Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
This book was pretty suspenseful, and I didn't figure out who the killer was ahead of time. The thing I didn't like about this story was that there was too much medical and technical mumbo jumbo.
I'm feeling pretty middle-of-the road about this book. It's clearly one of the author's first attempts at writing a mystery, and she does pretty well at it. I think where this book fails is that Gerritsen doesn't chose a POV character. She switches back and forth between Catherine Cordell, the unsub, Detective Moore, and Detective Rizzoli. This ends up hurting her because she doesn't give Rizzoli enough focus early in the book for me to buy it when she wraps up the mystery from her point of view. She focuses too much on Moore, who apparently doesn't feature heavily in the rest of the books in this series. Catherine Cordell's narrative could have been interesting if she'd been more heavily involved in the case, but for most of the book she refuses to have anything but the bare minimum to do with it, then suddenly she's in love with Moore and heavily invested. The unsub's sections could have been dropped altogether without hurting the plot. I've never been a big fan of dropping first-person narrative from the culprit into the middle of third-person narratives. I also thought that Gerritsen hurt herself by not introducing us to the unsub from one of our other POV characters' perspectives. Catherine at least could have run into him. It would have made the conclusion more personal and more engaging had that been the case.
There were a few places where Gerritsen made me uncomfortable with her terminology. For instance, the Surgeon of the title, a serial killer, targets rape victims. A lot of the words used to describe the victims is now considered improper or archaic. The killer also cuts out the victim's uterus to "purify" her. Instead of referring to the uterus by it's proper, scientific name, everyone in the book, from the doctors right on down to the killer himself, calls it "the womb." The entire book, it's "He cut out her womb" and "he was holding the womb." It got annoying and a little insulting after a while. It also seemed very unprofessional coming from a doctor. There was also a ton of victim-shaming.
Jane Rizzoli herself was actually quite unpleasant. I think she's supposed to be inexperienced and trying to prove herself in a man's world, but she just came off annoying, bitchy, and mean. She also appeared to be a man-hater, due to her actions toward pretty much every man she meets, even the ones who don't question her authority on the force. And when Moore does the honorable, truthful, logical thing and doesn't lie about whether or not a man she shoots has a gun, she gets so upset and angry that she tells on him for having what at that point was a pretty harmless affair with a victim. And calls him a traitor to his face, despite his being one of the few men who actually treats her no different than anyone else on the force. Rizzoli also has a dangerously unhealthy attitude about herself and her looks. Quite honestly, I understood her meanness and her previously inexplicably self-destructive behavior a lot better and with a lot more sympathy when I realized was supposed to be because she hated herself most of all.
All of that being said, The Surgeon was a fast, entertaining read. Gerritsen assumes her reader is smart enough to catch most of the more common technical lingo (both in the medical world and the police department) or to have context for it from other places. She defines or explains her more uncommon terms (CODIS, for example) but assumes her readers will be familiar enough with the jargon not to need her to explain everything she says. The plot was also very quickly-paced, and felt pretty well thought out as far as the big picture. I found it all quite enjoyable despite it's flaws, so I'm interested to see if Gerritsen improves as she goes. I'll probably pick up the next book in the series soon.
There were a few places where Gerritsen made me uncomfortable with her terminology. For instance, the Surgeon of the title, a serial killer, targets rape victims. A lot of the words used to describe the victims is now considered improper or archaic. The killer also cuts out the victim's uterus to "purify" her. Instead of referring to the uterus by it's proper, scientific name, everyone in the book, from the doctors right on down to the killer himself, calls it "the womb." The entire book, it's "He cut out her womb" and "he was holding the womb." It got annoying and a little insulting after a while. It also seemed very unprofessional coming from a doctor. There was also a ton of victim-shaming.
Jane Rizzoli herself was actually quite unpleasant. I think she's supposed to be inexperienced and trying to prove herself in a man's world, but she just came off annoying, bitchy, and mean. She also appeared to be a man-hater, due to her actions toward pretty much every man she meets, even the ones who don't question her authority on the force. And when Moore does the honorable, truthful, logical thing and doesn't lie about whether or not a man she shoots has a gun, she gets so upset and angry that she tells on him for having what at that point was a pretty harmless affair with a victim. And calls him a traitor to his face, despite his being one of the few men who actually treats her no different than anyone else on the force. Rizzoli also has a dangerously unhealthy attitude about herself and her looks. Quite honestly, I understood her meanness and her previously inexplicably self-destructive behavior a lot better and with a lot more sympathy when I realized was supposed to be because she hated herself most of all.
