Customer Reviews

Harvest

5 star:		(64)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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!

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.

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!

In "Harvest," Tess Gerritsen writes a moving and suspenseful tale of Abby DiMatteo, and Bayside Memorial Hospital. From within the first few pages, Ms. Gerritsen has you hooked, and you'll be turning pages a mile a minute. The story is basically centered upon the topic of harvesting organs. Dr. Abby DiMatteo, a second year resident at Bayside, is starting to work with the transplant team, and they seem a little weird. She uncovers some things, and learns more of the team's past history. Meanwhile, she is in love with a member of the team, Dr. Mark Hodell. When a needy boy needs a heart, Abby and another doctor think that this boy will get the heart. But it doesn't seem that way now. It appears that the team is doing some business behind the hospital's back, and are getting organs for people not in desperate need of them. This gets Abby thinking, and thus begins one of the best books I've read.

"Harvest," is first rate suspense. Former romance author and current doctor Tess Gerritsen weaves a tale full of medical wonders, intrigue, and romance. Whether a fan of a science thriller, mysteries, or just a good book, you're bound to enjoy "Harvest." This is not only one of the best thrillers I've read, it's one of the best books that I've read in mainstream fiction. The is the first novel that I've read by Ms. Gerritsen and it certainly won't be my last. This is a book that should not be missed. Need a great, entertaining read? Then this is for you. Don't miss out on this great novel.

Happy Reading!

Harvest is an enjoyable and easy read. The storyline is somewhat predictable especially since the book jacket gives away a lot of it. My main complaint about the book concerns the characterization of anyone with religious beliefs as being silly(Jewish funeral and mourning traditions) or fanatical and out of touch with reality(Brenda Hainey character). This kind of characterization has become so typical of mainstream media; I'm really sick of it. A more creative writer would have gone to more effort to fill the role of Brenda Hainey with something other than the stock religious fanatic. In fact, the book is replete with stock characters. If you can get past this and take the book for what it is--a medical suspense quickie--then you'll enjoy the book.

Nina Voss is dying and her husband, wealthy financier Victor Voss, will do almost anything to ensure that she receives a heart transplant actually scheduled for Joshua O'Day, a young seventeen year old lad currently on top of the transplant list. In a joint act of compassion, Abby DiMatteo, second year resident and Vivian Chao, chief surgical resident of Bayside General Hospital, jeopardize their careers by obtaining a directed transplant consent to ensure Joshua gets the heart. This end run around the outraged Voss and his bottomless supply of money, the power of the hospital's transplant team and the corporate plans of Bayside's CEO, prompts a brutally swift and relentless legal vendetta from Voss intended to destroy DiMatteo's life and her medical career as a promising surgeon. In the midst of this furor, a second available heart surfaces out of nowhere and the transplant for Voss is completed. But, in the course of investigating the cause of a post-operative infection, DiMatteo discovers that records have been falsified and the source of this second heart is a terrifying and brutal black market in transplant organs.

Gerritsen's experience as a doctor is evident in her vivid and moving portrayal of the high pressure boiler-room atmosphere in the surgical intensive care unit at a large city hospital - the unforgiving and demanding long hours; the crushing academic standards of surgical rounds and the intense competition to succeed among the resident staff; the compassionate involvement, caring and humanity that must often be held in check in order to perform as a competent professional; the resounding chaos of a crash "code blue"; and, the gut wrenching, soul-destroying fear of malpractice suits filed at the least provocation.

Perennially present issues such as assisted suicide and conflict between certain religious belief systems and the medical profession make effective brief cameo appearances. I believe that Gerritsen did not intend that these sidebars be considered sub-plots, because they took no part in the continuity of the main story line at all. But they certainly enhanced the overall reality of the milieu and served to flesh out details of the pathos, the frustration and the extreme complexity of the environment in which the medical profession is forced to operate today.

In her debut outing, Gerritsen has produced a medical thriller that rivals anything produced by her colleagues. Move over, Robin Cook and Michael Palmer! You've got some worthy company! This is a proverbial page turner from start to finish!

Paul Weiss

A friend of mine, told me about this great author, Tess Gerritsen, and I read one book she wrote, Bloodstream. Even though I enjoyed it, it wasn't the type of book that inspired me to immediately pick up another by this author, but it was still well written.

