Friday, May 20, 2005

Tess Gerritsen

Before I retired I had the better part of four hours a day commuting when I could read and so my consumption of books then was substantial. Since I retired I’ve found that I have been doing much less reading than before. However, the past week I’ve been unable to leave the house as my asthma has been so bad, and the Ventolin has been no use to me at all. So, I’ve been reading three books by what was a new author to me, Tess Gerritson.

The three books of hers that I have read so far are linked and follow on from each other but I’m afraid that I read them out of order. I discovered her as an author when looking at the best selling books on sale in Tesco and deciding to buy The Sinner. This was so good and I enjoyed it so much that I quickly got the first in the series The Surgeon and the second The Apprentice. I can hardly wait for Body Double to come out in paperback.

Tess Gerritson used to be a doctor and her books are full of graphic descriptions of exactly what happens during autopsies and what dreadful things serial killers can do to their victims (mainly female victims in the three books of hers that I have read). You really do need a strong stomach to read some of her descriptions, though her detailed exposition of police investigations and procedure is fascinating.

Once you start reading one of her books it is very difficult to put it down before you finish it and more than one night I was reading until the small hours. However, I found spending long periods reading one of her books made me a bit depressed, possibly because I was a bit down anyway because of my health, and so at times I deliberately put the book down an dread excerpts from an old Edmund Crispin whodunit, to cheer myself up. I soon found myself going back to her book and continuing to read it. I just couldn’t stop. I do recommend Tess Gerritsen’s books to everyone as they are absolutely gripping.

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