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    The Surgeon: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel
    Unavailable
    The Surgeon: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel
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    The Surgeon: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel
    Ebook406 pages6 hours

    The Surgeon: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel

    By Tess Gerritsen

    3.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A briskly paced, terrifically suspenseful work that steadily builds toward a tense and terrifying climax.”—People (Page-turner of the week)

    ONE OF TIME’S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME

    This ebook edition contains a special preview of Tess Gerritsen’s I Know a Secret.

    He slips into homes at night and walks silently into bedrooms where women lie sleeping, about to awaken to a living nightmare. The precision of his methods suggests that he is a deranged man of medicine, prompting the Boston newspapers to dub him “The Surgeon.” Led by Detectives Thomas Moore and Jane Rizzoli, the cops must consult the victim of a nearly identical crime: Two years ago, Dr. Catherine Cordell fought back and filled an attacker before he could complete his assault. Now this new killer is re-creating, with chilling accuracy, the details of Cordell’s ordeal. With every new murder he seems to be taunting her, cutting ever closer, from her hospital to her home. And neither Moore nor Rizzoli can protect Cordell from a ruthless hunter who somehow understands—and savors—the secret fears of every woman he kills.
     
    “[A] top-grade thriller . . . Sharp characters stitch your eye to the page. An all-nighter.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

    “Creepy . . . will exert a powerful grip on readers.”—Chicago Tribune
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRandom House Publishing Group
    Release dateOct 2, 2001
    ISBN9780345449436
    Unavailable
    The Surgeon: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel
    Author

