Body Double

Rating:
Summary: Horrifyingly possible plots
Review: Being a lover of books, I have had a serioulsy bad time with so many books of fiction lately that I began to feel that there are no truly great criminal fiction writers left. I am glad to tell you I was dead wrong; with this book, Gerritsen is at her best.

Her descriptions of matters medical are anchored in concrete; after all, she is a real doctor of medicine. This being so, this book should be read and not taken apart by me. I want you to buy and enjoy; it is worth it. Other doctors of medicine have written criminal fiction, but you get the feeling that they did so for money. Gerritsen does it to alarm of the possibilities (recently, in Texas, there was just such a case of murder for the harvest of the embryo), to warn and to lead you by way of ingenious sub-plots, to a startling conclusion.

This writer is GOOD.



Rating:
Summary: Double your pleasure...
Review: Body Double is a rollercoaster of a read, because Gerritsen is constantly startling and unsettling you. She puts a plot twist, and sometimes more than one, in nearly every chapter - some of them shocking as a body blow, others subtle as a slow poison. Once you've started, putting the book down for more than a few minutes is as difficult as keeping your eyes closed during a horror movie: not knowing what's going to happen next is worse than seeing it.

Gerritsen's pacing is almost surgically precise, and while there are a few convenient and rather unlikely coincidences helping move the plot along, her detailed descriptions of police and medical procedures lend an aura of unnerving authenticity to the story. Her depiction of scientists and forensic investigators at work - not just the tools they use, or the language, but the way they think and feel - is utterly believable.

While the novel's male characters aren't especially interesting, Gerritsen has done a much better job of bringing her female characters to life. None of them are superwomen (unlike Kay Scarpetta in Patricia Cornwell's more recent novels), but they're a far cry from the stock figures created by some male writers. Even the most apparently vapid of them fights for her life when necessary, and when especially they have more than one life to fight for, they show an inspiring degree of courage, resourcefulness and inner strength. If you were impressed by Clarice Starling and Catherine Martin in The Silence of the Lambs, or Silent Witness's Sam Ryan, then you'll almost certainly like Jane Rizzoli, Maura Isles and Mattie Purvis. As a former medic, Gerritsen also has an unusual gift for granting dignity and significance to a corpse on an autopsy table, or a few bones found in a shallow grave, with a few well-chosen words.

Rating:
Summary: Body Double is an awesome, well written mystery
Review: Dr. Maura Isles comes home late one night, from a business trip to Paris, to find out someone on her street has been murdered. Much to her bewilderment, and the shock of neighbors and law enforcement, the victim looks exactly like her. Maura knew she was adopted but never knew she could possibly have a sister, let alone a twin sister. With the help of Detective Rizzoli and Detective Rick Ballard, she starts to trace the movements of Anna Leoni. Once she is confirmed as her sister, Maura decides to drive to Fox Harbor, Maine for answers. She rents the same house her sister did in the past six months. Maura sees the locks on the doors in the house, and knowing what happened to her sister makes her nervous about being alone in the woods. Especially after finding footprints outsider her bedroom window. Detective Ballard follows her to Maine, to keep her safe but Maura questions his motives once she finds out he was in love with her sister. Human remains get discovered in the building lot next door. Someone starts stalking Maura scratching a warning in her car door. Maura discovers that her birth mother is locked in prison. At the same time, a pregnant woman is kidnapped, but manages to escape her killer. Detective Ballard is not so fortunate. Detective Rizzoli discovers a detail in a related case that helps her save Maura's life. Terrific read that keeps you at the edge of your seat until the last page.

Rating:
Summary: Fun, But Not Her Best
Review: Gerritsen makes a smart move to base this novel on the forensic pathologist instead of on Jane Rizzoli. Jane's just a bit too brash and annoying to make the reader sympathize with the protagonist.

The plot is not quite believable, and the villain, when revealed, is a surprise--but she/he is such a minor character as to render the I-never-would-have-guessed factor somewhat artificial. Dr. Gerritsen has a nice story-telling writing style, and her characters for the most part are likable and human. Their vulnerabilities help bring them closer to the reader's level, and it makes a series of novels possible and interesting.

I guess my main objection to this novel is the plot. It just doesn't seem believable, and it doesn't grab you with its teeth and refuse to let you go. Gerritsen is capable of such storytelling, and I hope her next installment in the series takes us back to such edgy plots.

Rating:
Summary: Thrilling Plot
Review: I don't believe in giving book reports so I'll just say that this book was awesome, one of the best of her books that I've read recently. The twin sub-plot kept me riveted to the page and just when I was sure I had the murderer figured out, I was fooled! God, I love it when that happens! A worthy read, worth your valuable time!!!

Rating:
Summary: A solid, enjoyable read...
Review: I had the chance to read a solid crime mystery over the last couple of days... Body Double by Tess Gerritsen. A nice read...

Dr. Maura Isles is a pathologist in the big city. Her life takes a bizarre turn when someone is shot and murdered in front of her apartment. The problem is that the victim could pass as her identical twin. If true, this means that Isles had a sister she didn't know about, and it looks as if that sister was trying to contact her. She talks to a lawyer who handled the twin's adoption, and finds out that her mother is a mentally deranged prisoner convicted of a brutal slaying of two sisters, one of which was nearly full-term pregnant. Continuing the investigation, she finds that it's possible that her mother had an accomplice who is still on the loose, and it may be the person who killed her sister and may also be looking for her.

