Thriller. Trigger Warning for discussion of rape.

Let's review:

1. "He identifies and removes only the organ he wants. Nothing more. And what he wants is the womb." [...] "He hates women," she said. "He cuts out the one thing that makes them women." (p.60)

2. Ignoring the water bottle and the disgusting object it contained... (p.67)

3. "'She thought: "It's my fault. I shouldn't have been so careless." But that's how it is with women.' She looked directly at Moore. 'We blame ourselves for everythin

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Trigger warnings: rape, mutilation, medical details (both descriptions of stuff like cancer and descriptions of accidents/operations).

That had to come first, because I spent much of this book wishing I had something firm and indestructible to crawl into, to keep me safe. The details are just horrifying -- it reminds me very much of my experience with Val McDermid's work. And, as with that, I had to read to the end to find out who the killer/torturer was, before I could begin to feel okay again. More...

The Surgeon is a brilliantly-crafted tale of horror that's just so terrifying that you can't bear not to look. Seriously.

The story begins with a successful physician named Catherine Cordell who was nearly murdered a few years back in Savannah but lived to tell the tale because she blew her attacker away before he could finish the job. With her attacker's death, the string of grotesque torture-murders ends in Savannah, but then resurfaces in Boston. Which is just where Cordell now resides. The n More...

The Surgeon is a remarkable, wonderfully well-written thriller. I had never read such an amazing story like this in my whole life. I am serious. The killer's speech feels so real! While reading, I had the feeling that someone was watching me, like... It's scary.

So many mysteries behind every little thing of the investigation... There's a moment when they induce hypnosis in the main victim, Catherine Cordell, so she can remember things from the crime scene, which is also minutely described. It's More...

Maura Isles is totally missing. Jane Rizzoli is so much different than the TV show. I am a fan of the TV show so I decided to start with book #1. I was not disappointed in the book, but it was a bit of a shock to see Rizzoli as a homely, outsider fighting for her what was due her. The development of the characters was outstanding. The focus upon the impact on the lives of victims was fleshed out more than in any other crime novel that I have read. The surgical element was a bit overdeveloped for More...

Although this book is labeled as Rizzoli and Isles #1, only Jane Rizzoli appears in it. If you found your way here from the TV show, you'll find the Rizzoli in the source material quite different from the one on the show. For starters, not only is she a short woman but several characters (including Rizzoli herself) mention how plain she is. In other words, the book Rizzoli is no Angie Harmon. She also has a much less affectionate relationship with her family and male co-workers.

I needed some re More...

This is a book that I probably would've never picked up on my own but, Amazon offered it briefly as a free download so, I decided to check it out. It is a fairly standard serial killer thriller but, don't let that dissuade you from reading it. "The Surgeon" is gripping suspense and Gerritsen is a gifted story teller.

The story centers around a serial killer in Boston who performs living dissections on his female victims. At times, the story is extremely grizzly but the juxtaposition of descriptio More...

I tried, I really did try to finish this book, but I just couldn't. I have had the great pleasure of meeting the author in person a couple of times and have enjoyed her romances from back in her early days of writing. I know that many people have really loved this series, so I had high hopes for it. However, the level of bitchiness from Jane Rizzoli was just over the line for me character-wise. Feisty women who stand up for themselves I can understand and get behind. But Rizzoli was nasty to peo More...

Sacha Alexander & Angie Harmon from the tv-series Rizzoli & Islesmade me pick up thisnoel to begin with. It was actually a bargainprice for the first 4 novels of this series in HC edition that made me buy on the premisse of the tv-show. But quite early on in this book you discover the large difference between book and show. Now I get to read if miss Gerritsen can entertain me as much as the show does.

Well I do know that while this book is advertised as Rizzoli & Isles part 1 it is re More...

Very few authors have the ability to inspire me or grab my attention in the first 20 pages. Even as an aspiring author, I have difficulty opening a book and sticking to it. Tess Gerritsen changed that in recent years, skyrocketing to become my favorite author.

And so I pried open The Surgeon and embarked on a twisted journey following the investigations of Detective Jane Rizzoli.

The plot revolves around the grisly murders carried out by a serial killer dubbed “the Surgeon” for his use of scalpels More...

BOTTOM LINE: 2001, #1 Jane Rizzoli, police detective, Boston; psychological police procedural. Well-plotted, if familiar, tale of a serial killer who wants to get ‛way too close to a famous surgeon, and the troubled cops who want to bring him down; entertaining page turner, with potential.

The center of this novel is actually Dr. Catherine Cordell, a famous surgeon who was stalked and almost killed by a serial rapist several years ago in Atlanta; she shot him dead and managed to barely survive. N More...

The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen is sort of the first in her Rizzoli & Isles series. I say sort of because it feel more like a prequel – we are introduced to Rizzoli who plays a supporting role in the novel, but Isles does not appear at all. That said, The Surgeon is still a very good crime thriller.

The novel, which is set in Boston, revolves around the search for a terrifying serial killer – a killer who has been dubbed “The Surgeon” because of the horrifying way that he precisely cuts open w More...

This is a hard book to review; I wanted to give it 3 Stars but its effect made me bump it up to 4. I started it on Saturday and finished it on Sunday; when I went to bed on Saturday it stayed with me and gave me vivid, horrible dreams. Most books don't have that effect.

Before going into my review, this isn't the Rizzoli & Isles of TNT's show (which I love); if anything this is what R&I would be on FX or HBO. It's gritty and dark and what a true "crime thriller" is meant to be. Overall, t More...

This is going to annoy people. What is it with women authors and their female protagonists? They all seem to either a - have an axe to grind, mostly against males, or b - think only they are right.

One thing did annoy me a lot, too much medical jargon without explanation of what it means. If you are using medical terminology at least tell the reader what it means, and does in the world.

