Jane Rizzoli and Dr. Maura Isles

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Two summers I read Tess Gerritsen's The Surgeon for a book club selection.  I hadn't been familiar with her novels prior to reading The Surgeon but it kicked off a new interest of mine: mystery novels.  It's not like I haven't read some mysteries in my time, but for some reason it's become more of a passion.  I tend to do this, read particular genres with intense dedication (horror, chick lit, young adult, etc).  The Surgeon features two characters who aren't the main focus of the book, detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Dr. Maura Isles.  When I discovered there was a follow up book, The Apprentice, I immediately bought it, only to find out that Jane and Maura dominate the series after Book 1.  I wasn't sure how I felt about that.  Jane Rizzoli is not an easy character to like in the first book, she's prickly, she has a chip on her shoulders and she comes across as jealous and spiteful.  And she is all these things still.  Rizzoli is no beauty queen, and she constantly feels the need to compete with the men she works with for even a small bit of recognition.  She is jealous of beautiful women, at the ease they have seem to have with life.  Jane Rizzoli might not be easy to like, but she feels real, she has real issues and not one of those issues deals with having to choose between two or more incredibly hot guys like every other popular heroine seems to be doing these days (I'm talking about YOU, Sookie Stackhouse).  Throughout the current 8 books, Jane continues to grow as a character, but in a realistic arc, at her core she remains herself- tough yet vulnerable.  I might not always like Rizzoli, but I've come to love her.  She's like family.

On the other side of the coin we have Dr. Maura Isles, a dark haired beauty who's as cool as ice.  The media and cops are all intrigued by Maura, but she keeps her distance for several novels before getting her own Thorn Birds like romance.  I'm not as much of a fan of Maura's as I am of Jane, and I prefer the stories that feature Jane more or the two of them working together.  They are both such strong characters and no one can accuse them of being Mary Sue type characters.  In Ice Cold, you really get to know more of Maura.

And then we have the murderers and crimes the duo must catch and solve.  I'm pretty good at discovering the killer early on, but I have to say, Tess Gerritsen often keeps me guessing.  And I like that.  Plus, I learn stuff from her books without feeling like I'm reading a text book.  I now know more about mummies than I learned in school (The Keepsake) and more about Boston (the entire series).  There's twists and turns throughout all the novels, and the killers and side characters are often as intriguing as the main characters.  Here's a list of the books in order:

The Surgeon
The Apprentice
The Sinner
Body Double
Vanish
The Mephisto Club
The Keepsake
Ice Cold

So if you're looking for a good mystery/thriller and like a good series (I like investing in characters), than start with The Surgeon.  Out of all the books The Sinner was probably my least favorite, but I really enjoyed all of them.  They're easy reads, which by now you can tell I like.

This series gets a combined Midnight Book Rating of 11pm, some will keep you up way past the midnight hour, while others might be stretched over several evenings.