    Tess Gerritsen

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    Reviews for The Surgeon

    3.5/5

    82 ratings87 reviews

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    • 5/5
      The first book in the Rizzoli & Isles series is a suspenseful story that had me turning pages.
    • 5/5
      Good book, kinda nerve wrecking.
    • 4/5
      This was my first Tess Gerritsen novel and I loved it. I had a hard time putting it down.
    • 3/5
      Not as good as I remembered.
    • 5/5
      I've been putting off reading this series due to the Rizzoli & Isles television series, but it wasn't necessary. Like Longmire, the producers use the authors' works as springboards to new storylines, so both books and television series can be enjoyed.I think the detail that threw me the most was the absence of Dr. Maura Isles, who isn't introduced until the next entry, The Apprentice. I had already been informed of the differences between literary Rizzoli and her TV counterpart-- and that's enough comparisons between the two mediums!I have to admit that the serial killer part of The Surgeon was a tad old hat, but this was written in 2001 when he would've been much fresher. Watching the investigation unfold was fascinating; it took a lot of basic police work, dotting the i's and crossing the t's. Going back over the same ground until some small detail stood out and begged to be followed up on. Due to Gerritsen's medical background, readers get an excellent feel for the protocol in hospitals and the split-second decisions that must be made in the emergency room. But the overarching theme of The Surgeon is women competing in what has always been considered a "man's world." Jane Rizzoli and Catherine Cordell both have cores of steel; they have to because of their occupations. Too many times women have been treated as victims, as a sex not worthy of being heard, only of being ignored, protected as something "lesser," or... of being disposed of. Tess Gerritsen makes readers feel every second, every ounce, of this injustice. It's this passion of hers, along with her fast-paced story, her fascinating characters, and her eye for detail that will keep me reading her books.
    • 3/5
      This is a very decent mystery story. The only odd thing is that it's labeled as "Jane Rizzoli & Maura Isles Series #1). This is odd because the character of Maura Isles never appears in the book. And Jane Rizzoli appears to be secondary to another character, a Detective Thomas Moore. So I spent most of the book wondering why Rizzoli was secondary and Isles was absent. A decided distraction from the plot of the story.
    • 4/5
      This is only the second Gerritsen book I've read, but I love her writing. Again, such a light read, but absolutely engrossing. I read this in two sittings, couldn't put it down it was so good. Amazing read! Can't wait to pick up another one.
    • 3/5
      Wow. Very strong for a first novel. At first I was surprised that Jane took a back seat in this book. It made it so much higher value when she starred at the end though. Still waiting to discover how many other show characters are from the books.
    • 5/5
      This book is a riveting read. It’s a well written medical thriller and is a gripping and terrifying book. This is the first in a series and has also been made into a TV series featuring Rizzoli and Isles. The book is deep, dark and very disturbing…..I couldn’t put it down.
    • 3/5
      I ended up skimming most of this. It was well-plotted and the police procedural aspects were good, but I found the attitudes to women and rape troubling and dated. The romance thread felt a bit inappropriate too. I'm undecided as to whether to persevere with this series.
    • 3/5
      This is a Reading Good Books review.Like I said in my review of Freaks, I am not very familiar with Tess Gerritsen’s work. In fact, this was the first novel that I’ve read from her bibliography. I’ve read a lot of murder mysteries in the past and this was just okay.Women who are murdered in the most grotesque way have been popping up all over Boston. Their throats are slashed, abdomen cut open, their uterus removed. The cuts made were clean and precise, hinting to the police that the unknown subject has medical knowledge. They call him “The Surgeon”. Two years ago, similar murders were committed in Savannah, Georgia. The only survivor of these heinous crimes now reside in Boston. Dr. Catherine Cordell works as a trauma doctor and it seems that the murders followed her there. But she killed her attacker before he could cut into her. Is this a copycat? Did Catherine’s attacker have a partner? Was he after her now? Detective Jane Rizzoli and her partner Detective Thomas Moore are on the case.If you are a fan of the show and are just starting off with Gerritsen’s books, I advise not to expect much. Yes, the first season of Rizzoli & Isles, especially the show pilot episode, was based on this and the next one, The Apprentice. But this book did not have Dr. Maura Isles yet so there will be no playful banter between the two. Jane was not even the main detective on this one. It’s Detective Moore. Sure, Jane ends up being the hero in the end but for the rest of the book, she’s at the sidelines. And I also did not like the constant “because I’m a girl” bitching. It was okay for the first two or three times but every time Jane Rizzoli came in to the picture, that was what she was thinking. Alright, you’re a girl so they don’t see you as an equal. We get it.What set it apart was the medical aspect. I understand that Gerritsen was a doctor before she became an novelist. Her medical knowledge was brilliantly used here. Dr. Catherine Cordell performed a couple of life-saving procedures and it was described almost in full detail. It reminds me of Kathy Reichs’ work (coincidentally, both authors hold degrees in Anthropology) when she mixes her scientific field with her literature. I have read reviews where people thought it was so gruesome but I liked those parts. I felt that it gave Catherine Cordell depth; that it showed a side of her entirely opposite from what you’d think of a rape victim. In her world, she had complete control, thus it gave the unsub a goal. To rattle her protective cage and send her falling to pieces.Overall, it was a good read. Nothing much to talk about.Rating: 3/5Recommendation: It will appeal to those who like medical murder mysteries. I’m not sure how it will appeal to the fans of the TV show as Dr. Isles is not yet introduced in this book and there are differences between the TV and book Rizzoli and Frost. I’m a huge fan of the show and I liked it.
    • 4/5
      This was an intense book. I stayed up late reading it, because I wanted to find out what would happen. The killer is very evil. I was a little annoyed by the parts where we are in the killer's head. I thought it was giving away too much about his identity, and I wanted to be more surprised. This was the first appearance of Jane Rizzoli, and I found her a bit whiny and abrasive, but I still enjoyed reading about her and the case. Tess Gerritsen has written some memorable books and this is one of them. I can't wait to read more from her.
    • 4/5
      Detective Thomas Moore has the reputation of being the most gifted and respected detective working in the Boston police department. Moore is still recovering from the sudden death of his beloved wife two years ago. A brain aneurysm took her right out of his life without warning. As we meet Thomas, he’s packed and ready for a long overdue vacation. Vacation is not in the cards. The police department believe he’s the best at tracking the monsters that prey on people and they need him now for this newest serial killing.

      Rizzoli another detective comes across as more bitter yet somewhat fragile. Rizzoli is the only woman working on the homicide squad and she’s the object of ridicule and scorn by some of the other detectives or at least it feels that way to her. You decide, reader. Rizzoli is smart and clever. She’s the officer who first starts putting the case together and finds the trail that gives the homicide team more to work with.