The same goes for Rizzoli. She feels she has a point to prove. This gets annoying very quickly. The character is More...

I thought I wouldn't be so harsh, but what have I got to hide! The book wasn't good at all. Her writing lacked some style - don't know, maybe I'm just the classic cozy-books kinda type, but in terms of personal style and creating the feeling, Gerritsen was a bit too blank page for me. Terrifyng, yes, but too hard to believe. The murderer's point didn't really get across and I started thinking he was only there for provocating some feminism and showing how victim everyone else (all women were) wa More...

Catherine Cordell, raped and then about to be mutilated, manages to kill the serial murderer. She moves to Boston to start a new life as a surgeon, away from bad memories. When similar murders begin close to her new home and the killer makes a point of letting her know about it, a hunt for a copycat killer begins.

This story is not for the faint of heart. The tension builds steadily and the end is nail-biting stuff. I would recommend this to anyone who likes their fiction gruesome and their nerv More...

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First, let me say that this is not one of the books that I would usually read. I usually read YA fiction and things of that nature. The Surgeon was a happy accident and I am delighted that I've found something that peaks my interest outside of my "comfort zone".

As you can probably tell from the excerpt above, this book is would be categorized as mystery/crime/horror-ish. Basically what happens is this woman--Catherine Cordell--is brutally attacked by a man named More...

There was a great deal about the Surgeon that reminded me of James Patterson’s Women’s Murder Mystery Series. I do not know if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but I can tell you that this book was more on the creepier gorier side than Patterson and for that, and the more intense writing, I think I have found a new series to follow.

Yes, I know that I am a little late to this rodeo since the book was written in in 2001, but all good things come to those that wait. Since the publishing industr More...

Obviously this book wasn't written for people who aren't okay with reading about adult subjects and violence... Just to clarify that. I will be discussing it, also.

I will temporarily stuff down my feelings about sexism and decency and morality and simply talk about the story and writing itself first. It was written well. The characters were well defined and developed. Despite some complaints about it, I didn't get bored. With my mood lately, that is something right there. Some moments were even More...

Make no mistakes, 'The Surgeon' is an excellent specimen of the crime genre. Were this an exclusively crime-based site I would have little hesitation in giving it one more star. The trouble is, either crime writing is easier than most other writing or the world is blessed with fantastic proponents of it. Being a Michael Connelly fan I can safely say that Gerritsen matches the quality of his works but the problem is neither are 'writers' per se, they are engrossing story-tellers but not artists, More...

Publisher: Ballantine Books
Purchased: Audible.Com

What I Loved: This was a very good thriller! I was pretty much on my toes the whole time waiting to see how it was all going to play out. The end was chilling and you can see where the next book is going to pick up. I also appreciated the small abbreviated introductions of characters. It will allow them to grow over the series.

What I Liked: Tess didn't make her leads without faults, they seemed very real to me. The story had a great pace and enjoy More...

The Surgeon deals with a serial killer who hunts down troubled women and cuts them up with the kind of precision which could come only to a man of medicine. When multiple murders lead the investigating team to a surviving victim of an old serial killer case that occurred a couple of years ago they start understanding the pattern. 'The Surgeon' ,the nick name that the killer gains shows a profile and style that matches the murderer who was killed by his victim two years ago. The theory of copy c More...

If like me you are addicted to the new American TV drama Rizolli and Isles then this is the book for you. Intrigued to see where it all started I decided to read the first in the series. This book is exactly the beginning of the story and although linked to the show by no way depicts stories that you have seen in the show instead enhancing them.

The book features tough cop Rizolli and her relationship with her partner Thomas Moore her first partner. It gives you an insight into her character and More...

If you like mysteries where you can try to put the clues together yourself, this book is not for you. You aren't getting the clues much before most of the characters, and you're not going to be able to guess the murderer early on. On the plus side, this means you don't spend much time frustrated at the characters for being idiots. But it was disappointing to discover that most of my theories were pretty much invalid and there was no way I would have been able to work it all out on my own.

But if More...

Wow! What an intense psychological thriller/mystery. This book is a bit grittier and more graphic than I prefer, but I was so caught up in the story, I just had to keep reading to see how this ended.

This is supposedly the first book in the Rizzoli and Isles series and I’m sure it is. If this was the author’s maiden effort, I can conceive that the original focus may have changed since characters and the author grow, evolve and develop. However, I became interested in this series after watching t More...

I tend to read more cozy mystery and less 'thriller' but on the recommendation of patrons I decided to step out of my comfort zone and I did love this book. The characters are strong and quite vivid -- the reader really can hear them talking. The suspense of what is happening now and what happened before was well developed and kept you guessing on what would happen next and when was the bad guy going to be caught.

Dr Catherine Cordell was a victim of a rape/attempted murder in Georgia and she ha More...

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 su More...

Precise. Exact. Anatomical. Surgical. Bloody. Horrific. Scientific. Scary. Exciting. Tess Gerritsen’s novel The Surgeon is all of this. And much more. It’s easy to see Gerritsen trained as a doctor. Her knowledge of anatomy shows throughout the novel, almost too much at times for neophytes like me, but it gives the story instant credibility. Moore and Rizzoli are two of several detectives in charge of a murder investigation: several women are found brutally raped and murdered and a part of their More...

Good murder mystery by Tess Gerritsen. This is the first book of the series that inspired the TV series, "Rizzoli and Isles." I do watch that series, but had not read the books. It is harder to read about murder and gore in detail than to watch it! But, the book is (of course) much better. It is disturbing to get into the mind of the killer and be able to read his thoughts, though. Yuck! Our faculty book club is reading murder mysteries that inspired TV shows right now, so I will be in that genr More...