Review: The Killing Place – Tess Gerritsen

Rizzoli & Isles #8

SYNOPSIS: In Wyoming for a medical conference, Boston medical examiner Maura Isles joins a group of friends on a spur-of-the-moment ski trip. But when their SUV stalls on a snow-choked mountain road, they’re stranded with no help in sight.

As night falls, the group seeks refuge from the blizzard in the remote village of Kingdom Come, where twelve eerily identical houses stand dark and abandoned. Something terrible has happened in Kingdom Come: Meals sit untouched on tables, cars are still parked in garages. The town’s previous residents seem to have vanished into thin air, but footprints in the snow betray the presence of someone who still lurks in the cold darkness–someone who is watching Maura and her friends.

Days later, Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli receives the grim news that Maura’s charred body has been found in a mountain ravine. Shocked and grieving, Jane is determined to learn what happened to her friend. The investigation plunges Jane into the twisted history of Kingdom Come, where a gruesome discovery lies buried beneath the snow. As horrifying revelations come to light, Jane closes in on an enemy both powerful and merciless–and the chilling truth about Maura’s fate. – via Goodreads

I really liked the style of writing for The Killing Place, and I was almost convinced I was reading a horror in the sense of how things were happening, the amount of inexplicable things, the remote locations, the lack of reception and terrible weather and most of all, the isolation. Isolation just has a way of making everything creepy as hell. I really enjoyed how this book was a little different, which is something that the Rizzoli and Isles series seems to do rather well. Granted, there are common elements among them all, for sure, but Gerritsen likes to change things up a bit, and this was another one of the novels that does that rather successfully. I got so mad reading about the cult, as there are few things that peeve me as much as that. Ugh. Religious fanatics of any kind are not good at all. Reading about what they wanted from their young “spiritual brides” just made me sick. I mean, people can be so disgusting. I was really thrilled to read more about Gabriel Dean here, you all know I cannot get enough of him, and I really feel that he is underutilised at the best of times. Anthony Sansone made another appearance here, and his character has so much potential, if only Gerritsen would explore him  more. The whole melodramatic thing with Maura is getting old now, like her affair with Daniel and her unhappiness, etc. and I am  hoping that we will move on from that properly soon. I thought Julian “Rat” Perkins was a great character, and I am looking forward to reading more about him. I felt so sorry for him, and I know there is tons of potential. It was definitely a different read, and I enjoyed it well enough, and can recommend it. For those of you who are interested, this books is called Ice Cold in the United States.

Review: Vanish – Tess Gerritsen

Rizzoli & Isles #5

SYNOPSIS: A nameless, beautiful woman appears to be just another corpse in the morgue. An apparent suicide, she lies on a gurney, awaiting the dissecting scalpel of medical examiner Maura Isles. But when Maura unzips the body bag and looks down at the body, she gets the fright of her life. The corpse opens its eyes.

Very much alive, the woman is rushed to the hospital, where with shockingly cool precision, she murders a security guard and seizes hostages . . . one of them a pregnant patient, Jane Rizzoli.

Who is this violent, desperate soul, and what does she want? As the tense hours tick by, Maura joins forces with Jane’s husband, FBI agent Gabriel Dean, to track down the mysterious killer’s identity. When federal agents suddenly appear on the scene, Maura and Gabriel realize that they are dealing with a case that goes far deeper than just an ordinary hostage crisis.

Only Jane, trapped with the armed madwoman, holds the key to the mystery. And only she can solve it–if she survives the night. – via Goodreads

I must admit, this was infinitely better than that melodramatic Body Double that I read last. I was no fan of that, and you always worry the events of that book would spill over and infect the next one. Luckily for me though, this was not the case. Jane and Gabriel are married, doing alright, and she is literally almost about to pop out her baby. You wonder how this is all going to come together, I mean she is about to have a baby, what kind of case will Gerritsen get to pull this together? But she does, and in an exceptionally entertaining fashion, too. The whole kidnapping/hostage thing gave rise to an interesting and very sad story, to look at how these poor girls got forced into a life they do not want. The story flips between Jane in hostage crisis to her friends and family in the outside, desperate to figure out what is going on, and then to the perspective of a young Russian girl who has been forced into prostitution in a foreign country. Gabriel is also a character that I thoroughly enjoy, so I was pleased as punch for him to feature more prominently in Vanish, anything to read more than a few stray lines about him, he is fascinating! The story is very engaging, and catches you quite early and reels you in. The characters are more entertaining, and there isn’t so much of that exceptional melodrama from the last one (thank goodness). I know I harp on that point, but sheesh. It was enough to put me off of reading more in this series. Vanish is a fast read, and Gerritsen explores a dark, nasty side of people and human trafficking, painting enough to horrify you, but not going that far into things to just be gratuitously disgusting, which is a good balance. I can’t say too much about this book, in fear of spoilers, but I can say that this book is well worth the read.