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.

Good weekend read. I liked the plot and the characters and while I thought there were several leaps of logic and a few flaws, it was well written and I came away feeling like I actually learned something. The author clearly did a lot of research but the medical jargon and the police technicalities didn't bog it down at all, if anything it made the story more believable.

I didn't find the story particularly gory, or even suspenseful. And sometimes the author seemed to focus on certain things a bit too much, particularly in regards to characterisation. (Rizzoli's opinion of herself, for example.) But that did not detract from the reading. I am looking forward to reading the follow up book “The Apprentice” by the same author.

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.