Several months later, I picked up Harvest and proceeded to read it. I will admit to stopping twice in the beginning after only a few pages because it seemed very depressing. The beginning deals with patients dying and the donation of their organs. I wasn't in a mindset to deal with this type of story line, so I put it off for a couple of weeks. Once I started reading again, I was enthralled and couldn't put the book down. In fact, I finished Harvest late one night (even though I had to get up early to go to work. I refused to put the book down until the last page had been read).

Abby DiMatteo is a doctor working on her residency in a prestigious Boston hospital. During her emergency medicine rotation, she's thrown into an organ transplant nightmare - her brain dead patient's heart is needed by two patients and the administration decides to "give" the heart to the wealthy candidate instead of a teenage boy who is higher on the transplant list. Through a series of end runs around hospital administration, DiMatteo becomes an accomplice to the attending physician and they transfer the boy to a different hospital, and convince the family of the dying patient to sign a direct donation form. The heart is transferred and the lifesaving surgery performed. Miraculously, the wealthy patient also receives a heart that night. This series of events begins Abby's nightmare.

It seems that Abby has made an enemy of the wealthy patient's husband and he is bent on ruining her both professionally and personally. As Abby is put on administrative leave, she and her fiancé grow farther apart. She's not sure if it's because he is still a part of the hospital staff, and more importantly, he's still a part of the transplant team.

The reader is treated to a look at the "other side" - the business end of transplant harvests and an "it could happen" scenario. A group of Russian Mafia members have created a lucrative business procuring human organs and selling them (a black market in human organs). It doesn't seem to matter that they kill the patient in order to obtain the organ, because no one seems to ask or care. No one except Abby DiMatteo. When things don't make sense and too many coincidences begin to happen, Abby begins to investigate.

This book is definitely not for the faint of heart and will surely make the reader think. I wondered if this really happens, it could and I hope it never gets to this point (but if someone can try to auction a kidney on e-Bay, then an organ black market is a remote possibility). There are enough variations in this book's plot to keep the identities of the villains at arm's length and will keep you guessing until the very end.

And as for the ending - WOW! I haven't enjoyed an ending like this in a very long time! Gerritsen's experience as an internist clearly brings the reader into the operating room and gives a sense that the reader is actually there - dressed in scrubs, hearing, seeing and smelling the same things as are the doctors. It's wonderful and frightening at the same time.

This was Tess Gerritsen's first novel and it has definitely made an impact on me. I enjoyed it so much, that I continue to pickup her books as soon as they are available.

Tess Gerritsen really did an excellent job with this book. Keeps reader's attention from the first to the last page. The Book virtually takes the reader into the action of the book and you can feel the stress and fear Abby is going through. A well thought plot, with some descriptive scenes. I recomend this book for everyone. It is written in a style that you can't and don't want to stop reading. It completely caputers your attention. It is straight forward, with no unexplained twists and confusing minor plots. It is the BEST book I've ever read

Excellent and very realistic medical thriller . As a medical professional, I am impressed how accurate to detail Gerritsen stays, while avoiding confusing or overbearing the reader. No medical lingo here, no "Medicine 101 for general population" inserts. The action is fast paced if a bit predictable, the characters well developed and likable. Yakov's story line is masterful in it's tender description of emotionally needy children, and their heart- breaking vulnerability to ruthless predators.
Just to be devil's advocate, let me point out few weaknesses in this otherwise masterful story:
- I agree with other reviewers that the depiction of people of religious faith was biased, unfair, and as stereotyped as it gets.
- While the climax of the story was very suspenseful, the ending was way too abrupt, and many ends remained untied: who filed and then withdrew the lawsuits? Who and how falsified Abby's blood alcohol level results? How a vodka bottle was planted in her car? Why kill a patient to discredit a doctor when there are so many easier ways? Who and how tipped off Katzka to pursue an off shore ship via helicopter?
-After spending so much time with the characters and becoming so emotionally involved in them (thanks to Gerritsen's writing) one feels really deprived when no follow up is offered - just a hint of a possibly happy ending - not enough - we are left with a "now what?" feeling.
- Last but not least, without revealing too much of the plot: one of the main characters is pushed way too far into proving his loyalty to the conspiracy of the murderers, and it is psychologically absolutely improbable that he would have complied to that extend... No kind of money or fear of consequences can induce this kind of emotional discrepancy. There are barriers most people will not cross under any circumstance, and this was one of them. And it didn't even seem to require much duress to encourage this monstrous betrayal....

otherwise, great book, I will keep on reading anything by this author with great expectations!

I was very impressed! I have just ordered two more of her books. The end was a complete surprise for me!