Customer Reviews
A class act - By: Jack Baxi, 16 Jul 2008 
Quite simply one of the best thrillers ive ever read. Gripping, frightening, absorbing.
A must read!
Well worth the money... - By: Donna, 29 May 2008 
This is the first Tess Gerritsen novel I have read (I am a die-hard Karin Slaughter fan but needed something to tide me over 'til Karin's next release). I bought this on an Amazon recommendation & boy am I glad I did. The cover says "A real page-turner. A read-in-one-go novel if ever there was one." Although I have never had the luxury of enough spare time to read a bookin one sitting, I have found this book almost un-put-down-able. I take it everywhere I go so that if I find myself turning up somewhere 5 minutes early (er, hello?) I can read it. I sit reading it while everyone else is watching tele. I even go to bed early so that I can spend longer reading it. It's good. It's very good. I like the way the author builds relationships; & I haven't worked out who the bad guy is yet, even though I'm trying! It IS goryin places, sometimes a little too much so, but I would highly recommend it. Consider me a new Tess Gerritsen fan!
Brilliant Book - By: Lisa, 23 Apr 2008 This book was passed to me by a friend as she knew i loved reading thrillers i.e. Relentless 'Simon Kernick'and i found it to be a fantastic read with which i couldn't put down. There were parts that made my heart pound & parts where i had to put the book down because i was scared to read anymore. I passed the book onto my mum & she was ringing me up & we found we ended up discussing it. My single friend would like to read it but i advised her not to i felt nervous reading it even with my husband sat at the side of me i'm never sleeping with my window open again!!!!!
Brilliant - By: crime reader, 15 Mar 2008 I have looked at Tess Gerritsen books many times & for some reason they never appealed to me, but a few days ago I thought I'd give this one a go & I'm glad I did. It had me hooked straightaway, it was fascinating & gripping, & now I can't wait to try her others, although some of the follow ups to The Surgeon seem to get less great reviews. I hope they are as good as this one because this was utterly compelling, one of those that you just don't want to put down.
The surgeon makes the first deadly cut - By: David Roy, 09 Feb 2008 The Surgeon is the first of Gerritsen's Jane Rizzoli books, & it's quite the compelling read. As detailed & gory as CSI would be if it weren't on network television, it's also full of vivid characters & an intriguing serial killer that will test Rizzoli & her compatriots to the bitter end.
Gerritsen seems to be easing her readers into Jane Rizzoli's personality, because the book has multiple viewpoints & often seems to be more about Cordell & the cop who is falling for her, Thomas Moore. Rizzoli's definitelyin there, though, & Gerritsen does a wonderful job with her. Subsequent books are all told from Rizzoli's point of view, so perhaps Gerritsen was concerned that Rizzoli's prickly personality would not hit it off with fans? I don't know, but I'd say her concerns were unfounded if that is the case. While she's not the most likable person around, that's part of what makes her interesting.
Gerritsen also does well with the killer, tapdancing along the line between revealing who he is & giving us some insight into his psyche. The brief scenes from his point of view are set offin italics, so it's obvious from a glance that he's the one talking. We hear a lot about what drives him without being given any detail about who he is, keeping the mystery. Slowly, as the book goes on, these passages add more detail, revealing where he is & what he does.
Gerritsen's plotting is superbin this one, creating an intricate web that's slowly revealed to the reader as the cops discover it. She shows her medical knowledge, but usuallyin an interesting fashion. There are lots of medical details, but it never sounds like a textbook, as characters like Rizzoli are forced to ask for a clearer explanation. Of course, readers with very weak stomachs may want to avoid these books, as Gerritsen doesn't pull any punchesin describing crime scenes, autopsies, & the like. There is a lot of blood, though it's almost always after the fact (with the exception of the riveting conclusion, where there's actually some "on-screen" violence).
The only fault I can really find with The Surgeon is the relentless negativityin the book. It is extremely dark, but none of the cops even make any good, black-humored jokes. There is no lightnessin the book whatsoever. I think Gerritsen may have realized that, as there is some levity amidst all the blood & sex crimesin subsequent books. Not a whole lot, as a subject like this shouldn't be trivialized, but enough to make it more realistic.
This darkness carries over into Rizzoli's characterin general, as she has nothing goodin her life. I loved the friendship that she develops with Moore, as he's the only man who seems to understand that she's having problems being the only female copin Boston's homicide division, but even that doesn't bring a lot of joy considering some of the eventsin the novel. While I'm sure she probably did, I don't remember her even cracking a smile, which illustrates how gloomy it all is.
That being said, The Surgeon is a wonderful first novelin the series, as Gerritsen turned her sights from medical thrillers & romance novels to crime fiction. She holds it together wonderfully, giving her characters enough hooks to make them interesting & making us want to read subsequent books about them. This novel is for CSI fans & for fans of gritty crime stories everywhere. Just make sure you're not eating when you read it.
David Roy
