Harvest [Mass Market Paperback]

Tess Gerritsen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1997

Medical resident Dr. Abby Matteo is elated when the elite cardiac transplant team at Boston's Bayside Hospital taps her as a potential recruit. But faced with a tormenting life-and-death decision, Abby helps direct a crash victim's harvested heart to a dying teenager -- instead of the wealthy older woman who was supposed to receive it. The repercussions leave Abby shaken and plagued with self-doubt.

Suddenly, a new heart appears, and the woman's transplant is completed. Then Abby makes a terrible discovery. The donor records have been falsified -- the new heart has not come through the proper channels. Defying the hospital's demands for silence, she begins her own investigation that reveals a murderous, unthinkable conspiracy. Every move Abby makes spawns a vicious backlash...and on a ship anchored in the waters of Boston harbor, the grisly truth lies waiting.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

When Robin Cook wrote Coma in 1977, the idea of hospital patients being incubated for their vital organs sounded like science fiction. Twenty years later, this gripping thriller about a thriving international black market in human hearts, livers and kidneys could come from tomorrow's "Nightline." Author Gerritsen was an internist before she switched her energies to writing, and her experience shows in every scene. When young surgical resident Dr. Abby DiMatteo assists at her first "harvest" (the removal of living organs from a patient declared legally brain dead) at Boston's posh Bayside Hospital, "she felt vaguely nauseated by the whine of the blade, the smell of bone dust," neither of which seem to bother the veterans. It's obviously a personal memory being mined for good fictional purposes. (Gerritsen wrote paperback romance novels before Harvest: Check out her Keeper of the Bride and Thief of Hearts.) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Robin Cook is going to feel just swell after taking a look at Gerritsen's first novel. It's been 19 years since Cook published Coma as his own first novel, but that book's basic elements?as a tale of medical terror in which a feisty young female doctor in Boston foils a medical conspiracy involving the murdering of innocents to harvest their organs?are found in Gerritsen's novel as well. Along with the requisite amoral medical types goaded by greed, Gerritsen includes Russian mobsters, orphans at deadly risk, a ruthless industrialist, murders disguised as suicides, a bloody climax aboard a Russian freighter in Boston Harbor and some graphic surgical scenes. Surgical resident Abby DiMatteo is on the fast track at Boston's fictional Bayside Hospital. But after she disobeys orders so she can give a heart transplant to a failing 17-year-old instead of to a failing middle-aged, rich woman, her career options look slim. Fighting back against hospital administrators, shyster lawyers and violent thugs, Abby?spunky but angst-ridden and also rather whiny?finds major discrepancies in the records of Bayside's organ-transplant procedures. Shocked, she finally learns the truth, experiences a major betrayal and, in the climax, must herself face the final harvest. Gerritsen's crisp pacing and adept handling of the medical background?she's a retired internist?add sizzle to the tale, but her characters need life support, the climax is too drawn out and the final revelations will surprise only readers who move their lips. Major ad/promo; film rights sold to Paramount; simultaneous Simon & Schuster Audio; foreign rights sold in the U.K., Germany, Sweden, Holland, Finland, France, Korea, Denmark, Norway, Spain and Italy.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Star; First Edition edition (August 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067155302X
• ISBN-13: 978-0671553029
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (103 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #81,916 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

51 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars RIVETING MEDICAL THRILLER!!!!, August 22, 2000

By 

Karen Boml "Kiki" (Hudson, NH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Harvest (Mass Market Paperback)

Firstly, I have to say that Harvest is in my Top Ten List of all-time most favorite reads (and I've been a voracious reader for forty years).........This book has it all.............thrills, chills, great twisted plots, superb character development...........bad guys, good guys....kept me guessing.......and guessing......... Abby Di Matteo was a second year resident at Bayside Hospital in Boston when she was chosen to be part of the cardiac transplant team.... When she discovered that a heart was to be given to a rich man's wife, rather than a young 17 year old boy who was next in line, both Abby and Dr. Chao, took drastic measures....which had immediate repercussions! Finding donor records as being falsified, and knowing that some hearts aren't coming through the correct channels, Abby starts an investigation........ Since I first read Harvest when it came out in hardcover in 1996, the details and characters have stayed with me....this is a book that one can't forget..........it's an "edge of the seat" thriller, which is even scarier knowing that it's so easy for this to happen in real life.............Gerritsen's knowledge of the medical field shines through without all the jargon that we lay people can't understand! No matter where I am, at weddings, wakes, bookstores, beaches, if I see or know someone who reads, I always recommend any Tess Gerritsen book, so long as it includes Harvest!! Better than Cook, Crichton, or Palmer, and they are great authors, I assure you............This book is a MUST read..... Gotta mention, I was lucky enough to meet this beautiful and talented lady, twice at booksignings.........she is such a down-to-earth, friendly, sincere person, I hope each of you gets to meet her someday also!

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Medical Mystery Thriller, August 8, 2004

By 

L. Tite "www.silverberry.org" (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Harvest (Mass Market Paperback)

This is my second reading of Tess Gerritsen's first novel, Harvest. I enjoyed it even more the second time around. It all starts with a young woman having a car crash that leaves her brain dead. Her heart matches two people: one is a poor 17 year old boy, the other is the wife of one of the richest men in the country. Who it ends up going to starts this thrilling tale ...

Soon Dr. Abby DiMatteo, a resident at Bayside Hospital, is in the middle of a whirlwind controversy involving black market organs, false accusations of murder, career-altering decisions, and she begins questioning the very core of the person she is going to marry.

Great mystery, really interesting medical scenes, believable and sympathetic characters. All in all - a great read!

I'm in the midst of re-reading all of Gerritsen's novels ... she is a phenomenal writer (and she used to be a doctor, which gives all the medical scenes such accurate detail.) If you like Robin Cook books, you'd like Tess Gerritsen.

Next on the nightstand: Life Support.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Page Turning Thriller!!!!, December 10, 2002

By 

Kristi Ahlers (Illinois) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Harvest (Mass Market Paperback)

This was a page turning thriller from start to finish. I love this author since she has the ability to craft a story with plenty of suspense and does not give up the bad guy until the final pages. This keeps you guessing and reading to the end. This story was faced paced with great character development. A great read for anyone who enjoys medical thrillers!