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Index Interviews: Lee Smith Songwriting Elegance Through Song Form: Part Two Plotting Fake ID Common Writing Mistakes Return to This Issue's Index Return to Homepage Subscribe
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Mystery/Thriller Book ReviewsPage One of TwoAgatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came by M.C. BeatonMinotaur, July, 2002Hardcover, 213 pages ISBN: 0312207670 Ordering information: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk 
When longtime love and sometime husband
James Lacey heads off to be a monk in France,
Agatha Raisin is once again left all on her own.
Her feckless friend Sir Charles Fraith has also
deserted her to marry unexpectedly. So Agatha
books herself on a vacation to a remote island,
which she finds surprisingly pleasant. When she
returns home, she becomes
embroiled in the death of a young woman who is
found floating in the river, while wearing a
wedding gown and holding a bouquet.
The police rule the death a suicide, but Agatha
thinks it was murder. With the help of her new
neighbor, the attractive mystery novelist
John Armitage, Agatha sets out to solve the
murder.
This is the best Agatha Raisin book in years. With the irritating James finally out of the picture, and with Agatha finally showing a little self-confidence without a man, the series has been utterly revitalized. Agatha is still self-centered, waspish and hilariously neurotic, but she now has a toughness and willingness to remake herself which is wonderful to see. The new neighbor, John Armitage, is quite interesting, and the mystery is well-plotted. This series just got a jolt of adrenaline, which should make for wonderful future books. The Apprentice by Tess GerritsenBallantine, August, 2002Hardcover, 343 pages ISBN: 0345447859 Ordering information: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk 
Boston is lucky to have serial killer Warren Hoyt, also known
as The Surgeon, behind bars. Unfortunately, ghastly brutal
murders very similar to the ones Hoyt committed are occurring
again. Police detective Jane Rizzoli suspects an acolyte
or copy-cat killer may be at large. Rizzoli is determined to
find the new killer and prevent more deaths, and is less than
pleased that the FBI has also joined in on the hunt for the killer.
Rizzoli has her own beef with the FBI and
with some of the men on the force, but the real battle is finding
this new psychopath before he can kill again. As the serial killer
manages to stay one step ahead of her, the personal danger greatly
escalates for Rizzoli, when Hoyt himself escapes from prison
determined to get revenge.
Tess Gerritsen, a medical doctor and author of the bestsellers Harvest and Bloodstream, is back with another serial killer novel involving detective Jane Rizzoli and Warren Hoyt, the serial killer from her previous novel, The Surgeon. Gerritsen excels at creating well-drawn characters, and her work has a sharp edge of realism with grisly autopsy scenes and extensive technical medical details which add greatly to the mise en scène. It is exciting to watch Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli back at work, battling not only to solve the crime but to also fight for her turf with the feds and with the male-centric investigative world. Tess Gerritsen is a terrific novelist, and her serial killer series is excellent. Fans of fast-paced and intense thriller novels will love The Apprentice. Mystery Book Reviews Page One | Page Two Click Here to Return to the Book Reviews Index ** To visit the archives of mystery books reviewed in The IWJ, please click here. |