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This book is on the NYTimes Bestseller list. Regardless of the ever-increasing number of such lists, it's an accurate appellation for this fine novel. Boston detective Jane Rizolli (see The Surgeon by this same author) returns, battle and physically scarred, to discover a case with all too familiar elements. A wealthy doctor is found bound and dead in his home. His wife is missing. And the remains of a white teacup are beside the body. Even though the murder and abduction is not quite in Rizolli's jurisdiction, the detective who catches the case, Vince Korsak, recognizes the pattern and requests Rizolli's help. When she learns about the broken teacup, she too understands the pattern. Trouble is, the man who fits that serial killer pattern is in prison, convicted largely on the efforts of detective Rizolli. Step by step, tough and vulnerable detective Rizolli is dragged deeper and deeper into a case she'd rather run away from. Step by step, author Gerritson, drags the reader into a maze of police forensic and street-wise detail. The novel is populated with a gaggle of finely defined characters, realistic and idealized. Rizolli is one such character. She is a mass of conflicting emotions. She tries, sometimes desperately, to demonstrate over and over again that she is at least as satrong mentally, as the men around her. This occasionally leads to self-doubts and minor mistakes. The action, methodical, often horrible to behold, lets readers ride shoulder to shoulder with the detective who must solve this case and those that follow. The tension rises through each event, until one almost wants there to be an end. And then come surprises. The explicitness of some scenes is not for everyone, but the story is excellent. And the strange and surprising twists that occur before the ending can only be described as taut, and excellently executed. Yes, this is a serial killer police procedural, but so well done one is unable to let go until the final page. The reviewer is author of INNER PASSAGES and A SUPERIOR MYSTERY http://www.Minnesotacrimewave.org
Reviewed by Carl Brookins, December 2002
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