Customer Reviews

Girl Missing

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Tess Gerrittsen's GIRL MISSING is an audiobook only release that is a reprint of a mid 1990s book she wrote. As the author says in the introduction, this is one of her first forays into suspense after spending a lot of years writing romance. I've read several recent Gerritsen novels, and was excited to get this book through the Amazon Vine program. Truthfully, this is a plain vanilla novel that lacks the suspense and twists and turns that highlight the author's later works.

Long time heroine Kat Novak is the medical examiner and recently divorced. A sudden slew of deaths are coming in, and Kat can't explain why they died. But, she finds a phone number in one of the dead girl's pocket. The number is Adam Quantrell's, the rich CEO of a pharmaceutical company. She suspects him at first, but soon finds that Adam is concerned his daughter Maeve is involved in drugs.

The biggest problem for me in this book is that the plot never advances past the first level. There is never a discovery that leads to a new mystery. Kat and Adam spend the entire novel trying to figure out what drug is killing the kids and where it came from.

While interesting, this novel isn't nearly as good as Gerritsen's latest thrillers. I recommend you take a pass on this one.

It's difficult to get the gist of what this book is about from reading the fairly inaccurate product description. This was a mystery about the deaths of some young people from a new narcotic-type drug that hadn't been released to market yet. Kat Novak, the medical examiner, gets suspicious that there's more to these deaths than accidental drug overdoses.

I have read all of Tess Gerritsen's previous suspense books and even some of her early romances. It is easy to see the progression and development of her skills as author by reading them in order of publication dates. It was fairly evident that this was an earlier work, but without having seen the original printed book, Peggy Sue Got Murdered, I can't say for certain what changes and updates were made for this particular version of the novel.

This is a review of an audiobook, which I find quite a different medium than print, and tend to like and enjoy less. I found the narrator of this version to be acceptable, but some of her voices, accents and affectations did bother me somewhat -- especially the male voices. Adam sounded completely stilted most of the time and the cops were portrayed as whiny and inept (so cliche). Some of her pronunciations of medical and chemical terms were off -- perhaps some coaching should have been done prior to the recording session. I feel that it would enhance the audiobook if different voices were used for the various characters - make it much more realistic and dramatic.

As far as a story -- well this was OK. I didn't think the denouement was very exciting and the motivation for the murders was slim. The last action packed chapter again is typical of the genre -- men and women go beyond normal human capabilities to survive against incredible odds. I could have done completely without the romance part -- Tess reduced Kat Novak to a simpering fool in the face of her love for Adam and once again we have another rich knight in white armour rescue of a damsel in distress (emotional or physical -- it's all the same). I prefer my suspense thrillers to have less focus on the love interest and more on the science and the procedure. Typical forensic pathologists do not go investigate cases in the field, but we wouldn't have many thrillers to read if the authors didn't write them doing exactly that or if they left them in their labs!!

So, all in all, the book was fairly enjoyable but unremarkable. I like Tess Gerritsen's recent suspense and thriller novels so much better and still plan to buy them. But this one can be skipped or borrowed!

Drug addicts from the projects are dying of overdoses of an unidentifiable substance. Those who run the city are not especially concerned, but medical examiner Kat Novak, who grew up in that neighborhood, is determined to find out what's going on. Adam Quantrell is the handsome, wealthy CEO of a local pharmaceutical giant, whose wild-child step daughter has been missing for some time. When Kat contacts him about the lethal drug, and tells Adam about her roots, he asks her to assist him in locating the girl.

Tess Gerritsen, known for her taut crime novels, started out writing romantic thrillers. Girl Missing is one of her earliest efforts (1994), and boy, does it show. To extend the benefit of the doubt, perhaps it's merely time that makes this book seem mundane, contrived, and predictable, and loaded with cliches. Parts of this plot are downright silly. Kat and Adam land in some extremely perilous situations, but that never stops them from jumping right back in danger, not even when Kat's home is blown up as she watches from the sidewalk (she had forgotten something in the car and went out not a moment too soon.)

