A wholly unput-downable book, frightening and utterly gripping where the motive for the terrible killings ….  no I shouldn’t tell you that.  It’s a revelation of utter depravity which is so compelling it is almost painful to put aside.  It starts with our pathologist returning from holiday to find “herself”, or so the neighbourhood believe, dead in a car outside her house and from there the mystery doesn’t let up.  It’s stunning.

Comparison: Karin Slaughter; Kathy Reichs; Mo Hayder.
Similar this month: None but try Mary Higgins Clark, Dean Koontz.

Synopsis

Dr Maura Isles makes her living dealing with death. As a pathologist in downtown Boston, she has seen more than her share of corpses – many of them victims of violent murder. But never before has the lifeless body on the medical examiner’s table been her own.

But there can be no denying the evidence: the dead woman before her and her close friend and colleague Detective Jane Rizzoli is the mirror image of Maura, down to the most intimate physical details. Even more chilling is the discovery that they share the same birth date and blood type. When a DNA test confirms that Maura’s mysterious double is in fact her twin sister, an already bizarre murder investigation becomes a disturbing and dangerous excursion into a past full of dark secrets.
 

Searching for answers, Maura is drawn to a seaside town in Maine where other horrifying surprises await. But even more frighteningly, an unknown murderer is at large on a cross-country killing spree. To stop the violence, and uncover the twisted truth about her own roots, Maura must probe her first living subject: the mother she never knew … In her brilliant and terrifying new novel, Tess Gerritsen – bestselling author of The Surgeon and The Sinner – taps into the deep well of murder and obsession, and builds an almost tangible atmosphere of tension and suspense before arranging for an explosive release that is as horrifying as it is unexpected.

Reviews

About the 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, and was awarded her M.D. in 1979. After completing her internal medicine residency, Tess worked as a physician in Honolulu, Hawaii. While on maternity leave, she began to write fiction. On a whim, she submitted a literary short story to Honolulu Magazine’s statewide fiction contest¯and won first place! In 1987, Tess`s first novel was published. She has now written 19 novels and is a Sunday Times bestseller. She also wrote a screenplay, ""Adrift,"" which aired as a 1993 CBS Movie of the Week starring Kate Jackson. Having lived in Hawaii, she now resides in Camden, Maine, with her husband and two sons. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation