The Surgeon

I knew from the synopsis that this would be a gory book, but I did not expect how gruesome it would be. Rape, mutilation, sexism (going both ways), and unlikable characters made this challenging to finish.

This was SUCH a good read! The episodes of violence and/or sexual content were brief and pertinent to the story (although “brief” and “pertinent” are pretty subjective, so others may disagree). This is the kind of book that found me totally absorbed with the characters and the action; saying things like, “No! Don't go there!!” and “C'mon! You know better than that!” I'm hoping that I'm not the only one who “converses” with the characters in a book. I experienced all of the ups and downs of the investigation right along with Jane Rizzoli. I'm now reading the next in the series, “The Apprentice” and it is just as compelling. I plan to read the whole series. NOTE: If you watch the TV series, you will see that there are some differences, such as the physical description of Rizzoli and of Isles, as well as some differences in other characters. I just don't find this distracting.

4.5. I will be back with a review

First of all, I want to say that the cover is a bit misleading. You can see a picture of the TNT show on the front, and it says “A Rizzoli & Isles novel.” However, not only is Det. Jane Rizzoli barely present in the first three quarters of the book, but Dr. Maura Isles isn't even in this book! Nothing (well except one) in this book was ever talked about on the show though, so I can forgive the fact that Maura wasn't in this one.

50 pages in, and the disappointment was gone. Gerritsen has a very particular way of telling this story, and it sucks you in. I could barely put it down.

Full review over @ the hungry bookster

⭐⭐⭐⭐
I really like this book . It's a very enjoyable story, but just short of epic. Certain areas may not be as fulfilling as they could have been. I'm not quite as captivated or blown away, but still had a great experience. I'd recommend this book to others and continue reading from this author. I would probably re-read it.

This was my first Tess Gerritsen book. I had heard good things about her, especially about her Rizzoli and Isles characters.

While I enjoyed this story I feel like it didn't get really good until the last few chapters. It would suck me in for a little before losing me for a while before sucking me back in again.

I think Gerritsen did an amazing job of explaining how Jane Rizzoli felt being the only woman in a male dominated field. She also did very well explaining how Rizzoli felt “unattractive” compared to other women and hit on some insecurities that many of us have.

I'm looking forward to reading more of her books in the future.

3.5

I have a hard time rating books like these because I know that the opinions expressed in the book aren't that of the author, yet it is very difficult to know for sure that the author is not inserting their reflections into the book.

I will give it the benefit of doubt of course because writing about difficult subject matters would cease if we were to scrutinise the author for expressing them.

It was without a doubt a great read.

I will list some of my annoyances regardless:
- there are black characters and it's important to express that they're black, but, and a big but, it wasn't a single reference, the character just becomes ‘the black character TM'
- a surgical partner says all he remembered of the candidate was how she looked, etc. and not the actual interview and this was actually a positive interaction between the two of them - is there a single woman who would feel good after that statement?
- the cop acting as if he'd healed fragile goods just by spending the night with a character and referring to her as fragile goods
- everything Rizzoli said and did
- internalised misogyny? weird descriptions of assault?
- for it to be remotely okay for the cop to fraternise with the victim
- apparently being referred to as the victim is bad but referring to a patient as a patient is okay

Again, I will chalk all of this to character flaws but be warned that the book might make you feel uncomfortable because you'll realise there isn't a single character for you to like, and I'd presume that that would be important for a book series that recurs and isn't a one-off.

Great start to a series of books I think I am going to enjoy