      The murders are brutal, as well as the descriptions of them -– even though they’re described in complicated medical terms. The search for the serial killer quickly turns into a cat-and-mouse, which the Killer seems to enjoy even though it makes getting caught riskiest. Reader you, get enough glimpses of the killer’s thought processes to be thoroughly spooked – especially since it seems that the killer is someone who works at the hospital with Dr. Catherine Cordell, who is the Surgeon’s ultimate prey. Catherine has survived so much horror in her young life, yet has made a successful career for herself as a respected doctor. Now there is no where she can feel or be safe from the man who wishes to rape, torture and try to kill her once again.

      Two years before the story started, Dr. Cordell was attacked by an intern she’d flagged for failure. The young man had bound her with duct tape, then raped her and cut her up, intending to let her slowly die. Cordell had freed herself, found her gun and blasted her tormenter to death. That should have ended the killing, but it didn't. It especially did not end her demons that haunted her every day. Is this a copycat killer? But how can he know information that had never been released by the police?

      Rizzoli is the one who noticed the two recent murders, a year apart, are a lot like the attack on Dr. Cordell. She suspects there’s more to the situation than what meets the eye. Of course, she’s right. She the one who realizes the killer was giving the women he killed a piece of jewelry he stole from the woman he killed previously.

      Fast paced and characters you will come to know well.
    • 5/5
      This is a well written book that maintains its tension throughout and I enjoyed this book . However, it is a very gritty book and I wouldn't recommend anyone reading it who didn't enjoy gritty books! If you do enjoy gritty this may be the book for you. Gerritsen obviously uses her knowledge as a doctor to good effect in this. I somehow feel the end of this book won't be the end of the story. 4.5 Stars.
    • 4/5
      Finally getting around to reading this series and found this Rizzoli novel a quality crime/mystery read. A few parts get a bit bogged down, but overall, some good suspense and interesting police work.
    • 3/5
      Hmmm, I'm conflicted about this one -- it is a wonderfully suspenseful thriller, with decent characters. However, the details which in 2001 must have made it even more frightening, I found to be distractingly dated -- there was a reference to a floppy disc in there, and VHS -- it was odd. Also, the characters are decent, but they haven't flipped into likeable and for me, that's a big draw. Also, lots and lots of horrific violence against women and horrible treatment of a female co-worker, so it was depressing in that more things change, more things stay the same kind of way.
    • 4/5
      I don't think I can agree with Stephen King's assessment of Tess Gerritsen about her being better than Michael Crichton. While I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Surgeon, it wasn't challenging for me at all. That's not saying that Gerritsen isn't a good writer. The fact alone that I could actually sit and read her book proved that she's not just some genre schmuck who's looking to make a quick buck by creating a following. Am I part of that following? Well, I'm not going to start a fansite or start writing fanfic any time now, if that's what you're wondering.

      No, reading The Surgeon did offer up a challenge by not allowing me to know too much of the story before I needed it. Gerritsen didn't grab me by the hand and led me through every sentence, every paragraph, page, chapter. She didn't start off the book by telling me exactly where she was going. Hell, we don't even learn the killer's identity until the very end, never once bringing him up as a background character like so many are wont to do.

      I was left guessing at the central characters presented in the novel before hand. It's what we were told to do when reading mystery/thriller/suspense novels, right? The bad guy is always one of the people presented to you, usually the least expected character as the most suspected would be too obvious.

      But The Surgeon isn't anything like some dime-store cliche. In the novel, the main person of interest has been dead for two years. Killed by one of his victims, Dr. Catherine Cordell. From the ashes, a killer returns; preying on the vulnerable women, all the while zeroing in on the one who got away.

      The novel is part detective, part romance - minus all the Harlequin cliches - but entirely worth the read. While it might not be as challenging as Crichton novel - for me, anyway - I'm sure other novels by Gerritsen will find their home on my shelves.

      The question is, am I ready to eat my words? We'll soon find out after I start reading The Apprentice.
    • 4/5
      Cracking read of suspense and terror, including graphic description of dissection and emergency room procedures. Ms Gerritsen worked in an emergency room herself, so the description is authentic.

      Dr. Catherine Cordell survived rape in Savannah and walked out alive of what could have been the scene of her murder. She shot her would be murderer, a man who had murdered three other woman in a grisly ritual slaughtering.

      Two years later she seems to be the focus of a surgeon, a serial murderer with intimate knowledge of the Savannah killings. He has recreated every detail, and seems to want Catherine as his grand trophy.


