followed as it progressed.I raced through this book. It's the story not only of Julia's quest for the history of the manuscript, but also of a young Jewish musician during the Holocaust. The dual story lines kept me reading, so that I finished it in a day. The author's historical note and acknowledgments at the end of the book (at least the edition I was given) add to the grounding in Italian history,
    • 4/5
      Julia Ansdell has a problem. The professional violinist acquires a mysterious piece of music while in Rome, but as soon as she begins playing it, odd and violent events begin occurring. Playing with Fire follows her quest to learn the history of the music and solve the mystery of just why it is causing so much chaos in her life.The novel is fast-paced and the mystery element immediately drew me in. As a musician myself, I especially appreciated author Tess Gerritsen’s description of the music and all of the emotional elements associated with playing it. She managed to strike just the right balance between providing enough detail to bring the book alive for readers while still maintaining a fast-paced plot that adds twists and turns every step of the way. The historical elements of the tale were well-researched and beautifully written.Readers can feel the mental turmoil Julia encounters as the novel progresses, as well as the love, anger, and despair Lorenzo feels as his story unfolds. Ms. Gerritsen switches between past and present seamlessly. The ending chapters where the root cause of the violent events is unveiled seemed a bit rushed compared to the rest of the tale, and the ending will come as no surprise to a careful reader. However, Playing with Fire is a quick read that you won’t be able to put down. I highly recommend it to anyone seeking a mystery infused with historical elements from World War II Europe.
    • 3/5
      Playing with Fire is both interesting and thought provoking, although you need to wait until near the end to get the payoff. The story tugs at your emotions. The downside is that the plot doesn't flow particularly well and there lack enough nuggets to keep driving the reader forward. I stopped reading this several times and considered abandoning it at one point. I'm glad I didn't, because the ending was worth it, but it is not a perfect work. Still, it is entertaining and the characters are the best part.
    • 4/5
      The protagonist in Tess Gerritsen’s Playing with Fire is a waltz entitled Incendio, composed by L. Todesco.It is on Julia’s next to last day in Rome that she walks into an old, dark and kind-of-creepy antique shop where she sees a book of gypsy tunes. Opening the book Incendio, a single sheet of music slips out. It is a waltz, unconventional as it is alluring. As a violinist she can hear the notes and she can’t resist buying it. .From that point on, her life and the life of her husband and child change forever. Once back home in America, Julia plays Incendio and as she does her 3-year old daughter Lily is overtaken by the music. Violence becomes a subtext in the child’s brain and she begins by stabbbing their precious cat to death. Then she takes a piece of broken glass and stabs her mother’s thigh. Her third act is to place a toy at the top of the stairs so that Julia trips on it and falls down the stairs. Her mother is convinced her is trying to kill her.But is she? Convinced that his wife is losing her mind and wants to have her committed but instead Lily returns to Rome to try and figure out, what about this piece of music, could be responsible for Lily’s actions. In attempting to unearth the truth, the reader discovers horrid truths about Todesco; how he lived and how he died; where he died. As this reveal becomes disclosed, attempts are made on Julia’s life. As much as she is committed to uncovering the truth an unknown party is determined to keep the truth hidden.As Julia sees the passion and the evil which encapsulate the composer’s life, her own stuggle is revealed to her .Give the richness of the plot, as well as the fine writing, I found the ending disappointing. It seems like Gerritsen need to tie up loose ends and did just that. Incendio is a really good read. I just think it could have been better.
    • 4/5
      Julia buys a book of music while in Italy and in the book is a sheet of music called Incendio. It is a waltz and she is anxious to play it. When she plays, her daughter has a reaction to it. Julia thinks her daughter is trying to kill her. She embarks on a journey to find the author of this beautiful, haunting song. She travels to Venice and finds there is a family who wants to keep a dark secret and will stop at nothing to keep it.
    • 4/5
      I recieved this book in exchange for a review. I love Tess Gerritsens' books. I have never been disappointed and the same is true for "Playing with Fire". This is a perfect read as Halloween approaches. I found the story spooky, intriguing and captivating. I loved the historical aspect as well. The story goes back and forth between today and 1938-1944. It's amazing how great a story that can be told around a single sheet of music. This book is definately worth the time to read.
    • 2/5
      I love Tess Gerritsen books, but unfortunately not this one. It started slow and never picked up. I kept thinking that it would catch my interest, but it never did.
    • 2/5
      Let me just say that I love Tess Gerritsen's writing and have read and enjoyed pretty much all of her books. That said I have to say that I just couldn't get into this book. I found it slow and boring, actually annoying to the point that I didn't get past the 4th chapter.I don't usually like to review books until I finish them but I've picked this book back up twice and just can't get into it so I've given it to someone else as I know I'm not going to pick it up again.
    • 4/5
      I love Tess Gerritsen's Rizzoli & Isles books so I was excited to read this stand-alone book also. Had I known that this book was so different I probably wouldn't have read it - and that would have been my loss. The book handles a very difficult subject with grace and sensitivity. While I'm not into reading history, this book completely sucked me in. Once I started reading it you couldn't have taken the book away from me if you tried. I'm so glad I gave the book a try. Bravo, Ms Gerritsen!
    • 4/5
      A musician buys a book of gypsy music while in Italy. An unpublished waltz falls out of the book. When she begins to play the music, strange things happen to her. She searches and finds that the music was written by an Italian Jew during WW II and finally gives him his due while trying to escape her own demons and someone who is after her. Well done. Action from beginning to end. You will not want to put it down - I didn't - I read it in one day. The book touches on the fate of Italian Jews during WWII, which is not a group you hear very much about.
    • 5/5
      A love story, yes, but not a romance novel. Set both in modern times, and during World War II, this story is much more. It's a tale about the power of music, compassion, death, love, intrigue to name a few. This is at it's most basic, an excellent book!
    • 4/5
      While I can’t say I enjoyed this book as much as I enjoyed the other books I have read by her (switching genres can be a smidge strange when you are used to one kind of genre from an author and that kind alone) it was just as well-written as every other book I have ever read by her. Getting into the two plots that run side by side in the story wasn’t as easy as I had hoped but after a bit I got into the swing of it. And while I would definitely warn anyone who liked the Rizzoli and Isles books that this is an entirely different story? I could see myself recommending this book to people who I thought may enjoy the plot.
    • 3/5
      A stand alone book by the author of the Rizzoli and Isles series. It spans back to WWII, so while there's a bit of historical fiction to it, there's some mystery too.
    • 5/5
      I admire an author that steps out of the comfort zone of their popular series to right a free standing book. This one is maybe a tiny bit too "woo hoo" for my taste, but as always with Ms. gerritsen, a very well written book. Recommended for fan and new readers alike.