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jimbowen0306's review against another edition
1.0
If ever there was a book that forced me to remember where an author started, this would be it.
In this book, a borderline alcoholic cook book writer descends on a rural/coastal holiday rental to finish writing her cookbook. While there, she convinces herself that the house might be haunted (though it might be the fever dreams of an alcoholic who had reasons to be guilty), gets borderline hot and heavy with dishy local doctor, and investigates 2 suspicious deaths.
Anyone who reads Gerritsen, thinking they’re going to be getting the TNT Rizzoli and Isles series, should stop thinking that, right now. Gerritsen started off as a “romantic thriller” writer. The first Rizzoli and Isles book was one, and it put me off reading any more books in the series (along with the fact that Rizzoli isn’t the focus of the book). This book isn’t any different. Any book where the lead character talks about having “kinky sex” WITH A GHOST isn’t an author I want to read.
This isn’t kink shaming either. You do you. It’s just how are we supposed to take a chunk of the book seriously if that sort of discussion is happening?
In this book, a borderline alcoholic cook book writer descends on a rural/coastal holiday rental to finish writing her cookbook. While there, she convinces herself that the house might be haunted (though it might be the fever dreams of an alcoholic who had reasons to be guilty), gets borderline hot and heavy with dishy local doctor, and investigates 2 suspicious deaths.
Anyone who reads Gerritsen, thinking they’re going to be getting the TNT Rizzoli and Isles series, should stop thinking that, right now. Gerritsen started off as a “romantic thriller” writer. The first Rizzoli and Isles book was one, and it put me off reading any more books in the series (along with the fact that Rizzoli isn’t the focus of the book). This book isn’t any different. Any book where the lead character talks about having “kinky sex” WITH A GHOST isn’t an author I want to read.
This isn’t kink shaming either. You do you. It’s just how are we supposed to take a chunk of the book seriously if that sort of discussion is happening?
lmurray43's review against another edition
5.0
The shape of night is different from other books Tess has written. I love this story. It takes place in Tucker Cove Maine and Ava is living in a house called Brodie’s Watch. It was built by a sea captain whose name is Jeremiah Brodie. Ava is there to forget something from her past but also to write her book. She has experiences in the house that have her doing research to find out what has happened in the house before her. This story had me wondering what was going on the whole time until the end.
alayna017's review against another edition
4.0
Good thriller, with a twist I missed, along with interesting characters and setting! It was an enjoyable fast read. I love Tess Gerritsen’s novels and this one did not disappoint.
theavidreaderandbibliophile's review against another edition
3.0
The Shape of Night by Tess Gerritsen was not what I was expecting from the blurb. I was hoping for a modern take on The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (a suspenseful mystery with some paranormal elements). It has some of that, but then it takes a trip into the dark side. There are intimate scenes that resemble a dark Fifty Shades of Grey. It certainly was not what I was suspecting nor was it something I wished to read. I found myself skimming through the last sixty percent of the book. I could not get into The Shape of Night. I did not like Ava who overly indulges in alcohol because of guilt which makes her an unreliable narrator. I thought the pacing was slow and the descriptions were wordy. There was repetition and predictability as well. I was expecting more from Tess Gerritsen who gave us Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles (I still miss the television show). While The Shape of Night was not for me, I suggest you obtain a sample to see if it suits you. That is the beauty of books. There are so many novels available that there is something for every type of reader. The Shape of Night just did not come together as a gothic paranormal mystery.
pam2375's review
5.0
Well, well, well, this is certainly not the type of book that I expect from Tess Gerritsen. I will say that I am not a big fan of ghost stories and I considered, for a brief moment, not finishing. I am so glad that I hung in there because this was a fantastic read with a very unexpected twist!
This book has so many things that I do enjoy, food, wine, cooking, suspense, a little romance and so much more...
Many thanks to Netgalley and Ballentine Books for this advanced readers copy. This book is scheduled to release October 2019.
This book has so many things that I do enjoy, food, wine, cooking, suspense, a little romance and so much more...
Many thanks to Netgalley and Ballentine Books for this advanced readers copy. This book is scheduled to release October 2019.
paulabrandon's review against another edition
2.0
I'm a huge fan of Tess Gerritsen, particularly the Rizzoli & Isles series (of course), and I knew before picking this up that it was a standalone, but that's okay. I've really enjoyed her standalones, too. But I wasn't prepared at all for how silly and relentlessly predictable this offering would be. The fact that it's a very quick read and evokes a nice sense of atmosphere is all that saves it from a 1 star rating.
