BOOK REVIEW: I know a Secret by Tess Gerritsen

In a house decorated with horror movie posters, a young woman's body is found. She lies on her bed, two bloodied objects clutched in her palm.
Detective Jane Rizzoli and forensic pathologist Dr Maura Isles are called to the murder scene but are unable to find an immediate cause of death.
Their investigation leads them to a high-profile case that was seemingly solved years before. But when another body is found in horrific circumstances, the link between the two victims clear. Was the wrong person sent to prison? Is the real killer out there right now, picking off new targets?
One woman knows the killer is coming for her next. She's the only one who can help Rizzoli and Isles catch him.
But she's hiding something...

Publisher: Bantam Press

Pages: 314

I Know a Secret is Tess Gerritsen's twelfth book in the Rizzoli and Isles series and it is so good. I read it in just over a day and it had me gripped from the very beginning. 

I personally think that now we are twelve books in, it would be quite hard for a new reader to start with this one. It would still be a good read but I also think that they wouldn't get as much from it if they didn't know the main characters' history. Initially I thought that this book was mainly focused on Jane and her parents' tempestuous marriage but as the book developed, Maura's tragic relationship with her mother plus her complex ties with Father Daniel Brophy are also explored. It was good to catch up with both female leads and as usual the close relationship between these two strong women is evident throughout. 

The book begins with Jane and Maura attending a crime scene, the body has been savagely mutilated  yet there is no obvious cause of death. Maura, for once has to admit that she has no idea what killed this young woman. Another body shows up and Maura quickly realises that there is a link; both bodies have been altered after death, altered in order to leave a terrifying warning. Knowing they now have a serial killer on the loose, both women begin looking at a much wider picture and the clues lead them to a sexual abuse trial from many years ago where a whole family was found guilty and sent to prison. But what if the wrong people were punished? That would mean that the real killer is still out there but who will they go for next?

I Know a Secret is very clever, it really did keep me guessing until the very end. As with all of Gerritsen's books, she does not hold back on the gory details and her medical knowledge brings a gritty reality to the images she creates.

As suggested by the title of this book, it deals with secrets but not just  within the crime. Jane and Maura both have secrets of their own which impact on their daily lives and happiness. The murderer has been using the secret they know to wield power over another's life for many years. I felt that Gerritsen was ultimately showing that the truth has to come out, no matter how devastating the repercussions are. 

If you are a fan of this series then I know you won't be disappointed, as with all of Gerritsen's books, you are truly in the hands of a master story-teller, you won't be able to put this down. 

BOOK REVIEW: Playing With Fire by Tess Gerritsen

What if your child wanted you dead?
Julia doesn't understand why her daughter has so violently turned against her, 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 must find the answers alone, embarking on a search that will take her halfway around the world, to Venice.
There, Julia uncovers a heart-breaking, 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...whatever the cost. 

Publisher: Bantam Press

Pages: 283

I've finally got round to reading Tess Gerritsen's latest book. I flew through it and enjoyed it but I did feel that it was very different to her other stand alone books.
Julia finds a piece of music hidden in an antique book that she buys. On playing the music, strange things begin to happen, especially to her daughter Lily who seems to have turned against her. Julia becomes terrified of her own child and she is convinced that her strange behaviour is connected to the music that she found. She sets out on a search that takes her all the way to Venice; a tragic tale with consequences reaching into the present is uncovered putting Julia in grave danger.
Playing With Fire flits between the present day and the time of the Holocaust. I really was not expecting the historical fiction element of the book but I felt that it was very well done. I thought that Tess Gerritsen presented the story of the persecuted Jews in Italy very well; it was not something that I knew a lot about and the research done in order to create an accurate account was clear to see.
This book felt a little more like a horror than a thriller, the scenes between Julia and Lily were particularly sinister and frightening and this tension was maintained throughout the book. I would highly recommend Playing With Fire, it was interesting to see Tess Gerritsen going in a slightly different direction and she is still one of my favourite authors.

