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