Our main character is Ava Collette, and she is renting Brodie's Watch, an imposing home built in the 1800s by a boat captain who died at sea. There are rumours the place is haunted by the captain's ghost, Jeremiah Brodie. Ava is on the run from some Horrible Event In The Past, and like any subpar author in this genre, Tess Gerritsen has Ava endlessly, endlessly, endlessly ruminate on this event without telling us what it is, because that's what lazy authors do when they want to find a lazy way to build suspense. Except Gerritsen isn't a subpar author prone to lazy tricks. But she hauls all of that out here! I might also add that it's entirely predictable what Ava did that sent her on the run, which makes this trope even more unforgivable.
Anyway, Ava feels some sort of presence in the house...which is when the book takes a bizarre turn into supernatural Mummy Porn as Ava starts hooking up with Jeremiah Brodie himself, who, for a boat captain that has been dead for some 150 years, has some very 2019 ideas about S&M sex. Ava is getting shackled, whipped and threatened with a billy club up the you-know-what by ghostly-but-corporeal Jeremiah, and she loves it. And I'm thinking, "WTF is going on here, and was this really written by Tess Gerritsen?"
We then get tossed out to us the mystery of Charlotte, who rented the house before Ava, and what might have happened to her, because she seems to have dropped off the grid entirely. And then, when Ava seeks the assistance of ghost hunter Maeve, we learn about all the women over the years who have remained in the house for years, and died as spinsters. Is it possible that they were getting a whipping and pounding of their own from ghostly Jeremiah and enjoyed it so much they never wanted to leave? Well, actually, unless there's a sequel in the works, that answer is never forthcoming.
The book largely doesn't work because it spends an inordinate amount of time trying to convince us that it's a supernatural story, with Ava consulting ghost hunters, and learning about the difference between ghosts, poltergeists and demons, and which one could possibly be haunting her, only to try and suggest her S&M escapades with Jeremiah Brodie are simply an extension of her guilt over that Horrible Event In The Past. So, which is it? Don't spend all that time building up a supernatural angle if you're then going to pass it off as the delusions of a woman who is drunk and horny.
Basically, this feels like Tess Gerritsen wanted her slice of the pie in the popular unreliable narrator and Mummy Porn genres, but got there about five years too late. I can't believe this ridiculously predictable, slapdash nonsense comes from the same person who gave us such gritty, suspenseful thrillers for nearly two decades. Gerritsen either needs to stick with what made her popular in the first place, or give it up. I seriously doubt this nonsense will win her any new fans, and it will certainly alienate existing ones. She doesn't have to do more Rizzoli & Isles, but maybe avoid this sort of supernatural-or-is-it Mummy Porn drivel?
As I said, the fact I read it in one go and found that it generated a nice sense of atmosphere is all that saves it from the 1 star rating that it probably deserves. As a side note, I'm bothered by the blurb of my edition, which tries to pass it off as a normal thriller. It's clear the publishers knew nobody would bother to read it if they knew a major plot driver was all the ghostly S&M sex.
Our main character is Ava Collette, and she is renting Brodie's Watch, an imposing home built in the 1800s by a boat captain who died at sea. There are rumours the place is haunted by the captain's ghost, Jeremiah Brodie. Ava is on the run from some Horrible Event In The Past, and like any subpar author in this genre, Tess Gerritsen has Ava endlessly, endlessly, endlessly ruminate on this event without telling us what it is, because that's what lazy authors do when they want to find a lazy way to build suspense. Except Gerritsen isn't a subpar author prone to lazy tricks. But she hauls all of that out here! I might also add that it's entirely predictable what Ava did that sent her on the run, which makes this trope even more unforgivable.
Anyway, Ava feels some sort of presence in the house...which is when the book takes a bizarre turn into supernatural Mummy Porn as Ava starts hooking up with Jeremiah Brodie himself, who, for a boat captain that has been dead for some 150 years, has some very 2019 ideas about S&M sex. Ava is getting shackled, whipped and threatened with a billy club up the you-know-what by ghostly-but-corporeal Jeremiah, and she loves it. And I'm thinking, "WTF is going on here, and was this really written by Tess Gerritsen?"
