The Apprentice (Rizzoli & Isles, #2)

by Tess Gerritsen

A year has passed since the capture of 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, forcing the husbands to watch as their wives are sexually assaulted. The killer's final act is swift and pitiless- a single bullet to the husband's head. Then he leaves, taking the wives with him. izzoli views the death scenes with a horrifying sense of familiarity. This new killer appears to be copying one obscure element from Warren Hoyt's crimes. Has Hoyt found an accolyte; an apprentice killer? Or, more frightening still, have the men actually made contact, and a bond formed between these two terrifying predators? A new complication arises. The killer's DNA is sent to a national database, and federal investigators from Washington join the case, for reasons they refuse to share. Again and again, Rizzoli clashes with Special Agent Gabriel Dean, who begins to show up at every crime scene. He knows something about this killer, something that is so politically explosive, he cannot reveal it to her. Then the case takes yet another frightening turn. Whil

• ISBN10: 0857500686
• ISBN13: 9780857500687
• Publish Date: 1 January 2099 (first published 20 August 2002)
• Publish Status: Cancelled
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Transworld Publishers Ltd
• Imprint: Bantam Books (Transworld Publishers a division of the Random House Group)
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 416
• Language: English

Reviews

This was a fantastic book. If you haven't read the first book, The Surgeon, I would suggest you go and do that before reading this one. If you thought that Tess couldn't top The Surgeon, than prepared to be proven wrong. The Apprentice just sucks you in and in some ways I think it might be better then The Surgeon. It was such a page turner and I read through it as fast as I could to see what would happen next.

I would recommend this book and series to anybody.

[Leah]

A year after Jane Rizzoli has put the Surgeon behind bars, a new serial killer is at large; one who has alarming similarities between himself and the Surgeon. It's only Jane who sees the similarities and is determined to prove they have somehow made contact with each other. The case becomes even more confusing for Jane and her team when the FBI become involved. Jane's worst nightmare comes true when the Surgeon manages to escape from prison and it seems as if the Surgeon and his Apprentice are hunting and killing together... and they have one person in mind in particular that they're hunting: Jane Rizzoli.

As you'll know from my reviews, I tend to stick to reading chick lit books when it comes to reading of any kind, however my mum picked up The Surgeon a while ago and the synopsis sounded incredibly interesting so I decided to give it a read. I absolutely adored it and set about getting the rest of the Rizzoli and Isles series by Tess Gerritsen. The second book in the series is The Apprentice and the other books in the series are: The Surgeon (as mentioned), The Sinner, Body Double, Vanish, The Mephisto Club, Killing The Dead and The Killing Place (which will be released in 2010). I've loved all of the other books in the series except The Sinner, which confused me a little bit, and eagerly await the next release.

I thought The Apprentice was a bit of a departure from The Surgeon. The Surgeon seemed to be written differently to the sequels and Maura Isles wasn't even a present character, the ME in The Surgeon was Doctor Tierney. I also felt the main characters in The Surgeon were actually Thomas Moore and Catherine Cordell rather than Rizzoli. I thought Rizzoli was important to the story, obviously, but that she was also trying to prove herself in a male-dominated profession more than anything; she wasn't the main focus, not until the end of the book anyway, like she is in The Apprentice. It's as if Gerritsen meant The Surgeon to be just a stand-alone novel rather than having it develop into a series. Develop into a series it did, and all of a sudden Rizzoli was the main focal point as well as Dr. Maura Isles. Thomas Moore and Catherine Cordell are all but forgotten, which was a shame as they were hugely enjoyable characters. The strange thing is though, I liked both books equally as much regardless of the changes between The Surgeon and The Apprentice.

The Surgeon, for those who haven't read it, is about a serial killer who preys on vulnerable women, slashing their throats in one fluid movement and taking out their most powerful organ: their uterus. One thing that stands out about the killings is the fact they're remarkably similar to a case a few years back in which Catherine Cordell was subjected to a brutal rape and attempted murder but managed to shoot her attacker dead. As Thomas Moore and Jane Rizzoli investigate, it becomes apparent this new killer knows intimate details of what happened to Catherine, details that were never made public. It's as if Catherine's attacker has come back to life and is now following her every move... I absolutely loved The Surgeon and the first time I read it, I managed to finish it all in one sitting. It was an absorbing read and it surpised me how much I loved it as I had never really shown any interest in suspense novels.

