The Surgeon - Softcover

Tess Gerritsen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 055381706X ISBN 13: 9780553817065

Publisher: BANTAM, 2005

Synopsis

In her most masterful novel of medical suspense, New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen creates a villain of unforgettable evil--and the one woman who can catch him before he kills again.

He slips into their homes at night and walks silently into bedrooms where women lie sleeping, unaware of the horrors they soon will endure. The precision of the killer's methods suggests he is a deranged man of medicine, propelling the Boston newspapers and the frightened public to name him "The Surgeon."

The cops' only clue rests with another surgeon, the victim of a nearly identical crime. Two years ago, Dr. Catherine Cordell fought back and killed her attacker before he could complete his assault. Now she hides her fears of intimacy behind a cool and elegant exterior and a well-earned reputation as a top trauma surgeon.

Cordell's careful facade is about to crack as this new killer recreates, 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.

Filled with the authentic detail that is the trademark of this doctor turned author . . . and peopled with rich and complex characters--from the ER to the squad room to the city morgue--here is a thriller of unprecedented depth and suspense. Exposing the shocking link between those who kill and cure, punish and protect, The Surgeon is Tess Gerritsen's most exciting accomplishment yet.

About this title

Review

Penzler Pick, August 2001: Tess Gerritsen left a very successful career as an internist to raise her children and devote more time to writing. After several books that have had moderate success, Gerritsen has now written a gruesome and frightening story that should put her 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

From the Back Cover

"TESS GERRITSEN IS AN AUTOMATIC MUST-READ IN MY HOUSE. . . . What Anne Rice is to vampires, Gerritsen is to the tale of medical suspense."
--STEPHEN KING

"The Surgeon grabbed me by the throat and didn't let go until its hair-raising finish."
--TAMI HOAG

"Wonderfully crafted and absolutely terrifying, The Surgeon is the finest, most thrilling Gerritsen novel yet, and that, my friends, is really saying something. I lost most of a night's sleep finishing the book and the rest of the night trying to calm down. This is a story you'll be talking up and thinking about for months to come. The tension is white-knuckle, the writing as deft as a surgeon's slice."
--MICHAEL PALMER, M.D.
Author of The Patient

"The Surgeon touches the dark place only a hunted woman can know, yet plays homage to the courage that is the unbreakable shield of goodness. This is a story that terrifies and heartens all at once. What a ride!"
--IRIS JOHANSEN

Acclaim for Tess Gerritsen's other novels
Gravity
"PULLS READERS IN WITH FEARFUL FORCE . . . As riveting as The Hot Zone, this page-turner proves that Gerritsen is tops in her genre."
--USA Today

Bloodstream
"AN INTRICATE THRILLER . . . A TALE SURE TO FASCINATE."
--People

"RIVETING . . . Gerritsen knows how to fashion credible, dimensional characters."
--Los Angeles Times

Life Support
"GRABS YOU AND HOLDS YOU FROM PAGE ONE. . . . Be prepared to drop all your obligations until you finish."
--JOHN SAUL

"Chilling . . . Breathless ER-style pacing make Life Support a quick, delightfully scary read,"
--People

"Shocking . . . An entertaining thriller."
--San Jose Mercury News

Harvest
"Harvest left me clutching my head in an ecstasy of terror."
--Boston Globe

"Harrowing . . . Harvest quite literally has gut-level impact."
--San Francisco Chronicle

"Gerritsen fans know by now what to expect from her: a fascinating story with a gripping plot and believably human characters. Such is The Surgeon, and, in places, then some. Let new readers learn what the fans delight in.

-Booklist

"Gliding as smoothly as a scalpel in a confident surgeon's hand, this tale proves that Gerritsen...has morphed into a...suspense novelist whose growing popularity is keeping pace with her ever-finer writing skills."

-Publisher's Weekly

About this edition

• Publisher: BANTAM
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 055381706X
• ISBN 13: 9780553817065
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416