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Last to Die: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel [Hardcover]

Tess Gerritsen
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (405 customer reviews)

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Book Description

August 28, 2012 Rizzoli & Isles
Rizzoli & Isles • Hit series on TNT
 
“Suspense doesn’t get smarter than this. Not just recommended but mandatory.”—Lee Child
 
For the second time in his short life, Teddy Clock has survived a massacre. Two years ago, he barely escaped when his entire family was slaughtered. Now, at fourteen, in a hideous echo of the past, Teddy is the lone survivor of his foster family’s mass murder. Orphaned once more, the traumatized teenager has nowhere to turn—until the Boston PD puts detective Jane Rizzoli on the case. Determined to protect this young man, Jane discovers that what seemed like a coincidence is instead just one horrifying part of a relentless killer’s merciless mission.
 
Jane spirits Teddy to the exclusive Evensong boarding school, a sanctuary where young victims of violent crime learn the secrets and skills of survival in a dangerous world. But even behind locked gates, and surrounded by acres of sheltering Maine wilderness, Jane fears that Evensong’s mysterious benefactors aren’t the only ones watching. When strange blood-splattered dolls are found dangling from a tree, Jane knows that her instincts are dead on. And when she meets Will Yablonski and Claire Ward, students whose tragic pasts bear a shocking resemblance to Teddy’s, it becomes chillingly clear that a circling predator has more than one victim in mind.
 
Joining forces with her trusted partner, medical examiner Maura Isles, Jane is determined to keep these orphans safe from harm. But an unspeakable secret dooms the children’s fate—unless Jane and Maura can finally put an end to an obsessed killer’s twisted quest.
 
PRAISE FOR TESS GERRITSEN
 
“[Gerritsen] has an imagination that allows her to conjure up depths of human behavior so dark and frightening that she makes Edgar Allan Poe and H. P. Lovecraft seem like goody-two-shoes.”—Chicago Tribune
 
“One of the most versatile voices in thriller fiction today.”—The Providence Journal
 
The Silent Girl
 
“Another great thrill ride . . . one of Gerritsen’s best.”—Associated Press
 
“An exciting and suspense-filled adventure.”—Wichita Falls Times Record News
 
Ice Cold
 
“Gerritsen paces Ice Cold with surgical precision.”—Salon
 
“The kind of book you’d read in one sitting.”—Chicago Sun-Times

Frequently Bought Together

Last to Die: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel + The Silent Girl: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel (with bonus short story Freaks): A Novel + The Keepsake: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel (Rizzoli & Isles Novels)
Price for all three: $34.36

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

From Author Tess Gerritsen: Why I Wrote Last To Die

Tess Gerritsen

When I was ten years old, I got a fingerprint kit for my birthday. I'd been obsessed with Nancy Drew mystery novels, and I was convinced that I, too, could be a spunky girl detective and track down all the dangerous criminals lurking in my suburban San Diego neighborhood. The fingerprint kit consisted of a brush and a baggie of black powder. I practiced by dusting various surfaces in my house, blowing off the excess powder, and using Scotch tape to capture the patterns. I never nabbed any dangerous criminals, but I did discover the interesting fact that fingerprint powder is really hard to clean off white walls and furniture.

Thus ended my career as spunky girl detective.

The years passed and I grew up to become a doctor and then a thriller novelist, but I never forgot my childhood fantasy of being a crime-fighter. I realize now that it was a variation of a universal fantasy we all share: that even ordinary people can do extraordinary things. It's a theme we see often in fiction and in movies: Harry Potter, the despised boy living under the stairs, becomes the world's greatest wizard. Luke Skywalker, a farm boy, becomes a Jedi knight. So why couldn't a mere kid help catch a criminal?

In my newest novel Last to Die, that's exactly what happens.

It's the tenth in my Rizzoli and Isles crime series starring homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles. This time they're on the hunt for a killer who's stalking three surviving orphans of different family massacres. Assisting Jane and Maura are a few brilliant young sleuths who belong to The Jackals, a student forensics club at the remote and mysterious Evensong boarding school. The three threatened orphans--Claire, Will, and Teddy--are now sheltered at Evensong, where frightening new events at the school make Jane Rizzoli wonder if the killer has tracked the orphans to the isolated sanctuary that was supposed to keep them safe.

But Evensong is no ordinary school, and Evensong's students are certainly not ordinary children. Among the students is sixteen-year-old Julian "Rat" Perkins, who saved Maura's life in my book Ice Cold.  As president of The Jackals Club, Julian leads this oddball group of amateur detectives, and they have more than a few tricks up their sleeves--tricks that may save the lives of Jane and Maura.

I never fulfilled my childhood fantasy of being a girl sleuth who catches bad guys. But I can finally bring that fantasy to life in Last to Die, where it just might be the kids who bring down the killer.