All of that being said, The Surgeon was a fast, entertaining read. Gerritsen assumes her reader is smart enough to catch most of the more common technical lingo (both in the medical world and the police department) or to have context for it from other places. She defines or explains her more uncommon terms (CODIS, for example) but assumes her readers will be familiar enough with the jargon not to need her to explain everything she says. The plot was also very quickly-paced, and felt pretty well thought out as far as the big picture. I found it all quite enjoyable despite it's flaws, so I'm interested to see if Gerritsen improves as she goes. I'll probably pick up the next book in the series soon.
Непогана книга, хороший антагоніст. І хоч загалом я задоволена після прочитання - мене тут дуже багато чого бісило. А особливо - Ріццолі. Я розумію, що її зобразили як єдину жінку в чоловічому колективі. Але іноді так вибішувало, як вона постійно повторювала, що вона краще за них, хоча я нічого надзвичайного за нею не замітила. Крім бісячої поведінки, коли вона заревнувала чоловіка (чужого) чи не слухала начальство. Це було надзвичайно, да.
Ну і любовний трикутник. Квадрат, навіть. Мені не сподобалось як він закінчився. Було б краще, якби любовних ліній зовсім не було.
Ну і любовний трикутник. Квадрат, навіть. Мені не сподобалось як він закінчився. Було б краще, якби любовних ліній зовсім не було.
Gostei deste livro.
Andava curiosa com esta autora, uma vez que gosto da série Rizzoli & Isles, mas estava ao mesmo tempo um pouco de pé atrás porque já tinha lido um livro de Kathy Reichs (Bones) e não fiquei fã.
Foi um livro rápido de ler, bem escrito e que deixa a pessoa com vontade de ler e ler bem depressa até chegar ao fim da história. De certeza que vou ler mais livros desta autora!
(Até porque neste primeiro livro só entra a Rizzoli e estou curiosa para saber como a autora criou a Isles!)
Same thoughts as the first time.
Andava curiosa com esta autora, uma vez que gosto da série Rizzoli & Isles, mas estava ao mesmo tempo um pouco de pé atrás porque já tinha lido um livro de Kathy Reichs (Bones) e não fiquei fã.
Foi um livro rápido de ler, bem escrito e que deixa a pessoa com vontade de ler e ler bem depressa até chegar ao fim da história. De certeza que vou ler mais livros desta autora!
(Até porque neste primeiro livro só entra a Rizzoli e estou curiosa para saber como a autora criou a Isles!)
Same thoughts as the first time.
Very well written thriller with strong characters. My one complaint is that the explanation of surgical procedures seemed at times gratuitous and overly graphic, especially in the cases of the victims. The novel was still a fascinating read, and I'll be starting on the next in the series with great anticipation.
tense
medium-paced
I gotta be honest I was surprised this was written by a woman. Do not feel like she likes women tbh
I am confused, who is Isles? I really disliked Rizzoli, she was a bitch and I am not quite sure why. For me, there was no redemption she was just rude for no reason, her attitude throughout the book through me off. I actually made me not want to read the next book in the series though I still would like to find out who Isles is.
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A good book. The author knows how to create a mystery and write about characters and their relationships.
I liked the ending the author createdThe villain liked his privacy. Because of that, he directly tells the reader what happened that night when Doctor Cordell survived the first attack. In this way, the villain was able to keep the course of events a secret from the polices, but I, as a reader, got the satisfaction of knowing what happened. At least that's how I interpreted it!
I liked the ending the author created
Homework for the Tess Gerritsen Facebook chat the library is hosting next month. I don't like it when my heart races as I'm reading a book, but if you do, this one's for you. I get why the series was made into a TV crime show.
Side note: Definitely a victim of the changing times, as there were many mentions to Rolodex, cassette players, AOL, chat rooms, pagers, VHS tapes, etc.
Side note: Definitely a victim of the changing times, as there were many mentions to Rolodex, cassette players, AOL, chat rooms, pagers, VHS tapes, etc.