Friday, January 10, 2020

132. The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen



Gerritsen, Tess. The Surgeon. New York: NY: Ballentine Books, 2001. Print.

350 pages

Reviewed by Jessica d'Artagnan Love


This is the first installment of the Rizzoli and Isles series which later become a major network television series. In The Surgeon, a serial killer is murdering women in the city of Boston. Thomas Moore and Jane Rizzoli are on the case. I have read almost this entire series and this was a re-read of the first book. Having read the rest of the series, I have a hunch that Gerritsen did not intend this to be a series. I think she planned for The Surgeon to be a stand alone novel. One of the main reasons I think this is because Maura Isles is not in the first book and in the later books, Thomas Moore is absent. I bet, and I could be wrong, but I bet that her publisher urged her to start a series since they sell well, so she branched off from The Surgeon and I’m so glad she did! I love the Rizzoli and Isles series so much.

In an interview with Tess Gerritsen, she discussed how one of the concepts she tries to explore in her Rizzoli and Isles series is the origin and nature of evil. As I re-read these books, I’m working to track how she covers the topic. In The Surgeon, the theme of evil is being hidden in plain sight. The average person next door who seems entirely normal, may in fact have fantasies about torturing and murdering women. It points to the sinister, hidden forms of evil that are hard to identify and predict.

In a conversation between Thomas Moore and Catherine Cordell, Gerritsen writes,

“ ‘In Savannah, when those other women were murdered, I just assumed I didn’t know the killer. I assumed that if I ever did meet him, I’d know it. I’d feel it. Andrew Capra taught me how wrong I was.’

‘The banality of evil.’

‘That’s exactly what I learned. That evil can be so ordinary. That a man I see every day, say hello to every day, could smile right back at me. . . . And be thinking of all the different ways he’d like to kill me.’ “ (78).

This little excerpt sums up her exploration of evil in The Surgeon.

One other plot point I’m interested in following more closely in the next few installments in the series is what happened between Jane Rizzoli and Karl Pachecko. I feel like this incident is something that could (and should) haunt her future work and psychology as a law enforcement officer. I’m interested to review how Gerritsen handles this.

If you are just starting the Rizzoli and Isles series and start with The Surgeon, please keep this in mind: they get better. Keep reading at least through the first three books in the series before giving up on it. I think Gerritsen was working to establish her series in the first two books and doesn’t really get settled until the third book. So, hang in there.

Would I read it again? 
Yes

Recommended for
Adults who like thrillers and murder mysteries. People who like the Rizzoli and Isles TV show might also like this but keep in mind the books are darker than the show.

Not Recommended for
Those who have suffered trauma from sexual assault. DO NOT read if you fall into this category. Skip straight ahead to the third book in the series.

Word Bank
·         Picquerist (p. 54)


3 stars out of 5

Tess Gerritsen’s website: https://www.tessgerritsen.com/

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