The Apprentice

July 22, 2002
For the first time since she moved from mass market originals to hardcover (with 1996's Harvest), Gerritsen offers a sequel—to last year's bestselling The Surgeon. It's a smart move, as in that novel this popular author introduced a terrific lead character, Jane Rizzoli, a female Boston homicide detective who rivals Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta for intensity and complexity. Her nemesis, serial killer Warren Hoyt, aka the Surgeon, whom Rizzoli sent to prison, returns here, too; that's not so terrific, as he's basically a Hannibal Lecter clone, though Gerritsen does pair him up this time with a second serial killer, known among cops as the Dominator. The discovery of the corpse of one of the Dominator's victims in a ritzy Boston suburb gets the action moving. Rizzoli notes connections between the Dominator's handiwork and that of Hoyt, and visits Hoyt behind bars. Eventually it's revealed that Hoyt and the Dominator have contacted one another by mail. Hoyt escapes and links up with the Dominator, and it's no surprise that Rizzoli is their number one target. The novel is suspenseful and stuffed with an encyclopedia's worth of tightly detailed forensic lore. Rizzoli gets a new love interest (Hoyt killed her last one, in The Surgeon), an FBI agent, which is handled with realism and subtlety, but her fuming at man's inhumanity to woman may grate on male readers. There are first-person italicized passages from Hoyt's point of view, a genre cliché, and at times the grisliness of the murders tends toward sensationalism. This strong thriller should sell very well, but it's not Gerritsen's best. (Aug. 20)Forecast:The return of Rizzoli, a major ad/promo campaign and an 8-city author tour should counterbalance any less-than-enthusiastic word of mouth.

April 1, 2002
Jane Rizzoli must face down two menaces: a serial killer who has scarred her life irretrievably and a copycat killer.

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2002
Gerritsen's fans--and they are many--will be clamoring for this sequel to her most recent book, the best-selling " The Surgeon" [BKL Jl 01]. Here Gerritsen revisits her diabolical mad doctor-serial killer character, Warren Hoyt. Set during a hot Boston summer, this medical-suspense thriller details a series of gruesome crimes in which wealthy men are sadistically murdered after first being made to watch as their wives are tortured and raped. The patterns and methods of the crime point to serial killer Warren Hoyt. However, Hoyt is in prison, put there by Detective Jane Rizzoli, who now must solve this copycat killing spree. Rizzoli, still reeling from her encounter with Warren Hoyt, must steel herself to resolve this case despite getting virtually no assistance from the other members of her homicide squad. Gerritsen throws in a couple of subplots to keep things interesting, and despite the awful subject matter (rape, torture, and murder) and the ugly events, well-drawn characters and a compelling story will grab readers' interest and earn Gerritsen more admirers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)