The Sinner (Gerritsen, Tess)

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Tess Gerritsen's The Silent Girl.

Not even the icy temperatures of a typical New England winter can match the bone-chilling scene of carnage discovered at the chapel of Our Lady of Divine Light. Within the cloistered convent lie two nuns–one dead, one critically injured–victims of an unspeakably savage attacker. The brutal crime appears to be without motive, but medical examiner Maura Isles’s autopsy of the dead woman yields a shocking surprise: Twenty-year-old Sister Camille gave birth before she was murdered. Then another body is found, mutilated beyond recognition. Together, Isles and homicide detective Jane Rizzoli uncover an ancient horror that connects these terrible slaughters. As long-buried secrets come to light, Maura Isles finds herself drawn inexorably toward the heart of an investigation that strikes close to home–and toward a dawning revelation about the killer’s identity too shattering to consider.

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Without giving too much of the plot away the opening takes us to India and a massacred village. Then we are back in Boston at a brutal murder of a young novice and the injury of an older nun. The violence is unbelievable and there seems to be no indication of motive. But when the investigation moves forward ties between the murder of the young novice and the murder of an unidentified women in an abandon building are linked by bizzare circumstances. Detective Jane Rizzoli and Dr. Maura Isle work together to bring a killer to justice.

I enjoyed reading about Jane and I actually liked that Ms. Gerritsen was willing to portray this strong woman with normal human feelings of not thinking that she can do it all. I don't feel that romance was a huge part of the book. I'm a huge romance genre fan and the romance between Jane and Agent Gaberial Dean was way far back on the back burner and since I have been reading all the books involving Jane I was happy to see this relationship was continued and developed. As for the romance issue with Dr. Isle I feel that it played a part in the storyline and again this was not a priority in the plot. Yes, this book is not as griping as her last two...but then it is dealing with a different type of killer.

This book is worth picking up just keep and open mind and don't expect it to be like her others. Suspense is at a premium and favorite characters from previous book are included. If you have not read the last few books by Ms. Gerritsen don't worry, this book is still a stand alone story and by no means relys on previous titles. This is a fast paced read and a good way to spend a weekend.

6 of 6 found the following review helpful:

Two Heroines Make the Sinner Twice as GoodJul 29, 2010
By Island Dreamer
Usually I can tell who the protagonist in a novel is right off the bat, lots of times just by reading the inside flap of a hard cover or the back of a paperback. But in this more than excellent thriller/mystery from Tess Gerritsen I had a hard time deciding if the novel belonged to Boston Medical Examiner Maura Isles or Police Detective Jane Rizzoli. In a well written suspense story told from the third person point of view, we get to wander around in the head of enough people to make the book interesting, usually four or five, but not so many that it becomes confusing, however we spend most of the time with our protag. In this book, however, Ms. Gerritsen seems to have divided our head time more or less equally between these two very well crafted characters and she's done it so well that it's frightening.

Dr. Maura Isles is called to a crime scene on a snowy day before Christmas, two nuns in a cloistered order have been attacked, one killed. Detective Jane Rizzoli is already at the scene. Maura discovers the dead nun was pregnant during the autopsy, Rizzoli faints, something this hard as nails cop has never done, but she can't help it, she's pregnant too and she doesn't know if she's going to keep the child as the father is FBI agent Gabriel Dean, who she had a brief affair with and is now back in Washington, a long way from Boston.

During the course of the investigation, Maura and Rizzoli discover that the surviving nun had spent two years in a leper colony in India, then later a body turns up with leprosy, however the face, hands and feet had been removed to hide the disease. Rizzoli and Maura wonder if there could be a connection and the FBI does too. Enter agent Dean to represent the Feds and further complicate Rizzoli's life. Should she tell him about the baby or not? Are the bodies related or not? And is the death of an executive from a major chemical company that just happened to have a plant upwind from that leper colony in India related? How many more are going to die? Maura gets close. The killer has his eyes on her. Can Rizzoli stop him?

There is a lot to take in in this fast moving story that will have you anticipating as much as it will have you guessing. After reading The Apprentice I couldn't imagine how Ms. Gerritsen could get any better, but she has, each one of her books is better than the last and that is really saying something.

5 of 5 found the following review helpful:

suspenseful story with good twistsOct 26, 2003
By A. Christie "bibliofiend508"
Medical Examiner Maura Isles is called to a cloistered convent where one novitiate lies bludgeoned to death by a hammer and an older nun lies near death. The autopsy of the young nun reveals a shocking surprise, she had recently given birth. Dr. Isles and Detective Jane Rizzoli investigate for the answers to the many questions this case raises. Why would two nuns with no contact with the outside world be attacked? Before too long a gruesome third killing is tied to the nuns attack and the FBI become involved. In addition to the investigation, Isles and Rizzoli must confront unresolved issues from their pasts that interweave with a crime that goes far beyond the murder of nuns and an unidentified woman.

Jane Rizzoli has appeared in THE SURGEON and THE APPRENTICE. It is not necessary to read the former stories to enjoy THE SINNER, but it helps with character development. Also, both earlier books are excellent. This is not a book for the faint-hearted. The crime scenes and autopsies are very graphic. The book is well plotted with some really good twists, and it really keeps you reading. I liked the characters, but both women seem to be a little more intelligent in their careers than in their private lives. The ending was a bit to pat and was a little bit of a letdown after the promise of the strong beginning and middle of the book. Overall, it was not quite as good as the previous Rizzoli books, but still far superior to most medical/forensic thrillers.

9 of 11 found the following review helpful:

An Uncharacteristic ShowingMay 24, 2004

I have been highly impressed by Tess Gerritsen's style of writing in her previous novels: Gravity, The Surgeon, Harvest, The Apprentice. Unfortunately, The Sinner does not carry with it the same level of suspense and excitement that has made her other titles absolute page-turners. In fact, there is nearly no suspense involved for the first 3/4 of the book, as the mystery tying together 3 seemingly unrelated crime scenes is unraveled at a painfully prolonged pace. Yes, this is more of an average quality murder mystery novel than the characteristically excellent medical thriller that has made Gerritsen a multiple-time New York Times bestselling author. Although The Sinner certainly is readable, I would recommend spending your time on one of Gerritsen's more acclaimed titles instead.

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