Book Review: Die Again by Tess Gerritsen

In Boston, Detective Jane Rizzoli and Forensic Pathologist Maura Isles are investigating a bizarre murder. A man has been found gutted and hanging in his home. When the remains of another victim are found, it is clear that this murderer has been a work for years, and not just in Boston.
Six years ago, a group of travellers set off on an African safari. None of them are seen again- apart from one woman who stumbled out of the bush weeks later, barely alive. The only woman to have seen the killer's face.
Has the 'safari killer' resurfaced in Boston? Jane is sent to Africa to find the one link between the two cases- the only survivor- and convince her to face death once again...

Publisher: Bantam Press

Pages: 352

This is the 11th book in the Rizzoli and Isles series, it had a slightly different feel to some of the others but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. As with most in this series, some of the action takes place in Boston but a large part of this book took place in
Africa and this was really refreshing.
Jane Rizzoli is called to a murder scene where a hunter and taxidermist has been gutted and left hanging upside down. Maura helps with the investigation and when another body is discovered they soon realise that the victims are linked and that there may be many more. Jane is led to the disappearance of a group of travellers in the African bush more than six years ago. Only one woman survived and now Jane think she may hold the clue to identify the killer.
I felt that Die Again focused much more on Jane than Maura and in this particular book the author was looking at the pressures Rizzoli has out of work. She has a very stressful and demanding job and on top of that she is a wife, mother and daughter, all three positions pulling her in different directions.
I found Tess Gerritsen's writing style as gripping as usual; the plot was fast paced and very clever. I thought I had it all worked out at one point and I loved the plot twists along the way. This series of books never disappoints and I urge you to read this one.

Book Review: The Killing Place by Tess Gerritsen

Something terrible has happened in the snowbound village of Kingdom Come, Wyoming. Twelve, eerily identical houses stand dark and abandoned. The people who lived in them appear to have vanished, seemingly into thin air.
Maura Isles is driving through the area with a group of friends when they find themselves trapped in a snowstorm. They stumble into the abandoned village to take shelter. Their nightmare has only just begun.
Days later, Jane Rizzoli flies to Wyoming to search for her missing friend. A crashed vehicle has been found with four badly burned bodies still inside. Can one of the corpses be Maura's?
Jane's hunt for the truth leads her to Kingdom Come. Where the person who was watching Maura now lies waiting for her...

This series of  books never fails to grip me, The Killing Place was no different, I raced through this book in two days.
I think out of all of the books in this series that I have read so far, this one is the most chilling; it really played on my mind when I turned the light off at night. The story is pretty sinister and dark, it felt as though everything is working against Maura and Jane.
Maura is the main focus of this book; she is attending a medical conference when she bumps into an old college friend. Her invites her to join him, his daughter and some friends to do a spot of sight-seeing before they head home. She sets off full of excitement but it soon turns into a nightmare when they encounter a huge snowstorm. They take shelter in a deserted village. They are just relieved to have found somewhere warm with a fire. But they are actually staying in Kingdom Come which until recently has been a fully functioning religious cult. Maura and her companions do begin to wonder where the village's inhabitants have gone and why did they leave in such a hurry? A series of incidents lead Maura to realise that they are being watched, why does this person not reveal themselves and help them? Are they safe to stay in the house where they though they had found sanctuary?
Tess Gerritsen is so good at creating suspense. I experienced goose bumps several times when reading this. The snow really creates a sinister atmosphere; it has caused them to be trapped and then magnifies any noise or movement around them.
I like the focus being on Maura as I didn't feel that I knew her as well as Jane. This book explores how she functions and she she chose the job she did. Her relationship with Father Brophy is laid bare in this book; she has fallen in love with a man she can't have, their relationship can never be an honest and open one. Is she happy to live like that?
The Killing Place is an excellent read and a perfect example of thriller writing from one of the best.

