The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Challenges
To Be Read
First in Series
Last year, I read Body Double by Gerritsen, not knowing it was part of a series, and the sixth part at that. The main character in that book was Dr. Maura Isles who I really liked. The Surgeon is the first book in the series (I promptly bought the whole series after reading Body Double) and features Detective Jane Rizzoli. Jane has just been promoted to the homocide sqad and is the only woman. Man, is she prickly, even though she is highly qualified and very good at her job. Where's the self-confidence she must have had to obtain that position? Granted some of the men are Neanderthals, but still. This book was published in 2001. Is the gender crisis still that bad? Anyway, Jane was not very likable and we all know that is a problem for me. However, there is another detective, Thomas Moore, who is part of the investigative team trying to find the killer known as The Surgeon. Thomas is just as good a cop as Jane, but more compassionate, approachable, etc. etc. I did like him. By the end of the book, both Jane and Thomas have committed some mistakes that jeopardize their careers, but everything works out well. Jane even becomes a little less over-bearing and less sensitive to possible slights. I love the way the killer taunts the police and his intended final victim as he leads them through the nose, murder by murder. The murders are chilling and bloody, precise and almost clueless. Almost, otherwise, our intrepid detectives wouldn't be able to detect. What can I say? It will probably never be considered great literature, but sometimes it's just good to read something that send the chills up and down your spine. The best thing is that I have got four more in the series to go. Unless she's written another that I don't know about.
Rating: 4.25
Posted by Framed at 9:30 PM

5 comments:
Booklogged said...
Hey, if you get this comment on Th before 11:30 will you call me? Thanks.
4/10/2008 10:45 PM
Nicola said...
I had the same reaction to Jane in this book and enjoyed Thomas as the detective more than her. I was sorry to see him go. But since you've read Body Double you know her character grows a lot from that point.
4/11/2008 7:14 AM
Joy said...
I've read this series out of order, too. I have no idea what I was thinking at the time. I need to go back and fill in. :) I rated this one 4/5 well before blogging.
4/11/2008 9:10 AM
Somer said...
I had someone on Bookcrossing offer to send me this book over a year ago, and it's been sitting on my shelf ever since. Hopefully I'll get to it this year - I haven't read a good medical thriller in a long time!
4/11/2008 12:20 PM
twiga92 said...
I think the latest in the series is Vanish. That one was pretty good.