Recently my wife and I discovered the Rizzoli and Isles television series that was broadcast on TNT between 2010 and 2016.  We were immediately taken by the Boston detective series and have been binging it for the last few weeks.  We were impressed by the plots, the interaction between the characters, the acting, especially Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander, and the use of science to determine outcomes.  After a little research we learned that the series was based on author Tess Gerritsen’s thirteen crime novels on which the program was based.  Immediately I purchased a copy of the first novel in the series, THE SURGEON, which had a different approach to some of the characters but was well worth reading.

The novel begins with the murder of two women.  First, Diana Sterling, who was employed at the Kendall and Lord Travel Agency in Boston, second, a year later Elena Ortiz who was employed at Celebration Florists, also in Boston.  When detectives arrived on the scene, they found Ortiz’s body immobilized by duct tape with incisions in the abdomen.  They immediately realized that the two cases were similar though they took place a year apart.

The detectives involved were Jane Rizzoli, who recently had transferred from Vice and Narcotics to the Homicide Division, and Thomas Moore, the senior detective in the group.  The personalities of the two form a key theme in the story.  Rizzoli came across as a prickly woman who was very protective about her “turf” after years of dealing with the misogyny of the Boston Police Department and had grown tired of men getting the credit for all her hard work.  Moore, on the other hand, was very tolerant and a warm individual who played by the rule book and had earned the nickname, “Sir Thomas Moore,” even Rizzoli admired him.

After Medical Examiner Ashford Tierney examined Ortiz’s body, he observed the preciseness of the cut wounds suggesting that the murderer was a medical professional. Tierney noticed that the uterus had been surgically removed which supported his thesis.

Similar to the television series Gerritsen’s novel creates a story line that immediately draws in the reader and what follows is a carefully constructed thriller centered around a series of murders focusing on Emergency Room Doctor, Catherine Cordell who had survived a similar attack while working in a Savannah, Georgia hospital two years earlier.  Cordell was able to escape her assailant, a medical colleague, Dr. Andrew Capra and in the end, she was able to reach for her gun and kill him.  Cordell would move to Boston to try and escape her demons.  A third victim would emerge who was coincidentally brought to Cordell’s ER which would set off her own PTSD.  She was an excellent general and vascular surgeon, but her private life was filled with memories and fears brought on by her attack two years earlier.

Rizzoli would make the connection between Cordell’s arrival in Boston and the series of murders.  This would create a series of dialogues that Gerritsen excels at between detectives.  One of which is Darren Crowe, a wise ass who demeaned women who Rizzoli could not tolerate; Moore who was willing to work with Rizzoli but made the mistake of becoming emotionally involved with Cordell; and Lt. Marquette who oversaw the investigation.

Gerritsen creates a number of characters that reflect the Boston Police Departments approach to the investigation. Dr. Lawrence Zucker, a criminal psychologist, provides insights into the criminal they are dealing with. Alex Polochelk, a forensic hypnotist who will work with Cordell as she tries to remember what happened to her two years earlier once detective realized that she was being stalked by someone similar to Andrew Capra, but he was dead,  This forms the crux of the investigation – was Cordell the murderer or the victim?  Gerritsen’s novel creates a superb plot – two killers, one dead and one alive, but what bonded them together?  Was it Dr. Cordell?

A major theme that the author develops centers around rape and how women react in the short term and cope in the long term.  They hide their feelings, particularly from men seeing themselves as “damaged goods,” blaming themselves for what has occurred.  It is left to female medical professionals to help these victims and Gerritsen effectively uses her dialogue to explore this issue.  A poignant example is Cordell’s conclusion that “a rapist never disappears from your life.  For as long as you live, your always their property.”

Gerritsen is a master at developing her characters, providing important background.  Rizzoli’s upbringing in a male dominated family with two brothers, one of which is a Marine and seen as the star of the family and a compliant mother.  She believes she received no recognition from her family, and this helps explain her inability to deal with certain male detectives.  Moore on the other hand had a wonderful twenty-year marriage when his wife died suddenly a few years earlier and he is still grieving, which explains in part how he treats Cordell.  In terms of character development, Gerritsen excels at uncovering the egos involved in the investigation and how everyone navigated their relationships with colleagues.  The Rizzoli-Moore connection is integral to the story and understanding how two people under immense pressure lean on each other, then are forced to face the reality of who they are.  Their tenuous association offers an important context to events that occur throughout the novel.

The core of the novel focuses on establishing a number of important links between a series of murders and trying to determine who is responsible. It is fascinating how the author weaves together her plot and the characters within.  None stand out as much as Rizzoli, who by the end of the novel learns a great deal about herself and her own insecurities as well as the perpetrator of these hideous crimes, who had a normal upbringing and appeared as ordinary as the next person.  Gerritsen has constructed a real page turner involving forensic science, detailed descriptions of anatomy, and imagination to maintain the reader’s interest throughout.