The writing in this book is pretty tight, and the plot line is workable. There's the subtext of Isles discovering a sister she didn't know existed, and struggling to decide whether she wants to know if the monster she meant in prison is really her mother. If so, do the genetics of the family predispose her to this same type of insanity? This is an author I really enjoy reading, and this book was no exception. I'm looking forward to her future works.

Rating:
Summary: Gerritsen delivers the good stuff again.
Review: There once was a teenage girl. Friendless, a little hard of hearing, she was taunted by her classmates daily. If someone was kind to her, she would blindly follow in gratitude. This trust led her to being trapped in a hole in the ground, in the middle of nowhere. Eventually she was found, but it was a temporary return to the world. She killed herself.

Dr Maura Isles returns from a work conference to find her home has been become a crime scene. It's not surprising that her neighbours are shocked to see her return, once she has had a look at the victim who was shot as she sat in her parked car. The woman looks exactly like Maura. A twin or at least a freak body double.

There was once a pair of serial killers that preyed on young couples. The female half of this partnership had been in jail for some time, so she could not be responsible for the recent disappearance of a pregnant woman. Three scenarios no one would want to be a part of, but all of them are tied to the unknown past of Dr Maura Iles, forensic pathologist.

Author Tess Gerritsen would appear to have found herself the secret formula for writing best selling novels. "Body Double" has the attention grabbing leads, lots of murky paths for the reader to trip down and the possibilities of future horrors lingering on at the end. As with the three preceding novels, Gerritsen features the same main characters while changing the viewpoint from which the action is relayed. It works extremely well, as you have a sense of familiarity while having the ability to explore in greater depth those you have encountered previously in her work. Gerritsen seems to know where that borderline is with horrified fascination, to the turn off kind of horror. Remaining on the right side of it at all times, Gerritsen writes a blazingly good story with plenty of evil chills to enthrall her audience.

This is one author who is just hitting her stride. Gerritsen remains one to watch and if "Body Double" hasn't already made it into your hands, the recommendation is that it finds its way there, sooner rather than later.




Rating:
Summary: Tess Gerritsen best to date
Review: This author is getting better and better. Like a lot of female mystery writers her novels focus on creating a bigger and better boogey man. (Male authors don't dwell nearly as much on this theme unless it's within the horror genre.)

The plot twists and turns, the characters are interesting, and it's guaranteed to give you a few goose bumps. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Chilling !
Review: This is my favorite Tess Gerritsen novel,...so far! I was hooked into the story from the very first page! If you love sinister plots, mystery, suspense, intrigue, and dark secrets, this is a novel for you to read!
The story begins with a young girl named Alice who follows a boy by the name of Elijah out into the woods to see his science project, and encounters something horrifying. Then, in the next chapter it switches over to Dr. Maura Isles returning from a trip to Paris, and discovering that a woman who has an uncanny resemblance to her, has been murdered in front or Maura's home. Maura is, of course, very unnerved, as well as curious about who this "Jane Doe", really is, and why she was killed in front of her residence. "Is the killer after her?", ..she wonders.
Jane Rizzolli comes into the case, and pursues the evidence and attempts to solve the crime, of course. Meanwhile Maura orders a DNA test to discover whether the victim is a relative of hers. When the results are in, Maura finds out that this woman is, indeed, a relative. Her name is Anna, and it is her twin sister. As the story line continues Maura becomes acquainted with Detective Rick Ballard. He was a friend of Anna's who tried to protect her from an abusive lover. Apparently this abuser also threatened Anna's life several times before she met her untimely death. Maura is torn betwwen her attraction to Father Daniel Brophy and her new-found friend Rick Ballard in this story. When Maura discovers the alleged identity of her birth mother, the story becomes increasingly interesting.Maura and Anna's mother is serving a life sentence in prison for the murders of two sisters, one of them was eight months pregnant at the time of her death. Maura begins to wonder if this woman is really their mother, and if she truly is a killer.
This is a fantastic tale. I strongly recommend it!

Rating:
Summary: Good plot, but sub-plot about twin reduces suspense
Review: We've had mixed feelings about Tess Gerritsen's medical thrillers. We find her stories tend toward violence and gore, of which we could use less and still be entertained. But her characters Boston ME Maura Isles and, in this novel, a very pregnant homicide Detective Jane Rizzoli, are interesting; and the serial killer plot of "Body" is well crafted. What detracts from the story line is ironically what first grabbed our attention -- at the start, a dead woman is discovered at Maura's curbside who is such a look-alike it fooled all her colleagues into thinking it was her. Then half the book is consumed with a side story about whether she's really a long lost twin, about who was the real mother (Maura was adopted), etc. This meandering preoccupation almost snuffed out the ongoing suspense of the hunt for the killer and discovering his true modus operandus. A satisfying ending helped make the read worthwhile, but we think sharper editing could have increased the thrills with less distraction.

Gerritsen's work is frequently "edgy" and therefore often not for the faint of heart. While she is a good writer and a good story teller, we often come away thinking what we just finished could have been better with just a little more effort. Fearing it might be a matter of taste, perhaps we should stick to Michael Palmer and Kathy Reichs. For sure, Patricia Cornwell has gone over the edge, so it seems this genre might be open for more women to get our attention. We're just not convinced Gerritsen should remain on our "A" list.