It was the next day, after finishing The Surgeon, that I went out and got the rest of the series and devoured them just as quickly. The reason I decided to re-read The Apprentice was because I was looking for something to read on the bus on the way home yesterday and picked this up. I'm having a bit of reading trouble at the mo, chick lit seems to have lost its appeal, so this was the perfect tonic and I was gripped, again, from the first page.

The Apprentice sucks you in straight away, as just like The Surgeon, it opens with a prologue from the Surgeon himself. It's a welcome start to the book because although he's beyond evil and not someone I would ever want to come across, he is actually a strangely compelling character. He is immensely clever and hugely insightful and I could read about him all day. To give us such an insight into such a sick mind is a very clever tactic from Gerritsen, especially since it's told in the first person so it's as if he's talking to me.

We are then re-introduced to Rizzoli and her partner Barry Frost as well as the ME, Dr Tierney, who are at a crime scene, trying to figure out how a man's body has been so badly splattered onto a street corner. A call then comes in to Rizzoli about a murder in Newton, from Detective Korsak, who says that she really needs to see the murder scene. That sets alarm bells ringing in Rizzoli's head especially since when she gets there, the MO (modus operandi) is alarmingly familiar (the folding of the bedclothes in particular) and Rizzoli immediately thinks of the Surgeon. Since the Surgeon is behind bars, everyone tries to tell Rizzoli it's all just an alarming coincidence. Things get even stranger when Agent Gabriel Dean, of the FBI, comes into the picture without any kind of explanation.

As Rizzoli and her team try to figure out who the unsub (unknown subject) is who's killing these couples, more bad news filters through: the Surgeon has escaped. Things get even worse when it seems the unsub and the Surgeon have met up with each other and are now killing together. The Surgeon is still seemingly obsessed with Rizzoli, as she managed to evade him in the first book, and the pair set about trying to find Jane.

I absolutely loved The Apprentice. After reading The Surgeon I truly didn't think The Apprentice would be as good but I was completely stunned to find I enjoyed it just as much as The Surgeon, regardless of the fact it was a tad different to how The Surgeon was written. I would recommend that if you want to read The Apprentice, that you try and read The Surgeon first. Everything is recapped perfectly fine in The Apprentice but, if I'm honest, if you're planning to start reading a series, you ought to start with book numero uno!

As I keep mentioning, The Apprentice is different to The Surgeon. This book focuses solely on Jane Rizzoli, with regular thoughts from the Surgeon himself and it's like a wild goose chase between the two of them as the Surgeon is beyond obsessed with Rizzoli. Once the Surgeon escapes, the suspense level is ratcheted up a notch and it only seems a matter of time before the pair will meet again.

The characters are all fantastic in The Apprentice. Jane Rizzoli is just as fearless as she was in the first book but we can see that what happened with the Surgeon shook her up quite a lot, and although the only visible scars are those on her hands, we know there are a lot of scars underneath that people can't see. She puts up quite a front and I love her fearlessness; she runs rings around most chick lit heroines. All of Rizzoli's work colleagues from the police department return although they aren't as present as they were in the previous book. I liked the inclusion of Detective Korsak and Agent Gabriel Dean. Both were fantastic characters and even though Agent Dean got on Rizzoli's nerves in the beginning, I liked how their working relationship progressed. The most important character who we're introduced to in The Apprentice is, of course, Maura Isles, whom everyone calls Queen of the Dead, the new ME (medical examiner)! As the books progress, Maura definitely becomes a more prominent character (even more so than Jane in a few books) but in The Apprentice she's only there to be the ME and we learn nothing of her personal life or professional life as we do in later books.

Tess Gerritsen's writing is fantastic. She's a hugely talented suspense writer and knows how to get people's hearts beating fast. There is a lot of medical jargon included in the book but it's all explained in a satisfactory way and I didn't at all feel confused. I really can't wax lyrical about this book enough as it is a truly fantastic read. If you thought The Surgeon was fantastic, then you'll love The Apprentice as it follows on very well and it's all wrapped up very satisfactorily.

[ibeforem]

This book was merely ok for me. I’m not in love with any of the characters, and I don’t think Jane Rizzoli is developed very well. She’s pretty one sided. There’s a slight attempt at some romance but it’s not very compelling. And the climax of this book happens very quickly and is almost anti-climatic.