    • 4/5
      Let me preface by saying:I read this book in 2001? and NO... I don't watch Rizzoli and Isles.The Rizzoli we meet here is quite different from the TV heroine (as described to me by friends).I thoroughly enjoyed the first 6 or 7 books.Then I felt they changed in their atmosphere and something inherent in the others was missing.This was just about the time we got wind of an impending TV series.I'm thankful for the Gerritsen's pre-TV offerings....they were good reads.
    • 5/5
      I am so glad I finally got round to reading this. I'm hooked. Off to find the second one in the series!
    • 5/5
      This is the first book in the series and the start of amazing books. This one was just fantastic and a real page turner. I really enjoyed these books and I would recommend that everybody read this series.
    • 2/5
      I’m trying to think of any moment in this book that didn’t feel like a complete cliche, and I’m having a hard time. The hard-working but unattractive woman who hates herself because of said unattractiveness. The sexy cop whose only hang up is that he still loves his wife who died. I feel like there being two murderers all along is probably also a cliche for books of this genre. Christine got kind of bad-ass at the end but the rest was just predictable and flat.
    • 4/5
      I quite enjoyed this book. Thiller/Crime books are not really high on my to read stack/list of books to read, but I found this book enjoyable. Even through this book is listed as the first book in the Rizzoli & Isles series, I would call 'The Surgeon' a prequel.If you like the TV Series of 'Rizzoli & Isles', you would like this series.This book was so enjoyable that I read it under 20 hours.
    • 4/5
      One of the better mysteries of Moore and Rizzoli .. liked the twist, Rizzolis angst, and the suspense. good yarn
    • 3/5
      A fairly standard serial killa thrilla, but well done. Reminiscent of some of Jeffrey Deaver, some of Thomas Harris. Lots of exsanguination, not for the queasy. Good character development; potential for stereotyping avoided by having a couple people learn things about themselves. This is the first Jane Rizzoli novel; I understand she gains a partner and creates a series. She has an awful chip on her shoulder in this one, but actually does a fair job of knocking it off by herself in the end.Review written in March, 2011
    • 5/5
      Why did I now know about these books before the TV show, and why has it take me 2 years to actually start reading them?
    • 3/5
      So I come to this series as a fan of Rizzoli and Isles. Well, maybe not a hardcore fan. Let's say I love Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander from their previous cop show adventures, and I'm not quite willing to pass up a show that features BOTH of them. In its defense, R&I is getting better.

      So, I've never as passionate about this genre of books as I am about my fantasy loves. That said, I enjoyed this as much as most of the Kathy Reich's books, and a hell of a lot more than Virals. Still can't say enough bad things about Virals.

      Craving more characterization than this book gave, but since it's the first of a series, I can be patient. I'm trying not to hate book Rizzoli, but she really makes it hard, being so bitchy and one dimensional. Again, I'll be patient.

      Good, believable story with decent characterization. I kind of wish that Dr. Cordell became the focus of the series, but I think that's Ms. Gerritsen's point. Rizzoli has her flaws and it's what makes her real.
    • 3/5
      Starting new series! I hope the rest of the books are as page-turning, up-half-the-knighting as this was.
    • 4/5
      This is the first book of the police procedural series called Rizzoli & Isles. There is a hunt going on for a serial killer who kills rape victims and collects their uteruses as trophies. Two years ago, Catherine Cordell survived a similar attack and killed her attacker. So is this a copy cat or was there a subordinate.This book has it all. A serial killer, police procedural, getting into the minds of the cops and lots of gore. It's a nice start to a promising series.
    • 3/5
      The first installment of the Rizzoli & Isles series takes place... without Isles but with a bloody slasher who wants to kill young women after taking out their uterus. A doctor seems to be the next victim of the serial killer while, although or because she was a victim of another serial killer about 2 years ago. Then, she got away, but now, her luck seems to have changed. The female detective Rizzoli is part of the police team but she has to face different demons, too, because her colleagues don't appear to take her seriously as a woman. Her colleague Moore looks like someone who appreciates a female cop but while getting more and more involved in the case, those two detectives drift apart, leaving more opportunities to the vicious murderer who just waits to take his next victims, murdering the women in the most despicable ways, going further to finally enjoy the ultimate kill. This is a very well written detective with interesting characters. And I have to admit that I can hardly wait to read the other 8 installments of the series, but I missed dear Isles of whom I am so fond in the tv-series, so only 3 out of 5 stars...