The Surgeon (Jane Rizzoli, Book 1) [Mass Market Paperback]

Internist Tess Gerritsen's medical knowledge adds an eerie realism to this novel of mystery and suspense. As the lone survivor of serial killer Andrew Capra, Dr. Catherine Cordell escapes the horror she lived in Savannah to go to Boston and starts to put her life back together again. Though she rarely goes anywhere besides the hospital and lives in a very secure apartment, she is able to function very adequately in her position as a surgeon at Pilgrim Medical Center. But her sense of relative security is short-lived as a new serial killer emerges in Boston, and the killings are uncannily similar to those, which occurred in Savannah two years ago. Okay-Andrew Capra is dead, shot by Dr. Cordell, his almost-victim. Thus begins the quest for the new culprit. The endless possibilities add to the allure of this novel: Dr. Cordell, perhaps, a copycat killer, someone avenging Capra's death? Enter Boston's finest, "St. Thomas Moore", the detective who still brandishes a wedding band two years after the death of his wife, Jane Rizzoli, lone female detective out to prove her worth, Darren Crowe, resident male chauvinist. Moore and Rizzoli are a fine addition to this cast of characters-Moore struggles with his attraction to Catherine while Rizzoli struggles to succeed in a male -dominated profession while trying to understand her jealousy of Catherine. THE SURGEON plays like a finely tuned piano, each chord blending in harmony leading to the final resolution. The skillful use of medical terminology as well as the knowledge of anatomy, while somewhat gruesome, adds a chilling sense of reality to the murders. And, as the clues unfold, leading to the identity of the killer, the reader experiences a sense of dread as to who the next victim will be. Lights will stay on all night for this novel that is impossible to put down, and once finished, you won't want to sleep in the dark.

A serial killer is brutally raping then removing body parts from his victims. The trail leads the police to a victim who escaped from her assailant two years ago. The crimes are identical, only the previous victim managed to kill her rapist before he killed her. Are the police dealing with a copycat killer?

This was a gruesome, bloody serial killer book. I enjoyed the hard, edgy story. My main problem with the book was that I didn't enjoy the main female character, Jane Rizzoli. She is a bitter, man-hating type of woman which, personally, I found tedious and annoying. She shared equal page time with the main male character though, who I did like. This is also not the type of mystery where you can guess the killer, the killer is an unknown and the story is more about how the police track him/her down than who he/she is. I do prefer the thrill of trying to guess the killer. But overall, the story was compelling and scary and I'm enough interested to want to read the next in the series. I'm interested in seeing if Rizzoli grows as a character, as there were indications in this novel that she might.

This was the first I have read of Gerritsen's books, and it was a good one!

Catherine Cordell is a surgeon who is highly skilled in repairing broken people's bodies.

There have been some horrendous murders taking place in the city of Boston. This killer would tear women apart by carving out their female organs, stabbing them with a scalpel, and leaving some dead, and others barely alive at the scene.

With each repeated act of great violence, the monster comes closer and closer to capturing Cordell, and hurting her. The thing one, he did hurt Catherine once, and she managed to escape. But this time, she may not be so lucky. She's in this monster's obsessions all the time.