The Sinner

Yes, back to Gerritsen so soon. I was umming and ahhhing what was quick to read before I start on a Nancy Mitford’s ‘The Pursuit of Love’ and also the next Book Group book as I have just over a week and it’s quite a large book. So I went with Gerritsen. ‘The Sinner’ is the third in the Jane Rizzoli series, and the second with Maura Isles as the medical examiner. Would this be as good as the first two? Would I be hooked and unable to put the book down?

The answer to the above is pretty much. In some ways this is better than the previous two in others its not, overall it’s very, very good. Isles and Rizzoli are called to a cloistered convent where one nun has been murdered and another has been left fatally injured. There are no motives and no clues as to why a pair of nuns would be attacked in such a way it’s for Rizzoli and Isles to work out together. Then when another faceless, handless and footless body turns up secrets are revealed and our two leading ladies have to work out the link between her (the Rat Lady) and the two nuns, with many a twist along the way.

I actually like these two leading women. Rizzoli has grown in every novel so far, and though she has quite a secret in store she sadly doesn’t seem to be in the novel so much as before which makes you feel slightly like your not part of the investigation from a coppers side. You are much more involved in the process of autopsy’s as Isles has now gone from being a supporting role to very much a main character role which is great as she is another strong woman with flaws (named Queen of the Dead) in a different way from Rizzoli, also without her the story wouldn’t make sense. Two things I wasn’t sure about with her was that a) she drank sherry when she got home from a long day (sometimes one thing can just make you think ‘she wouldn’t do that though’) b) someone turns up in her life which creates a great back story for her but also is very clichéd in a ‘oh now I think I know what’s coming’ way both disappointed me slightly.

Other than that this is a great crime novel/murder mystery with gore galore. Gerritsen knows her terminology (and I figure once I have caught up with the series so will I) of medicine, autopsy’s and operations. There is a lot less murder and a lot more mystery in this novel which is both good and bad. If you are expecting a book that fits the last twos plot lines and formula, you won’t get quite what you are expecting. But then that’s also a good thing right? I picked up the next one this afternoon, but I am being very good and having a Gerritsen break for a while… well as long as I can manage.