O Clube Mefisto - Tess Gerritsen

Comecei a ler este livro no dia 31/01/2012 e acabei no dia 02/02/2012.

O mal pode espalhar-se como uma doença? A prática Jane Rizzoli, detective na Brigada de Homicídios de Bóston, não acredita, nem por um minuto, em forças sobrenaturais. Quando analisa o local do crime busca a mente do criminoso, vasculha entre vestígios para encontrar provas, para chegar ao assassino. Para este caso talvez tenha contudo de por alguns dos seus preconceitos de lado... Com a valiosa ajuda de média legista, Maura Isles, investiga a sucessão de crimes em que as vítimas são desmembradas e em que uma apocalíptica mensagem é inscrita nos corpos. O estranho Clube Mefisto, que investiga a origem genética do mal, oferece-se para ajudar a polícia, mas mesmo eles, habituados a lidar com a morte, se sentem atemorizados com os sinais deixados pelo serial-killer.
Um thriller assinado por Tess Gerritsen, a combinar ciência, crime e romance. Médica de formação, a escritora norte-americana decidiu dedicar-se à ficção aliando os seus conhecimentos em medicina e investigação forense a uma poderosa imaginação criminal. Uma combinação a fazer-nos tremer a cada página...



«...[Tess Gerritsen é] uma das rainhas de um híbrido género entre o romance e o thriller.»
Kirkus Reviews

«...a terrífica marca de escrita de Tess Gerritsen passa pelo sinistro detalhe médico/ forense e pelo arrepiante suspense.»
Bookmarks Magazine

Tess Gerritsen, M.D., (born June 12, 1953) is a Chinese-American novelist and retired physician.[1] Her first name is really Terry; she decided to feminize it when she was a writer of romance novels.
Early lifeTess Gerritsen was the child of a Chinese immigrant and a Chinese American seafood chef in San Diego, California. While growing up, Gerritsen often dreamt of writing her own Nancy Drew novels.[3] Although she longed to be a writer, her family had reservations about the sustainability of a writing career, prompting Gerritsen to choose a career in medicine.[4] In 1975, Gerritsen graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. in Anthropology, intrigued by the ranges of human behavior.[5] She went on to study medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.[4] She received her medical degree in 1979 and started work as a physician in Honolulu, Hawai'i.[6][7]

While on maternity leave, she submitted a short story to Honolulu Magazine’s statewide fiction contest. Her story, "On Choosing the Right Crack Seed," won first prize and she received $500.[6][8] The story focused on a young male reflecting on a difficult relationship with his mother. Gerritsen claimed the story allowed her to deal with her own childhood turmoil, including the repeated suicide attempts by her mother.

Early writing careerInspired by the romance novels she enjoyed reading while working as a doctor, Gerritsen’s first novels were romantic thrillers.[6] After two unpublished 'practice novels', Call After Midnight was bought by publisher Harlequin Intrigue in 1986 and published a year later.[9] Gerritsen continued on to write another eight romantic thrillers for Harlequin Intrigue and Harper Paperbacks.

Genre shift
Gerritsen at a book signing.In 1996, Gerritsen published her first medical thriller novel, Harvest.[9] Having already decided to pursue the medical thriller genre, the plot was inspired by a conversation with a retired homicide detective who had recently been travelling in Russia. He told her that young orphans were vanishing from the streets of Moscow, and police believed the kidnapped children were being shipped abroad as organ donors.[10] Harvest was Gerritsen’s first novel to be published in hardcover, and it marked her debut on the New York Times bestseller list at #13. Following Harvest, Gerritsen wrote three subsequent bestselling medical thrillers, Life Support, Bloodstream, and Gravity.

In 2001, Gerritsen's first crime thriller, The Surgeon, was released introducing homicide detective Jane Rizzoli. Although Rizzoli was only a secondary character in The Surgeon, the character has been a central focus of a series of nine books along with medical examiner Dr. Maura Isles[15] and the Rizzoli & Isles television series with Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander portraying the main characters respectively.

Although most recent publications have been in the Rizzoli/Isles series, Gerritsen wrote a stand-alone historical thriller, The Bone Garden in 2007. The Bone Garden, a tale of gruesome murders, takes place primarily in 1830s Boston and includes a character based upon Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes.[17][18] Gerritsen's books have been published in thirty-one countries and have sold 15 million copies.

Rizzoli/Isles series

The Surgeon (2001) introduces police detective Jane Rizzoli
The Apprentice (2002) introduces medical examiner Dr. Maura Isles
The Sinner (2003)
Body Double (2004)
Vanish (2005)
The Mephisto Club (2006)
The Keepsake / Keeping the Dead (US / UK, 2008)
Ice Cold / The Killing Place (US / UK, 2010)
The Silent Girl (US / UK, 2011) [25]