Gravity [Paperback]

Tess Gerritsen (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Reader's Digest Select Editions (2001)
• ASIN: B000GL78TO
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (168 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,959,826 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

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Just try to defy 'Gravity'!, December 13, 1999

By 

"theladypandora" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gravity (Hardcover)

I just happened to pick this book up because I loved the cover. It also happened to have a blurb by my favorite author, Stephen King, across the front and I quote, "She is better than Palmer, better than Cook...yes, even better than Crichton." That's a pretty high recommendation, so those 2 factors encouraged me to read this book and boy, does it live up to the potential! Emma Watson, a brilliant research physician, has been training for the mission of a lifetime: studying life in outer space. Emma's ex-husband, Jack McCallum, has also shared her dream of space travel, but a unforeseen medical condition leaves him grounded and very bitter. He must watch Emma take the chance of a lifetime and watch her go into space without him. Once Emma reaches the space station, however, things begin to go wrong. An experiment runs deadly, stranding Emma aboard the station with no way to get home without threatening the Earth's population. The rescue attempts have all but failed, and one by one the astronants are dying...what happens next will amaze you! This is a fabulous read, nice and easy, but yet, keeps you on the edge of your seat. After reading Gravity, I went back and read Tess Gerritsen's other books. You will too, and you won't be disappointed

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You CAN judge this book by its cover!, August 11, 2000

By 

Josh (Wyoming) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gravity (Hardcover)

I'm one of those people who picked up this book because it just had too cool of a cover to pass up (that, and I'm a Robin Cook fan, so I was challenging King's cover quote). So, is Tess Gerritsen better than Cook? Hard to say; can't really compare the two. Tess leans more towards the sci-fi, while Cook sticks to terrestrial diseases. But, that doesn't make Gravity any less thrilling! This is one of the few books to actually give me the chills! Strong characters, vivid and graphic pictures of what exactly the crew members of the ISS are facing combined with superb research and writing skills make Gerritsen an author I'll be returning too. I eagerly look forward to reading her other books! Gravity is a roller-coaster of a read and one you won't soon forget.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fast-paced, Creepy & Extremely Well-Written, August 19, 2004

By 

L. Tite "www.silverberry.org" (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gravity (Mass Market Paperback)

This is my second reading of my favorite Gerritsen book so far. Dr. Emma Watson is on the International Space Station doing scientific experiments when something goes terribly wrong. One of the crew is afflicted with stomach pains, vomiting and blood-red eyes. Soon, he's dead and his body seems to be liquifying before their very eyes. NASA is being told they have to abandon their astronauts; they have no clue what is happening to their crew members, so they can't allow it to come here and kill more people. But Jack McCallum, Emma's soon-to-be ex-husband, is back on earth trying to figure out what has gone wrong - and how to save Emma and the rest of the crew from dying from this strange disease that has somehow made it onto the space station. Where did it come from? How did it make it through all the security regulations for an ISS experiment?

I loved this book - it's fast paced, creepy, and extremely well-written!