Product Description

Returning home from Paris, Boston medical examiner Maura Isles is greeted by a nightmarish scene. Slumped in a car in her driveway is a dead woman, a gunshot wound to her head. Cops and neighbours stare at her as she approaches; and when Maura looks into the car, she understands why. The body on the front seat is her mirror image. In the autopsy that follows, Maura discovers more and more parallels between her and the dead woman, right down to their identical blood group. She is even more confused when her friend, Detective Jane Rizzoli, learns that, according to all available documentation, the woman did not even exist until two years previously. Who was this woman? What was her relationship with Maura? And who is the killer's real target? Maura, who was given up for adoption at birth, knows she must confront the truth about her own mysterious origins. As she tracks down the dead woman's identity, she uncovers a shocking revelation about the mother she never knew. Drawn into a dangerous and manipulative game, Maura and Rizzoli are led ever deeper down a path of dark untruths and murderous deceit.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #289114 in Books
• Published on: 2005-01-17
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 369 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
If there’s one thing that Tess Gerritsen’s Body Double categorically proves, it’s that there are few writers (on either side of the Atlantic) as consistent as her in turning out pungent and atmospheric thrillers, each as finely honed as the last. The Surgeon, with its ritualistic serial killer apparently returning from the dead to menace the surgeon he blamed for his death, marked out Gerritsen’s unsettling territory with immense assurance: here was a writer for whom there were few taboos when it came to disturbing the reader. Similarly, The Apprentice gleaned considerable acclaim for its chilling portrait of a killer utilising his medical knowledge in unspeakable fashion.

Body Double has all the characteristic Gerritsen imagination and innovation (despite a title that has seen service a little too often); here, Detective Jane Rizzoli has the feeling that she is gazing at her doppelganger when she looks at the body of Boston pathologist Dr Maura Isles stretched out on the slab that was her own work surface. Maura Isles has Jane’s physical appearance, birth date, and even blood type. And when tests reveal that the women are twin sisters, Jane is plunged into a dangerous mystery, travelling to Maine where she must investigate the identity of a mother she never knew. And, all the while, a savage murderer is indulging in nationwide slaughter.

Gerritsen has created some controversy with her readiness to gaze into the darker recesses of human psychopathology, and this book (like its predecessors) is not for the squeamish. But those seeking powerful and trenchant crime writing need not hesitate. Jane Rizzoli, too, is a strongly characterised protagonist. --Barry Forshaw

From the Back Cover
Dr Maura Isles makes her living dealing with death. As a pathologist in downtown Boston, she has seen more than her share of corpses – many of them victims of violent murder. But never before has the lifeless body on the medical examiner’s table been her own.

But there can be no denying the evidence: the dead woman before her and her close friend and colleague Detective Jane Rizzoli is the mirror image of Maura, down to the most intimate physical details. Even more chilling is the discovery that they share the same birth date and blood type. When a DNA test confirms that Maura’s mysterious double is in fact her twin sister, an already bizarre murder investigation becomes a disturbing and dangerous excursion into a past full of dark secrets.

Searching for answers, Maura is drawn to a seaside town in Maine where other horrifying surprises await. But even more frighteningly, an unknown murderer is at large on a cross-country killing spree. To stop the violence, and uncover the twisted truth about her own roots, Maura must probe her first living subject: the mother she never knew …

In her brilliant and terrifying new novel, Tess Gerritsen – bestselling author of The Surgeon and The Sinner – taps into the deep well of murder and obsession, and builds an almost tangible atmosphere of tension and suspense before arranging for an explosive release that is as horrifying as it is unexpected.

About the Author
Tess Gerritsen left a successful practice as a medic to raise her children and concentrate on her writing. Harvest, Life Support, Bloodstream, Gravity, The Surgeon, The Apprentice and most recently The Sinner have been New York Times and Sunday Times bestsellers. She lives with her husband and two sons in Maine.

Customer Reviews

Another fantastic thriller
If you've read 'The Sinner' and don't think that the Amazon official review makes sense, don't worry. Both Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles return in 'Body Double' and it's every bit as good. It's not Jane that finds her doppelganger: it's Maura, but I won't say any more because I don't want to spoil the plot.

I recommend you read Tess Gerritsen's latest books in order: 'The Surgeon', 'The Apprentice', 'The Sinner' and 'Body Double'. They are all fantastic thrillers and certain characters and storylines follow through the series. That said, 'Body Double' does stand up pretty well on it's own if you really don't want to read all four.

Tess Gerritsen's earlier thrillers ('Harvest', 'Life Support' and 'Bloodstream') were more traditional medical thrillers - her more recent novels are what I would call crime novels but are just as good. I would recommend any of these books as a great read.

BODY DOUBLE - MY REVIEW
TESS GERRITSEN'S LATEST NOVEL IS ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!
THE WRITING IS MS GERRITSEN'S ALONE, BUT IT HAS THE FEEL OF PATRICIA CORNWELL AND MARY HIGGINS CLARK, ALL MIXED IN ONE EXPLOSIVE BOOK.
DR. MAURA ISLES, COMES HOME TO THE POLICE AT HER DOOR. THEY THINK THAT SHE HAS BEEN KILLED - BECAUSE THERE IS A BODY IN A CAR OUTSIDE OF HER HOME WITH HER FACE ON IT. IT'S NOT HER THOUGH AND THIS LEADS HER ON A TERRIFYING JOURNEY TO FIND OUT WHO SHE REALLY IS.
BUT ARE THE ANSWERS ONES THAT SHE CAN LIVE WITH.

SHE NEEDS TO FIND OUT WHO THE WOMAN IS AND THIS THEN CHANGES DIRECTION AND ULTIMATELY LEADS TO A MURDERER WHO HAS BEEN KILLING FOR OVER FORTY YEARS.
THIS IS A FABULOUS BOOK, FULL OF TWISTS AND TURNS. QUITE SHOCKING TO THE READER AND A VERY ENGROSING READ.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Chilling Look at Identity and Evil
Crime-solving books often leave me cold . . . rather than moved by a sense of admiration for the characters, dread from the evil cast by the wrong-doers or interest in how the story turns out. Body Double was a powerful exception to that normal experience. The characters moved me to sympathy, I admired the main detective very much and I found the evil-doers to be truly creepy. With those emotions coursing through me, I read the book avidly and with great pleasure.

That surprised me because the jacket blurb made me assume that this would be a very formula-driven book about self-identity. While that theme is present, the way it is developed far exceeded my expectations and was very intriguing.

But the best part for me was contemplating the villains. These evil-doers represent an unusual type of wrong-doer in a crime and detection novel, and their characters were developed in a way that intrigued me . . . rather than just repulsing me. That made for a better story.

To get a sense of this book's theme and gut-wrenching qualities, imagine watching an autopsy of someone who looks just like you who has suffered a violent death near your home. What thoughts would be going through your mind?

Next, imagine that you are about to give birth and are confronting a remorseless killer. How would you try to save your life and that of your baby and eliminate the killer?

If you find those circumstances to be gripping, read this book.

I have not read any of the earlier books in the series, but I intend to read future installments after having been very impressed with this one.

The only reason I didn't grade the book higher is that the plot structure could have been tightened up a bit . . . and been even more powerful. It's actually more of a 4-and-a-half stars book, but there's no way to do that on Amazon.

I won't go into the plot which is thoroughly described in the editorial reviews.