Best-selling author Tess Gerritsen
Recently a customer brought in about 10 Tess Gerritsen books for us. Gerritsen (whose real first name is Terry) is a best-selling author of romantic thrillers, medical thrillers and crime thrillers. Before she began her career as a writer, she got her medical degree in 1979 and worked as a doctor in Hawaii. During this time, she enjoyed reading romance novels and decided to write one of her own. While her first two “practice novels” went unpublished, the third time was the charm. Call After Midnight was published in 1987 and Gerritsen wrote eight more romantic thrillers after that.
After that, Gerritsen decided to make a change. In 1996, she published her first medical thriller novel, Harvest, about kidnapped children being shipped abroad as organ donors. After this she published several other medical thrillers before writing her first crime thriller, The Surgeon, in 2001. Although Jane Rizzoli was only a secondary character in The Surgeon, the character has been a central focus of a series of nine books along with medical examiner Dr. Maura Isles. These characters formed the basis of the Rizzoli & Isles television series with Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander portraying the main characters respectively.
Although most recent publications have been in the Rizzoli/Isles series, Gerritsen wrote a stand-alone historical thriller, The Bone Garden in 2007. The Bone Garden, a tale of gruesome murders, takes place primarily in 1830s Boston and includes a character based upon Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes.
We look forward to The Silent Girl coming out later this month and more Tess Gerritsen books in the future. Have you read any of her books? Have you seen the TV show? Please share your thoughts!
I've read several of Tess
I've read several of Tess Gerritsen's books iniucdlng her first, HARVEST, and the several most recent ones. There's always a tendency to call her one of the best woman writers, and that of course is true enough, but moreover, she's one of the best mystery thriller writers, period. And this is one of her creepiest and most mesmerizing. After a brief prologue detailing the meeting of two important characters, we're plunged into the grisly discovery in Boston's Chinatown of first a woman's severed hand and then her body. Jane Rizzoli, aided by medical examiner Maura Isles who is presently on bad terms with the police officers, leads the investigation. The investigation reveals that this and another murder has connections with a bizarre massacre that occurred 19 years earlier. Two enigmatic Chinese women flavor the story, the older one narrating some chapters. There is a certain mysticism also flavoring the story. The solution is satisfyingly meaty and involved. I did spot one character early in the book who was playing a greater role than was obvious, but the rest of the solution was suitably surprising. The pace here is fast and the characterization is superb, making several characters fascinating and likeable, ones you enjoy knowing. I give this my highest recommendation for whatever it may be worth.
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