We then get tossed out to us the mystery of Charlotte, who rented the house before Ava, and what might have happened to her, because she seems to have dropped off the grid entirely.
Spoiler
And this isn't a spoiler, because it's entirely obvious Charlotte is the body that washes up on the beach.The book largely doesn't work because it spends an inordinate amount of time trying to convince us that it's a supernatural story, with Ava consulting ghost hunters, and learning about the difference between ghosts, poltergeists and demons, and which one could possibly be haunting her, only to try and suggest her S&M escapades with Jeremiah Brodie are simply an extension of her guilt over that Horrible Event In The Past. So, which is it? Don't spend all that time building up a supernatural angle if you're then going to pass it off as the delusions of a woman who is drunk and horny.
Basically, this feels like Tess Gerritsen wanted her slice of the pie in the popular unreliable narrator and Mummy Porn genres, but got there about five years too late. I can't believe this ridiculously predictable, slapdash nonsense comes from the same person who gave us such gritty, suspenseful thrillers for nearly two decades. Gerritsen either needs to stick with what made her popular in the first place, or give it up. I seriously doubt this nonsense will win her any new fans, and it will certainly alienate existing ones. She doesn't have to do more Rizzoli & Isles, but maybe avoid this sort of supernatural-or-is-it Mummy Porn drivel?
As I said, the fact I read it in one go and found that it generated a nice sense of atmosphere is all that saves it from the 1 star rating that it probably deserves. As a side note, I'm bothered by the blurb of my edition, which tries to pass it off as a normal thriller. It's clear the publishers knew nobody would bother to read it if they knew a major plot driver was all the ghostly S&M sex.
jmusbach's review against another edition
1.0
Tess Gerritsen is one of two authors I can honestly say I've read nearly every word of and will read every word they continue to put out. That being said, the author who wrote this is not on my list because it could not have been Gerritsen. A genre mashup, each storyline is more poorly crafted than the last.
Ava moves into a house in Maine on the run from a mistake she made after indulging in too much alcohol (a running theme). She soon finds herself visited by a ghost who awakens her sexually as he channels the skeeviest side of Christian Grey. Ava's trysts with the ghost are unbearably uncomfortable, especially when the chains and whips come out.
Meanwhile a woman is found murdered (it is exactly who you think it will be), a suspect is alienated by the town (it is exactly who you think it will be), and Ava attempts to tear herself away from her supernatural sexual predator to settle in with the nice town doctor (who turns out to be exactly who you think he's going to be).
Gerritsen has been re-releasing a number of her older books given her rise in popularity thanks to Rizzoli & Isles and this feels like one of them. The predictability is so uncharacteristic of a writer who has become so sophisticated over the years that it has my head spinning in confusion (unlike her plot). I don't ask that every book outwit me, there's a joy that comes from figuring out the ending and being proven right, but this was thoroughly disappointing. It felt tired, routine, and downright disheartening. I went in thinking Gerritsen was trying out a different approach to the murder mystery and instead found her wandering down a path I cannot follow should her work continue to travel as such. The only thing this book did for me was make me crave wine and lobster, and I needed no help with that.
Ava moves into a house in Maine on the run from a mistake she made after indulging in too much alcohol (a running theme). She soon finds herself visited by a ghost who awakens her sexually as he channels the skeeviest side of Christian Grey. Ava's trysts with the ghost are unbearably uncomfortable, especially when the chains and whips come out.
Meanwhile a woman is found murdered (it is exactly who you think it will be), a suspect is alienated by the town (it is exactly who you think it will be), and Ava attempts to tear herself away from her supernatural sexual predator to settle in with the nice town doctor (who turns out to be exactly who you think he's going to be).
Gerritsen has been re-releasing a number of her older books given her rise in popularity thanks to Rizzoli & Isles and this feels like one of them. The predictability is so uncharacteristic of a writer who has become so sophisticated over the years that it has my head spinning in confusion (unlike her plot). I don't ask that every book outwit me, there's a joy that comes from figuring out the ending and being proven right, but this was thoroughly disappointing. It felt tired, routine, and downright disheartening. I went in thinking Gerritsen was trying out a different approach to the murder mystery and instead found her wandering down a path I cannot follow should her work continue to travel as such. The only thing this book did for me was make me crave wine and lobster, and I needed no help with that.
enaria's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0