The Apprentice [Import] [Paperback]

Tess Gerritsen (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Bantam Books Ltd; New Ed edition (2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553817078
• ISBN-13: 978-0553817072
• Product Dimensions: 4.3 x 1.1 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (121 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,542,576 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm a physician as well as the New York Times-bestselling author of medical thrillers and the Jane Rizzoli crime thrillers.

Readers who are familiar with my graphic autopsy scenes and forensic details may be astonished to learn that my very first published novels were actually ... romantic suspense. So why did I leave writing romances and turn to thrillers?

It was all because of a chance dinner conversation some years ago. The man sitting beside me at a restaurant one night was an ex-cop who 'd recently been traveling in Russia. Moscow cops had told him that orphans were vanishing from the streets, and they believed the children were being kidnaped and shipped abroad as organ donors.

I was horrified by the tale. Weeks later, unable to forget those missing Russian orphans, I knew I just had to write a book about them. I wanted to bring into it all the medical and autopsy details that I'd learned from my years as a physician. The sights, the smells of the autopsy and operating rooms -- everything.

My first medical thriller, HARVEST, was released in hardcover in 1996, and it marked my debut on the NEW YORK TIMES bestseller list. It was followed by my medical thrillers LIFE SUPPORT (1997), BLOODSTREAM (1998), GRAVITY (1999).

In 2001, my books took another abrupt turn, to forensic thrillers. THE SURGEON was my first Jane Rizzoli thriller. Since then, I've written THE APPRENTICE (2002), THE SINNER (2003), BODY DOUBLE (2004), VANISH (2005 -- and an Edgar Award nominee), and THE MEPHISTO CLUB (2006).

I believe my readers want me to tell them secrets. And that's exactly what I try to do. I take them into the autopsy room, and show them what I've seen. But most of all, I hope I'm revealing what lies in the hearts of my characters. Jane Rizzoli and Dr. Maura Isles are real people to me now. I hope they're just as real to everyone who becomes acquainted with them!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better Then The Surgeon!!!!, November 26, 2002

By 

Kristi Ahlers (Illinois) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Apprentice (Hardcover)

In the book The Surgeon we met Jane Rizzoli a hard as nails detective with the Boston Police. She is responsible for the arrest of "the surgeon" the serial killer that had been hunting on the streets of Boston.

A year later and with many emotional as well as physical scars later Detective Rizzoli is called to another murder scene with chilling similarities to the Surgeon Case. After the investigation gets under way FBI agent Gabriel Dean shows up and is given all access to the investigation. Jane does not understand why he is there, he won't tell her anything but he does have the uncanny ability to know where to look for evidence and what kind of evidence to look for. Then just when things start to get going Warren Hoyt "the surgeon" escapes from prison and looks to have hooked up with the Dominator. Working together these two murders led investigators on a chase that includes some shocking twist and turns.

This was a well-written book that allowed you to get to "know" detective Rizzoli and perhaps even like her this time around. The characters were all well developed and the use of medical terminology was not left undefined so a layperson could understand what was going on. This is a sequel to the book "The Surgeon" but it can still stand-alone. You will not have a hard time following the storyline or how characters interact with each other. This was a true edge of your seat read but be aware that some of the descriptions of murder scenes , and autopsies are very vivid. A great read for the fan of Thrillers!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tess Gerritsen does it again!, November 16, 2002

By 

Tiffany Ann Rogers "tiffytutu" (Dyersburg, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Apprentice (Hardcover)

I have been patiently waiting to get my hands on this book and finally I have. I have read every single book that Gerritsen has released and in The Apprentice I have not been disappointed. It is more or less a continuation of her earlier novel, The Surgeon. The big difference is that this novel focuses more on the female detective that helped crack the case in the first one. Jane Rizzoli was to me not a very likable character in the first book, but in this book she takes on a new light. She was portrayed as a very masculine type of female in The Surgeon, but in The Apprentice she takes on the role of the strong woman who is feminine yet at the same time a spitfire.
When murders start happening in Boston a year after the Surgeon has been in jail, Rizzoli is the only one who sees the connection at first. But as the body count mounts suddenly an FBI agent appears on the scene. Rizzoli who in all of her years as a detective has never seen the FBI work in this way, is very puzzled. Her puzzlement only deepens as her attraction to the FBI agent Gabriel Dean does also. When The Surgeon, Warren Hoyt, who she put behind bars in the first book, escapes from prison, all hell breaks loose. Rizzoli has suspicions that The Surgeon and their new killer, The Dominator are working together to fulfill their murderous fantasies. Tensions increase as Rizzoli and her fellow officers keep coming up with dead ends and no suspects in sight. The only problem that I had with this story was its abrupt ending.
Once again, I am impressed with Gerritsen's style and attention to detail. She is a wonderful story teller and I fully intend to keep reading her books and I highly recommend them to anyone!

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not nearly good enough, June 20, 2004

By 

Louise (Copenhagen V, Denmark) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Apprentice- Tess Gerritsen (Mass Market Paperback)

Tess Gerritsen has written a serial-killer novel. Other reviewers has said the same thing, and I will repeat it: it is not good enough, it has been done better before! The Apprentice is a rip-off of great serial killer/frustrated police-woman/gruesome medical examiner facts-books by Patricia Cornwell, Kathy Reichs and others, who does it much better than Ms. Gerritsen. There is not much new in this book, and it is hard to feel anything for the characters. Even the serial killer is just annoying. Jane Rizzoli, the frustrated police-woman, battling not only with sexist issues at the station but also the mental and physical scars from the same serial killer in a previous book, is trying hard to find him again, when he escapes prison. She cannot admit that she is scared to death, and while we try hard to gain some sympahty for her, the killer is getting closer and also playing gruesome mindgames with her. She is almost too stubborn for her own good. When the story is about to get going, it ends. Too much space in this book is used to descibe Jane Rozzoli's mental health, and her angst and anxiety and it gets boring. I was not impressed with this book, but - will not rule out that I could pick up another Tess Gerritsen book another time.