Product Description

He slips into homes at night and walks silently into bedrooms where women lie sleeping, about to awaken to a living nightmare. The precision of the killer’s methods suggests that he is a deranged man of medicine, propelling the Boston newspapers to dub him “The Surgeon.” The cops’ only clue rests with the victim of a nearly identical crime: Two years ago, Dr. Catherine Cordell fought back and killed an attacker before he could complete his assault. Now this new killer is re-creating, with chilling accuracy, the details of Cordell’s own ordeal. With every new murder he seems to be taunting her, cutting ever closer, from her hospital to her home. Her only comfort comes from Thomas Moore, the detective assigned to the case. But even Moore cannot protect Cordell from a brilliant hunter who somehow understands—and savors—the secret fears of every woman he kills. . . .

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #595142 in Books
• Published on: 2004-06-29
• Released on: 2004-06-29
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 368 pages

From Amazon.co.uk
Tess Gerritsen left a very successful career as an internist to raise her children and devote more time to writing. The Surgeon, following several books that met with moderate success, is a gruesome and frightening story that should put Gerritsen among the top women thriller writers working today.

A serial killer is on the loose in Boston. The victims are killed in a particularly nasty way: cut with a scalpel on the stomach, the intestines and uterus removed, and then the throat slashed. The killer obviously has medical knowledge and has been dubbed "the Surgeon" by the media. Detective Thomas Moore and his partner Rizzoli of the Boston Homicide Unit have discovered something that makes this case even more chilling. Years ago in Savannah a serial killer murdered in exactly the same way. He was finally stopped by his last victim who shot him as he tried to cut her. That last victim is Dr Catherine Cordell, who now works as a cardiac surgeon at one of Boston's prestigious hospitals. As the murders continue, it becomes obvious that the killer is drawing closer and closer to Dr Cordell, who is becoming so frightened that she is virtually unable to function. But she is the only person who can help the police catch this copycat killer. Or is it a copycat? To complicate matters even further, Detective Moore, often referred to as Saint Thomas as he continues to mourn the loss of his wife, is getting emotionally involved with the doctor.

The suspense in The Surgeon is almost unbearable. The writing is superb and the stunning twists and turns make it almost impossible to put down. --Otto Penzler, Amazon.com

From Publishers Weekly
A creepy cerebral serial killer vaguely reminiscent of Hannibal Lecter pursues a charismatic female doctor in this thoroughly satisfying if somewhat derivative thriller. Skillfully drawn surgical backdrops sizzling with ER intensity balance out the obligatory romantic intrigue and familiar plucky police professionals, attesting to Gerritsen's authentic medical expertise as a former physician. Dr. Catherine Cordell, the main character in this chilling tale, thought she had shot and killed her rapist and would-be murderer two years earlier in steamy Savannah, where he was a surgery intern at her hospital. Now, in Boston, as another hot summer begins, he appears to have miraculously returned and embarked once again on his grisly mission: he rapes women, then surgically removes their wombs. As two intrepid detectives Thomas Moore and Jane Rizzoli investigate, Cordell begins to doubt her own memories (or lack of) and discovers that not even her OR is safe. Gliding as smoothly as a scalpel in a confident surgeon's hand, this tale proves that Gerritsen (Harvest; Life Support; Bloodstream; Gravity), originally a romance writer, has morphed into a dependable suspense novelist whose growing popularity is keeping pace with her ever-finer writing skills. (Sept.)Forecast: National print advertising in People, the New York Times and USA Today, plus a major promotion campaign, will ratchet Gerritsen's sales up yet another notch.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
In this frighteningly suspenseful tale, Detective Tom Moore and his partner Jane Rizzoli try to discover who is playing "surgeon" in Boston, and why. A serial killer strikes, butchering his female victims with a precision that indicates he has expert medical knowledge. Some years ago in Savannah, GA, a serial killer murdered women in exactly the same way, until his last victim, Dr. Catherine Cordell, who now works in Boston, shot and killed him. As the investigation progresses, Cordell is brought in to help. The Surgeon is a fascinating medical story with a gripping plot and rich, complex characters. Christine Marshall's clear and thoughtful reading adds to the depth and level of suspense. Highly recommended. Denise A. Garofalo, Astor Learning Ctr., Rhinebeck, NY
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Gruesome Serial Killer Book
A serial killer is brutally raping then removing body parts from his victims. The trail leads the police to a victim who escaped from her assailant two years ago. The crimes are identical, only the previous victim managed to kill her rapist before he killed her. Are the police dealing with a copycat killer?

This was a gruesome, bloody serial killer book. I enjoyed the hard, edgy story. My main problem with the book was that I didn't enjoy the main female character, Jane Rizzoli. She is a bitter, man-hating type of woman which, personally, I found tedious and annoying. She shared equal page time with the main male character though, who I did like. This is also not the type of mystery where you can guess the killer, the killer is an unknown and the story is more about how the police track him/her down than who he/she is. I do prefer the thrill of trying to guess the killer. But overall, the story was compelling and scary and I'm enough interested to want to read the next in the series. I'm interested in seeing if Rizzoli grows as a character, as there were indications in this novel that she might.

A Very Worthwhile Read-Exciting Book!
This was the first I have read of Gerritsen's books, and it was a good one!

Catherine Cordell is a surgeon who is highly skilled in repairing broken people's bodies.

There have been some horrendous murders taking place in the city of Boston. This killer would tear women apart by carving out their female organs, stabbing them with a scalpel, and leaving some dead, and others barely alive at the scene.

With each repeated act of great violence, the monster comes closer and closer to capturing Cordell, and hurting her. The thing one, he did hurt Catherine once, and she managed to escape. But this time, she may not be so lucky. She's in this monster's obsessions all the time.

an intelligently written medical thriller/police procedural
The person who wrote this book is actually a real life MD (specializing in Internal Medicine) who gave up her career to write full time. This book she wrote is nothing short of brilliance. Not only was she able to use her medical expertise to write out all of the gory details of the killings, but she does well in putting together great detective work and really makes some interesting and believeable characters.

The story is centered around the search for a serial killer who performs hyterectomies on women in the Boston area while they are still alive and then kills them. The killer is called the surgeon because he seems to have skills that only someone with specialized medical training should have. The killings seem strikingly similar to the style of another killer over two years ago in Savanna, Georga. But the killer in Georga was killed by his would-be victim (Catherine Cordell). One would think that maybe it's just coincidental that another killer just happened to have the same style as another killer who was killed over two years ago. The possiblility of it just being a coincidence was shattered when the police realized that the same woman (Catherine Cordell) who killed the killer two years ago is now living in Boston. The killer starts taunting Catherine by writing her email messages and even writes a message to her on a victim's body. But what is this killer's link to what happened in Georga and why is Catherine being targeted?

Another part of the story focuses on the relationship of a male detective (Thomas Moore) with Catherine and the building resentment of a female detective. It also takes us into the world of a female detective's struggle for recognition and respect on the police force.