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Tess Gerritsen
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Genre
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Media
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Book
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Publisher | Bantam | ||
ISBN | 9780553817065 | ||
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Reviewer
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Gareth
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Synopsis
Today, they will find her body. I know how it will happen. I can picture, quite vividly, the sequence of events that will lead to the discovery...In Boston, there's a killer on the loose: a killer who targets lone women, who breaks into their apartments and performs terrifying ritualistic acts of torture on his victims before finishing them off. His surgical skills lead police to suspect he is a physician - a physician who, instead of saving lives, takes them. But as homicide detective, Thomas Moore and his partner Jane Rizzoli begin their investigation, they make a startling discovery. Closely linked to these killings is Catherine Cordell, a beautiful medic with a mysterious past. Two years ago, she was subjected to a horrifying rape and attempted murder but shot her attacker dead. Now, she is being targeted by this new killer who seems to know all about her past, her work at the Pilgrim Medical Center, and where she lives. The man she believes she killed seems to be stalking her once again, and this time he knows exactly where to find her...
Review
This was one of my favourite crime books of recent years - alongside Mark Billinghams "Sleepy Head". It's a slick read, fast paced and very credible in it's descriptions of the medical and forensic areas surrounding the horrific murders. It's also interesting to get a female perspective in the serial killer genre, Gerritsens use of Jane Rizzoli, as the detective assigned to the case, and Catherine Cordell, who is hunted by the Surgeon, adds more depth to an already multi-layered story. There are the numerous twists and turns that you would expect in a "serial killer" novel, and the obligatory use of red herrings; but none of them feel superfluous to the story and add to the growing tension.
I had trouble putting this book down - it gripped me right until the end. The Surgeon is razor sharp and tightly plotted and the only time I felt as if I actually were reading a novel, rather than actually living it, was when the romance sub-plot started poking it's head into the proceedings - but then I don't suppose you can have murder and mayhem throughout the story, can you? Even "Silence of the Lambs" had a romantic sub-plot!
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