Dot Scribbles Rating: 5/5

Book Review: Keeping the Dead by Tess Gerritsen

When an ancient mummy is discovered in the basement of a museum in downtown Boston, excitement starts to mount. Under the glare of a media frenzy, the mummy is taken to hospital for a CT scan. Forensic pathologist Maura Isles is invited to attend.
As the CT scan proceeds everyone in the room leans in- and gasps in horror as an image of a bullet is revealed. Maura declares it a possible homicide, and calls in Detective Jane Rizzoli.
When the preserved body of a second victim is found, and then a third, it becomes clear that taking lives is not enough for this terrifying killer. And that unless Rizzoli and Isles can find and stop him, he will soon be adding yet another chilling piece to his monstrous collection. 

I hadn't read a book from this series for quite a while but the fact that I read this book in just over a day, shows how much I still enjoy them.
I wouldn't say that Keeping the Dead is one of my favourites but I flew through the pages, Tess Gerritsen had me hooked from the very beginning.
An ancient mummy wrapped in 2000 year old bandages is found to have a modern day bullet embedded in its leg. Where has the victim come from and why has someone taken so much care to preserve her in such a way?
Tess Gerritsen is definitely a master of this genre, her books are so well written and she provides constant twists and turns. There was a big plot twist at the end which I really was not expecting.
Keeping the Dead isn't just your standard crime/thriller book, it asks questions about what evil is, how far would you go to protect the ones you love and how long can you keep running from something until it finally catches up with you?
I think that Keeping the Dead focused much more on the plot than giving us anything new about Rizzoli and Isles which is maybe why it's not one of my favourites.
A I always say, this is an excellent series of books. I can't recommend Tess Gerritsen enough, I will be very sad to get to the final one.

Dot Scribbles Rating: 4/5

Book Review: The Mephisto Club by Tess Gerritsen

Can you really see evil when you look into someone's eyes?
In a rundown house, a woman has been dismembered in an act of carnage that leaves veteran cops in shock.  Drawn on the wall, in blood, are ancient symbols, and a mirror-image word in Latin, that, transcribed says 'I have sinned'.
Then a second woman is found butchered on Beacon Hill, just outside the home of the leader of the Mephisto Club, a secret society dedicated to the study of evil. On the door yet more ancient symbols have been scrawled. This is evil that the Boston PD have never encountered before. And the only way Dr Maura Isles can defeat it is by turning to the people who understand the devil himself.

The Mephisto Club is the 6th book in the Rizzoli and Isles series and it is by far my favourite. I can't believe how much I have enjoyed this series of books, Tess Gerritsen just keeps on getting better and better! 

I think that this book is darker than the previous ones. I felt that parts of it were verging on horror rather than the crime/thriller genre. Tess Gerritsen does not hold back when describing murder scenes and in my opinion she is one of the best at creating and maintaining the tension throughout a book. 

Dr Maura Isles and Jane Rizzoli team up once again but there is tension in the air as Rizzoli does not approve of Maura's developing relationship with Father Daniel Brophy. The discordance in their relationship affects the investigation in that Maura is drawn into the Mephisto Club more than she would normally have allowed herself to be. The club studies evil and the person that Isles and Rizzoli are chasing, could definitely be described as that. The victims are found in appalling states, surrounded by words and symbols that lead back to the devil himself. It is clear that the murderer has only just begun but how are they going to catch him when he may not even be human?

I have said in all of my reviews of this series how much I have enjoyed them. Each book has had me gripped from beginning to end; if you are looking for a new crime series to try then check out Tess Gerritsen, she's one of the best.

Dot Scribbles Rating 5/5

Book Review: Vanish by Tess Gerritsen

The beautiful woman appears to be  just another corpse in the morgue. But when Dr Maura Isles looks down at the body, she gets the fright of her life. The corpse opens it's eyes. Now very much alive, the woman is rushed to hospital, where she murders a security guars and seizes hostages, one of whom is the heavily pregnant detective, Jane Rizzoli. But who is this woman and what does she want? Only Jane can solve the mystery- if she survives the night.