Readers who enjoy romance novels with an aura of menace may find this novel satisfying, but if you're hoping for something in the way of a true thriller/police procedural, give it a miss.

This re-release of a 1994 romantic thriller proves beyond a doubt that author Tess Gerritsen is getting better and better. Girl Missing was originally published as "Peggy Sue Got Murdered," and it's an acceptable thriller without the depth of Gerritsen's later work.

Medical Examiner Kat Novak becomes intrigued by a string of unexplained deaths, and gets out on the streets to investigate. A name on a card in a dead girl's pocket brings Kat to Adam Quantrell, a pharmaceuticals executive and soon-to-be love interest. They find themselves in harm's way and...well, it's not nice to detail the plot of a thriller, so I won't.

In the "plus" column, Kat's complicated past is developed quite nicely though the obstacles and opportunities of the present. She's an interesting and strong-minded character. Some of the other characters are less successful, particularly the rather cliched policemen and Kat's ambitious ex-husband; and there's an overall lack of plausibility to Kat's street work. The plot holds together well enough but without the tension we've come to expect from Gerritsen's later work.

It's probably not fair to judge this book according to Gerritsen's current genre, since it was written for the "romantic suspense" market. Knowing that did not make it easier to bear the love angle: some of the action between Kat and Adam was eye-rollingly annoying.

Girl Missing is mainly of interest for being at the turning point of Tess Gerritsen's wonderful career. This is the sort of book that works well as an audio presentation and I enjoyed the eight hours of listening, effectively narrated by Susan Ericksen. Three stars.

Linda Bulger, 2010

This was my first experience with an audio book and after the shock of realizing that it would take over 8 hours to listen to the unabridged version of the story (I can usually read one of Gerritsen's books in 4-5 hours) I then set down to figure out what to do while listening to the CDs as my usual free time is spent reading. I didn't think I could read a book and listen to a different book at the same time. After solving the logistical problems for me, I settled down to listen to the story.

The narrator of the story did a good job with changing her voice to go with each of the characters and by the time the book was finished, I didn't usually need to be reminded verbally as to who was talking. Other than the narrator, there is no sounds on the CDs so this is not like an experience of listening to a TV show with all the background noises.

This was Tess Gerritsen's bridge work between writing romantic fiction and suspense books. I'm glad that she made the break from romantic fiction as I doubt she would have ever become as well known as a writer and the world is much better off for having her suspense novels than romantic drivel. As I am only familiar with her suspense works, I am happy to say she did a good job with this story. The story appeared well thought out and was an enjoyable tale. As usual she brings her background as an MD into the story which is the story of a medical examiner who sees a developing trend with the cause of death some drug addicts and is concerned that there is a bad batch of a new drug out on the streets. She proceeds to have her car destroyed and her house bombed as she follows the leads and finds that no one is talking about or even caring that these people are dying as they are just `street people' and it is an election year.

I find it difficult to judge how well constructed the book's text was without actually having read it and hopefully those that are more used to audio books can envision that. I can say though, that it seemed to me to be up to Gerritsen's usual standards and although her regular series characters are not in the book, for those who love her books, they should enjoy this one that regrettably is not being published in text form here in the USA.

Girl Missing is okay but it is a far cry from Gerritsen's other books that I've read. It's her first book and has a new introduction by Gerritsen explaining that she had been a "romance" writer (ugh) and gradually became a mystery writer. Frankly, I was disappointed.

Someone use to "cozy" mysterys,looking for something else a bit "suspenceful" LOVED this book! what I was looking for..read it in very short order...My only regret being "cozies" have a "sequel" with same "lead names" the next book or any other for that don't use the same names...

I was delighted when I got this audiobook, because I am a mega huge Tess Gerritsen fan. She is one of four authors who I buy the day their books come out, the others are John Grisham, Lee Child and John Sandford. The unabridged book arrived on seven CDs the day before I was leaving on a long drive, Reno, Nevada to Vancouver, BC. I was going to be alone in the car for eighteen long hours, nineteen or twenty, counting rest stops and Micky D's.