Review

PRAISE FOR TESS GERRITSEN
 
“Suspense doesn’t get smarter than this. Not just recommended but mandatory.”—Lee Child
 
“[Gerritsen] has an imagination that allows her to conjure up depths of human behavior so dark and frightening that she makes Edgar Allan Poe and H. P. Lovecraft seem like goody-two-shoes.”—Chicago Tribune
 
“One of the most versatile voices in thriller fiction today.”—The Providence Journal
 
The Silent Girl
 
“Another great thrill ride . . . one of Gerritsen’s best.”—Associated Press
 
“An exciting and suspense-filled adventure.”—Wichita Falls Times Record News
 
Ice Cold
 
“Gerritsen paces Ice Cold with surgical precision.”—Salon
 
“The kind of book you’d read in one sitting.”—Chicago Sun-Times

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Ballantine Books; First Edition edition (August 28, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0345515633
  • ISBN-13: 978-0345515636
  • Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.2 x 9.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (405 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #33,556 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

The book was very exciting, and twists, turns, surprises throughout. me N  |  82 reviewers made a similar statement
Love the character development. jr  |  35 reviewers made a similar statement
This book was im- possible to put down, so I just stayed up all night reading until I finished it. GrandmaHeather  |  24 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
49 of 56 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Tess Gerritsen's tenth Rizzoli and Isles book, Last To Die, is a taut, highly enjoyable thriller. In this book, we follow homicide detective Rizzoli and medical examiner Isles as they team up to save three orphans. These orphans have one major thing in common: they are each survivors of not one, but two family massacres that killed both their birth families and their foster families. The three orphans are placed in Evensong Boarding School in Maine, which is run by the mysterious Mephisto Society. Evensong is a place where young people who are victims of violent crime are taught survival skills. I'll hold off on any spoilers here, but suffice it to say that the tragedies in these three orphans' lives appear to be interconnected, as the story twists and turns towards a violent and tense conclusion. The secret behind the three orphans' stories goes way back in time and space, even into a different country.

Gerritsen mixes personal details of her main characters (Rizzoli and Isles) into the story, allowing us to learn more about them, even ten books in. Overall, this one is a solid, fun read. Fans of the TNT television show will really enjoy it.
There are two things I like about Gerritsen and this series. First, I enjoy being able to just jump into a book, already knowing and liking the main characters. Now, with the television series, there are even real faces attached to the names, albeit actors. Second, as a physician, I enjoy reading books by other doctors. Gerritsen is perhaps the most successful physician fiction writer since the late Michael Crichton.

If you enjoy Gerritsen's books and books with a medical bent, then I highly recommend the following: Dr. Samuel Shem's The House of God is a `must read' for anyone interested in reading a novel about the crazy things that happen inside a big city hospital. Although it was written in the 70's, it's still the most widely read book about doctors today.
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17 of 21 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars Hardly R&I October 5, 2012
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
To call this book a Rizzoli and Isles story is false advertising. Jane and Maura appear infrequently and mostly in an unsatisfying way. This is a story about other characters and R & I seem to be forced into the book so that followers of the series will buy it. I was very disappointed. If I had known they are secondary characters in this story, I might not have bought the book.
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14 of 18 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Last To Die September 6, 2012
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I had been looking forward to Last To Die being released for months but ended up being disappointed when I read it. It was my least favourite of all the Rizzoli and Isles books. Tess Gerritsen is my favourite author so I was hugely dissapointed , I loved her previous book 'The Silent Girl' and have read it a few times. Last To Die was not up to the same standard as The Silent Girl. I hope the next release is back to the usual standard.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars Good
This is a good book but not in line with some of her better ones, like Silent Girls or Ice Cold
Published 12 hours ago by Bill Deppe
5.0 out of 5 stars Truly scary!
Gerritsen packs in excellent plot twists--kept me engaged up until the last period of the final sentence. Tess Gerritsen rocks!
Published 1 day ago by K. Terry
4.0 out of 5 stars loved it!
This book brought together several characters from previous books in a very satisfying narrative. More than once I was sure I had figured it out, only to stumble over a missed... Read more
Published 3 days ago by Susan Fisher Espourteille
4.0 out of 5 stars Action and suspense in a unique new setting
Tess Gerritsen is one of my favourite thriller authors, and I was very excited to lay my hands on the audiobook version of Last to Die, her latest work and the 10th instalment in... Read more
Published 3 days ago by Amelia68
5.0 out of 5 stars Gotta check out the TV series now!
This is the first Tess Gerritsen book I've read and I really liked it! It's fast-paced and kept me turning the pages. Read more
Published 6 days ago by Virginian
4.0 out of 5 stars I give this high marks.
This has a lot of P.D. James in it. Much of the story happens in an isolated location (in James it would also be a manor house or off-shore island). It has a surprise ending. Read more
Published 7 days ago by Frederick D. Longworth
5.0 out of 5 stars Love all Rizzoli and Isles novels
Love how the book keeps you guessing till the last minute. Looking forward to more books from the series to come.
Published 8 days ago by Carrie Rosaaen
3.0 out of 5 stars It was ok
It has a good story line, but some of the questions that came up were not answered. Also it spent a lot of time on sub-characters instead of the main characters in the series.
Published 9 days ago by Mindy Harris
5.0 out of 5 stars Rave Review
Anything written by Tess G. is a proven winner and there is nothing more to add to this incredible statement
Published 11 days ago by mymokey
5.0 out of 5 stars I could hardly wait to see what these two women were up to this time.
I've already ordered 2 more of the Rizzoli & Isles books, can hardly wait for them to arrive! Love them!
Published 14 days ago by Scarlett Jackson
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