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Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Book Review - Silent Girl - Tess Gerritsen

The Silent Girl (Rizzoli and Isles Series #9)
Title:    The Silent Girl                      

Author:  Tess Gerritsen

Review:  Another winner from one of my favorite authors.   The characters in this book are some of my favorites in any series.  I think I could be friends with Rizzoli, but Isles not so much.  Rizzoli says it like it is and she doesn’t try to sugar coat anything.  She is tough and yet has problems, especially family related, like the rest of us.  Isles is aptly referred to as Queen of the Dead and you can see that in her character especially how she acts around those who don’t know her well.  I do like the way that the author has made her more human as the series has developed.  But, I still do not see her and Rizzoli spending any time together outside of work, they are so different in their values and beliefs.  The new detective is interesting and I hope to see him in upcoming books.  I wish she would write these faster, but then again Freaks was awful, so maybe not.

This story lets you follow the characters through a recent murder which is related to one decades ago.  You meet many interesting people who pull you into their lives and losses.  The story has great flow and intrigue.  I loved the fast paced mystery along with the wondering of Who Dunnit?  Great mystery and one that I didn’t want to put down.  I would recommend this series to anyone who enjoys police procedural and mysteries.   They just keep getting better and better.


I recently visited Chinatown in Boston and so the book really came alive for me with the name of the streets and the places that the author referred to.

Publisher:  Published July 5th 2011 by Random House Publishing Group (first published 2011)

Copyright: 2011

Pages:  336 pages

ISBN:  9780345515506

Quick Review:  4 Stars out of 5. 

Why I Read it:  I love this author.

Where I Obtained the Book:  David requested this at the library.

Synopsis:  Reality can be more astonishing than fiction.

While my novels may appear to have unlikely elements, I draw inspiration from the truth. In THE SILENT GIRL, I introduce a character who seems far-fetched, a middle-aged female martial arts master whose lethal skill with a sword makes her a prime suspect in a Chinatown murder. A woman swordfighter? How realistic is that?

The character of Iris Fang is, in fact, based on a real woman: a wushu grandmaster who decades ago introduced Chinese martial arts to Boston. Although I have never met Master Bow Sim-Mark, I've met several of her students, who all speak of her fighting skills with awe and reverence. Yes, this woman does exist.

But in the household where I grew up in, sometimes it was hard to separate fact from fantasy. My mother is an immigrant from China, and she told me stories filled with supernatural wonders about weeping phantoms and sword-fighting monks and holy men who walked on water. In China, she said, such things really happened.

Among her stories was the ancient legend of the Monkey King. Born from a rock, this mischievous creature grows into a fierce warrior who hunts monsters and defends the innocent, an unlikely hero who stands on the side of justice. In China, Monkey's many exploits have inspired TV shows and movies and operas.

Now, the Monkey King has inspired my new thriller, THE SILENT GIRL


On a Chinatown rooftop, a nightmarish sight greets detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles. A woman's body has been nearly decapitated by an ancient sword and strange, silvery hairs cling to the victim's clothing. When the crime lab identifies the strands as monkey hairs, Jane begins to wonder if the Chinese legend has sprung to life and is now lurking in the dark alleys of Chinatown.


Although I'm Asian American, this is the first time I've woven so much of myself into a story, and I'm thrilled to introduce two Chinese-American characters: Detective Johnny Tam, who is every bit as fierce and determined as Jane Rizzoli, and Iris Fang, the swordmaster who knows a secret that could doom her.


After another victim falls under the killer's sword, Jane must delve deeper into the myth of the Monkey King. And when Jane herself glimpses the shadowy creature, even she cannot be sure of that line between truth and legend.

 Tess Gerritsen
Author Biography:  Internationally bestselling author Tess Gerritsen took an unusual route to a writing career. A graduate of Stanford University, Tess went on to medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, where she was awarded her M.D.

While on maternity leave from her work as a physician, she began to write fiction. In 1987, her first novel was published. Call After Midnight, a romantic thriller, was followed by eight more romantic suspense novels. She also wrote a screenplay, "Adrift", which aired as a 1993 CBS Movie of the Week starring Kate Jackson.

Tess's first medical thriller, Harvest, was released in hardcover in 1996, and it marked her debut on the New York Times bestseller list. Her suspense novels since then have been: Life Support (1997), Bloodstream (1998), Gravity (1999), The Surgeon (2001), The Apprentice (2002), The Sinner (2003), Body Double (2004), Vanish (2005), The Mephisto Club (2006), and The Bone Garden (2007). Her books have been translated into 31 languages, and more than 15 million copies have been sold around the world.

As well as being a New York Times bestselling author, she has also been a #1 bestseller in both Germany and the UK. She has won both the Nero Wolfe Award (for Vanish) and the Rita Award (for The Surgeon.) Critics around the world have praised her novels as "Pulse-pounding fun" (Philadelphia Inquirer), "Scary and brilliant" (Toronto Globe and Mail), and "Polished, riveting prose" (Chicago Tribune). Publisher Weekly has dubbed her the "medical suspense queen".

Now retired from medicine, she writes full time. She lives in Maine.

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2 comments:

  1. This author is wildly popular at our non-profit used bookshop. Thanks for the review and the post with all the info about the author :)

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  2. I love this author, but the TV show based on the series is only OK!!! Not great at all and it's really a disappointment because the books are so good. Thanks for stopping by and for the comment.

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