I had not been looking forward to the drive, but armed with a new Tess Gerritsen audiobook changed all that. Now I could hardly wait to get going. Fortunately I had a Dean Koontz audiobook with me as well, because when I put the CD in the player, I discovered that several years ago I'd read this brand new book before,

It was a good book. One I'd read well before I'd become a Tess Gerritsen fan. HARVEST was the book that endeared me to Tess. Actually I didn't connect PEGGY SUE GOT MURDERED to Tess, not until I put the first CD into my car player. Nowhere on the box does it mention that this book had been previously released under a different name.

In all fairness, I did remember the story, so it was a good one. A story about a medical examiner on the trail of a drug that kills. A drug that got away from a drug company that wasn't ready to release it yet. As I remember it the book was a little more on the romantic side than I usually like, but there was enough tension to get me through it.

GIRL MISSING slash PEGGY SUE GOT MURDERED is Tess Gerritsen's first thriller. She'd been writing romance before (I've not read any of those) and as such is worth a read if you like her books, but you won't get the nail bitting tension, the edge of your seat thrills, the ripples of fear up your spine you get with the stuff she's writing now. It's rather disappointing that Tess and her publishers felt they had to rerelease this book the way they did. Three stars from me for this one. I wish I could give it more, but I can't.

I've never read anything by this author, so I was quite excited to be offered a chance to listen to this audiobook. The author clearly states in the introduction that this was her bridge novel as an author between romance and suspense and it shows. It felt unpolished and rough; but there's definitely promise of the writer she became. This is a long book, with too much romance for my taste. For the most part, the characters remain one-dimensional. The narrator does a good job of reading each personality and it was easy to follow character changes with each voice. Although this book never quite fulfilled my expectations, it did peak my interest in the author and I'll definitely be checking out more of her later suspense works.

Tess Gerritsen, M.D. is best known for her murder-myster, suspense series. She is quite talented and her novels provide solid plots with twists and turns, along with good back story on the main characters that keep the reader/listener engaged. This audioversion of "Girl Missing" represents Ms. Gerritsen's first foray into the murder-mystery, suspense genre, and it shows. It was originally published under the title "Peggy Sue Gets Murdered". It is not as detailed or refined as her later work.

The basic summary of the audiobook revolves around Kat Novak, a medical examiner, Adam Quantrell, the CEO of a pharmaceutical company, and growing pile of dead women. Kat, a forceful and sometimes overly blunt woman, embarks on a mission to discover what is killing these women and ends up involved with Adam Quantrell, who naturally becomes her love interest. The rest of the story is fairly straight-forward and predictable, lacking the normal complex of storytelling one is used to from Ms. Gerritsen; it is not one of Ms. Gerritsen's strongest pieces of work. It is clear that she is walking the line between romance and murder-mystery and is torn as to which way to go. The love story moves along as expected, but the beginnings of the murder-mystery writing which has made Ms. Gerritsen shine can be seen in the details and prose when describing the various medical aspects of the case. All in all, it is an o.k., but not terribly creative story.

Audiobook Review: The audiobook was pretty good. I always have difficulty when a reader uses different "voices" because sometimes they end up sounding weird and end up distracting from the story. This audiobook reader (Susan Ericksen) in general did a good job with most of the voices, but a few of her accents/intonations for some characters did not work with me personally (for example, the police chief). I think this is more of a personal preference than a problem with the reader. Also, female readers doing male voices is always tough (as are male readers doing female voices, which often are Hilarious and sound like a drag queen convention). Overall, she was a good narrator.

Keep your expectations reasonable and you will enjoy this audiobook.

**On a side note for fans, Ms. Gerritsen's Rizzoli and Isles murder-mystery series is now a TV series on TNT called "Rizzoli and Isles"**