Author: Tess GerritsenGenre: Medical Thriller, Series #6Published: 2006Personal Rating: 2.5/5Yearly Count: 16
Grisly murders that include satanic rituals and messages keep detective, Jane Rizzoli, and medical examiner, Maura Isles, occupied sorting out the meaning. They become familiar with a group of individuals that are well-versed in the historical evil doings of the human race and have to discern whether or not this group is on the up and up or are they as evil as the murderer(s).
There were several things I did not like about this book. One being the basic story line, and two, the side stories. I had no interest in the satanic component - the root of the story and the side stories had a Stephanie Plum feel to them, which resulted in losing some sophistication that Gerritsen's writing generally contains. I was not pleased.
What I did like was the manner in which the story was told. There was one continuing flashback scenario and two present day scenarios. The flashback and one present day were fairly good - they are what kept my interest. I hope #7 in this series steps it up.
Sounds like an interesting premise--sorry this one didn't work out for you.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you joy. This is my least favourite of the series. I did give it a 3.5 though because while I enjoyed the story line, I just thought it should have been a stand-alone. It felt forced to place Jane and Moira in that supernatural setting. It was liek she had the plot and wiggled the series characters around be in it. It would have been a better book as a stand-alone.
ReplyDeleteThe Keepsake is much better! and back to what you normally expect from this series.
ps. excuse the typos! Not enough coffee yet LOL
ReplyDeleteTrish ~ I suppose it could be. :) The presentation of the whole thing did not inspire me to continue. Thank goodness for the bits that did.
ReplyDeleteNicola ~ Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm so happy to hear that. I think you are right regarding your thoughts on her putting the characters around an already planned story. She comments at the end about her findings on the topic and it seems like that is exactly what she did. (My opinion, of course.)
I've heard a lot about her books but haven't read any yet. Sorry you didn't like this one all that much.
ReplyDeleteI was glad that I had read other books by Tess Gerritsen before reading this one. I'd have never read her again otherwise. I wasn't overly impressed with this effort. My favorite remains GRAVITY. It takes place in the International Space Station and is very intense.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read any Gerritsen yet, but keep meaning to. I think I'll go for one of her other books before I read this one.
ReplyDeleteDar ~ For the most part, it's been a pretty good series. This one was disappointing, but Nicola says #7 is better, so I'm hopeful. :)
ReplyDeleteVickie ~ I'm not so sure I would have continued either. I don't think I've read anything outside this series, so after the one more I have to go to get caught up, I'll have to venture to a standalone. :)
Nicola ~ I just looked this up on Fantastic Fiction and it appears that #7 is Keeping the Dead. The Keepsake is a standalone. Did you read Keeping the Dead?
Ms. Bookish ~ Sorry, I didn't mean to skip you. I was finishing a thought, then hit publish!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I've heard great things about many of her standalones, if you don't want to get tied up into a series.
I didn't even realize she had a series - I thought they were all standalones. I read one of her books a while back and thought it was entertaining. I may check out her series though and see how I like it.
ReplyDeleteIliana ~ Like most series, some are better than others. Start at the beginning if you do choose to read them. The story line builds.
ReplyDeleteNicola ~ I was just adding the book onto my series and noticed that I had Keepsake as #7 on the list, so I went to Amazon and it also states Keepsake as the seventh in the series. SO . . . I guess Fantastic Ficiton is wrong. ???