Another absolute cracker from Tess Gerritsen! Honestly, this author just gets better with each book in my humble opinion. I read Vanish in just over a day and a half and I just couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next.
I felt with this book, more than Gerritsen's others that you really got to know the victims, there are a lot of flashbacks and the story being told from the victim's perspective, I think this added another layer and made for a more interesting read.
Obviously Jane Rizzoli and Dr Isles feature heavily. Jane is actually in labour when she is taken hostage and Dr Isles is left feeling completely useless in helping her friend.
What follows is a seriously gripping plot, rape, blackmail, corrupt government officials and murder. I think that Vanish may be my favourite of the series so far, this book should come with a warning though, once you start it , you won't want to do anything else until you have reached the last page.

Dot Scribbles Rating 5/5

Book Review: Body Double by Tess Gerritsen

Dr Maura Isles started at the corpse in the car, at the face illuminated by Rizzoli's flashlight beam. It's me. That woman is me. 

Maura Isles deals with death. As a pathologist in downtown Boston, she has seen more than her share of corpses. But never before has the body on the medical examiner's table been her own.

There can be no denying the evidence though. The dead woman is the mirror image right down to the most intimate physical details. Even more chilling is the discovery that they share the same birth date and blood type.

Then a DNA test confirms that Maura's mysterious double is indeed her twin sister, and suddenly an already bizarre murder investigation becomes a disturbing  excursion into a past full of dark and deadly secrets...

Tess Gerritsen just gets better and better! Body Double is so hard to put down,  I was completely carried away with the plot and the characters.
Dr Maura Isles returns from a trip to Paris to discover the police outside her house. Everyone is looking at her like a ghost and she soon understands why when they reveal why they are there. Slumped over the steering wheel, a gun shot victim is parked in Maura's driveway and looks exactly like her. A heavily pregnant Jane Rizzoli is leading the case and whilst she is relieved that her friend is alive and well, she is is no way prepared for where this case will take the two of them.
After a DNA test confirms that the victim is actually Dr Isle's sister, a whole can of worms is opened. In her quest to find the truth, Maura discovers that she may have quite a macabre heritage and that she may not be the only member of her family interested in the dead.
As usual, Tess Gerritsen has delivered a story with a terrific pace, each chapter makes you want to read on. I really liked how this book focused on Dr Maura Isles and I thought that it was a very clever way to explore the idea of nature vs nurture. Are we really just a product of our shared DNA or can we shape our own lives?
I'm already looking forward to reading the next book in the series and I will be very sad when I get to the last one.

Book Review: The Sinner by Tess Gerritsen

Within the walls of a cloistered convent, a scene of unspeakable carnage is discovered. On the snow lie two nuns, one dead, one critically injured- victims of a seemingly motiveless, brutally savage attack. 

As medical examiner Maura Isles autopsy of the murder victim yields a shocking surprise, the case takes a sudden and disturbing twist. The body of another woman has been found. And someone has gone to a lot of trouble to remove her face, hands and feet. 

As long buried secrets are revealed so Dr Isles and homicide detective Jane Rizzoli find themselves part of an investigation that leads to an awful, dawning realisation of the killer's identity.

I only discovered Tess Gerritsen this year and I think that The Sinner is my favourite so far of the Rizzoli and Isles series. I read this on a 10 hour flight between Heathrow and Miami and it was the perfect book to keep me distracted.
I felt that The Sinner focused in more detail on Rizzoli and Isles and I learnt more about the two female characters in this book than I did in the previous two.
The murder at the convent is completely shocking, one nun is dead and another critically injured. The violence inflicted in to these two women of God shocks everybody. The fact that the attack took place in a cloistered convent is even more alarming, these two women should have felt completely safe but somebody got in and shattered that forever.
Jane Rizzoli is leading the case and feels the huge burden of catching this highly dangerous killer. She is sickened by the crime scene and cannot believe where her investigation takes her. Rizzoli's personal life infringes on the job too, Gabriel Dean makes an appearance in the last third of the book and Jane has to finally admit that he may be more than a passing interest.
Dr Maura Isles in many ways holds the key to the investigation. Her post-mortems reveal vital clues as to  what happened to the nuns. When the third body is found, Maura initially thinks that is bears no connection to the convent killing. When she investigates further, she could not begin to imagine the ways in which the victims are linked. Dr Isles also has her personal life to content with in the form of her ex-husband Victor turning up after three years apart. She has a real mix of emotions; she realises how much she has missed him but then begins to question why he has suddenly decided to make an appearance.
Tess Gerritsen once again impressed me with her powerful story-telling skills. I think that a lot of crime/thriller books can be quite predictable but Gerritsen keeps you guessing right to the very end. I have the next book in the series, Body Double to read soon and I can't wait to see what these two women get up to next.
As I have said before, I would highly recommend Tess Gerritsen's books, she is right up there as my Queen of Crime!

