'Goes head-to-head with Nicci French and Karin Slaughter to scare the pants off you...A classic page-turner, full of melodrama'

'Compulsive'

The chilling follow-up to The Surgeon, in which homicide detective Jane Rizzoli races to discover the identity of a horribly twisted serial killer who preys on couples.

He may be behind bars, but Warren Hoyt still haunts a helpless city, bequeathing his evil legacy to a student all too diligent - and all too deadly. A year has passed since the capture of the Surgeon, serial killer Warren Hoyt, yet the memory of his brutal crimes continues to haunt Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli. Now she faces a new killer, a hunter who preys on well-to-do couples. For Rizzoli the death scenes have a horrifying air of familiarity, especially when she realizes that this new killer is copying one obscure element from Warren Hoyt's crimes. A new complication arises as a federal investigator from Washington joins the case. Again and again, Rizzoli clashes with Special Agent Gabriel Dean, who shows up at every crime scene. He knows something about this killer, something so politically explosive that he cannot reveal it to her. Then Warren Hoyt makes a brilliant and bloody escape from custody. Suddenly there is not one hunter on the loose, but two. And they are united, a pair of blood brothers who share grotesque appetites and a combined genius. They have joined forces to stalk the most challenging prey of all, the very woman who now hunts them ...

I know I am not the only one of my kind who walks this earth. Somewhere, there is another. And he waits for me?

The Surgeon has been locked up for a year but his chilling legacy still haunts the city, and especially Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli. For now a new killer is at work and Rizzoli senses something horrifyingly familiar about this murderer?s modus operandi. Grim coincidence? Or more terrifying still, could these two monsters have somehow made contact?

It?s when the FBI starts taking an interest in the investigation that Rizzoli begins to wonder just what makes this case so different, so dangerous that the Feds feel the need to get involved. But then the unthinkable happens: the Surgeon escapes. And suddenly there are two brilliant, twisted killers on the loose ? master and apprentice, united in their hunt for the most challenging prey of all: the very woman who is hunting them?

Tess Gerritsen:
Tess Gerritsen left a successful practice as a medic to raise her children and concentrate on her writing. Harvest, Life Support, Bloodstream, Gravity, The Surgeon, The Apprentice and The Sinner have been New York Times and Sunday Times bestsellers. Her most recent novel is Body Double.

She lives with her husband and two sons in Maine.

Unknown Person:
Lindsey Gardiner completed her degree in Printed Textiles at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee University in Dundee, Scotland, and went on to do an MA at Winchester school of Art. She wrote her first book Here come Poppy and Max (Orchard, 2000) whilst still at college and has never looked back. Her other titles include: When Poppy Grows Up (Orchard, 2001); Pinky and Blue (2001). She works as a part-time lecturer in Printed Textiles at Dundee University. This is her first book for Random House.

2008-06-03 Good but not as good as The Surgeon

This is quite a good book though not so gripping as The Surgeon. I read it in 3 evenings so I must've quite enjoyed it to finish it so quickly but afterwards when I thought about it, there wasn't actually that much to the story. Someone is going around killing people, the murderer from the previous book escapes prison (which it tells you on the cover, so I'm not spoiling it for anyone), and the police attend each crime scene.
To me, though, they don't actually seem to achieve much in the way of detective work. How they actually catch the killers is not through their crime solving (won't say any more as I don't want to give anything away), and the ending lacks excitement.
It's readable and enjoyable enough and I would recommend it, just a little flat at the end after a promising read through the rest of the book.