Book Review: The Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen

The Surgeon has been locked up for a year but his chilling legacy still haunts the city, and especially Boston detective Jane Rizzoli. But now a new killer is at work and Rizzoli senses something horrifyingly similar about him.
The FBI starts taking an interest in the investigation and Rizzoli begins to wonder just what makes this case so different and so dangerous?
But then the unthinkable happens: the Surgeon escapes. And suddenly there are two twisted killers on the loose- master and apprentice...

Tess Gerritsen just gets better; I was a little worried that this book may not have been as good as The Surgeon but I thought it was brilliant. The Apprentice is the second book in the Rizzoli and Isles series. Jane Rizzoli is the police detective who escaped and jailed The Surgeon in the last book and Dr Isles is the pathologist who she works closely with.
In this book we learn much more about Jane Rizzoli and how she is trying to get on with her life after evading a serial killer. When she is called to a murder scene, the similarities  with the Surgeon's handiwork are striking but she is also extremely conscious of not appearing as though she is obsessed with what has happened in the past. The investigation is then joined by FBI agent Gabriel Dean, who manages to get everyone's backs up. Rizzoli does not trust him, especially when she discovers that he has been withholding vital information on the case.
The moment that Rizzoli finds out that the Surgeon has escaped from prison is extremely tense, you can actually feel her fear and anger. I think this is what Tess Gerritsen does best; she has the hairs on the back of your neck standing up but you cannot stop yourself from reading on.
So now it appears that the Surgeon and the Apprentice  may now have joined forces and the Surgeon definitely has unfinished business where Jane Rizzoli is concerned.
I'm so excited to have found such a good series of books and I already have the third one, The Sinner, sitting on my shelf waiting.

Book Review: The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen

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 appears 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...

The Surgeon is the first in the Rizzoli and Isles series and the first book by Tess Gerritsen that I have read, I thought it was brilliant.
I have been searching for a good thriller writer for ages, I wanted something similar to Sophie Hannah and I think I may have found it.
Thomas Moore and Jane Rizzoli are working on the case where the murderer tortures his victims while they are still awake  and then finishes them off with a single slit to the throat. They can see that the murderer is clean, tidy and methodical and almost certainly has some kind of medical knowledge.

Catherine Cordell becomes an integral part of their case. She escaped from a similar attack two years ago and killed her attacker so she is astounded to learn that someone else is torturing and killing women in the same way. It becomes personal as the killer communicates with her and it becomes clear that she is next on the list.
Tess Gerritsen has created very clear-cut , realistic characters. I really took to Thomas Moore, he is not the cliched detective that you find in many books of this genre which was extremely refreshing. The case takes on a whole new aspect when Thomas accepts that he has developed feelings for Catherine and she for him, I really enjoyed this part of the book.
We do not find out a massive amount about Jane Rizzoli in this book as the focus is more on Thomas but I do hope we learn more about her character as the series develops.
Tess Gerritsen writes some particularly chilling scenes in this book and the pace is just right, it only took me just over a day to read it as I was eager to find out what happened.
If you are after a good, page-turning thriller then I would very much recommend this book, it is a series I know I shall greatly enjoy.