Shutter Island

Shutter Island has everything nightmares are made of. There’s fear, psychological suspense, mystery, and paranoia. An unpredictable, mysterious psychological “horror” story at its finest.

Trailers have already come out for this movie showing in 2010 starring Leonardo di Caprio. First of all, as a side comment, I really believe he can pull the protagonist’s role. But on to the book review..

Summary: Shutter Island is a story set at an infamous hospital for the criminally insane. When a patient escapes the facility, investigators Teddy Daniels and his partner, Chuck Aule, are called in to the scene. Faced with confusing uncertainty and unanswered questions, they work their way to solve one of their most difficult cases to date.

Review: If you have read Lehane’s other book, The Mystic River, or watched the movie version starring Brad Pitt, and loved it as much as I did, I will tell you that Shutter Island is completely different from that one. Though the same in level of good writing, interesting plot, and unpredictable twists, they are completely different in style. Shutter Island is a psychological thriller. And a frightening one at that.

The main plot and the characters are fully developed. The dialogues were also entertaining, never boring or dull. The twists in almost every chapter in the book just creates havoc in your mind. The clues are there, but you’ll never see them. The ending… I have to say is one of the best unguessable endings I’ve read in a while.

So if you want a fast read that is capable of possibly making your hairs stand or give you chills, then this is the one for you. I recommend it.

The Bone Garden

New home owner Julia Hamill loves her new house. That is, until one day she discovers bones in her garden. And not just any kind of bone–human bones, to be exact. And so the quest of the history of the house and the garden, as well as the previous home owners begin.

Although I did enjoy this book very much, I can not help but mention that this is probably my least favorite Tess Gerritsen book.

The plot itself was very interesting; the idea riveting, the characters likable. But all in all, it ended up stumbling into a story and conclusion not so satisfying. Maybe it has to do with the fact that Gerritsen wrote better thrillers before that I felt as if this particular book did not live up to her usual standards.

There are positive things about it though because it still was good. The writing, as usual, is fast-paced. The story itself is fast-paced, not dragging or boring at all.

If somebody picked this book up without having read any other of Gerritsen’s previous books, they might like it and appreciate it more for what it is. If you are already a Gerritsen fan, then this might be your least favorite. Again, not saying it was bad. Just the least “favorite.”

Life Support

This is one of those books that I find hard to summarize without giving away spoilers or too much information, sometimes even the ending. So this time around, I will not try to write one.

However, I can say that this is Tess Gerritsen’s second medical thriller book. Tess Gerritsen is one of my favorite suspense/thriller authors, if not my ultimate favorite. This novel did not fail.

If you have a faint-heart, can not stand even the slightest mention of blood, then this is probably not for you. Because just on the very first page, there is already a mention of these things; things that Gerritsen describes so well.

I really love Gerritsen, as you, by now, can already see. She writes all the scary things that get to your head at night (not talking about ghosts though), and her books are fast-paced and has so much action that you can’t dare miss.

Life Support is not an exception. It was good. Read. it. =)

Coma

Being a big fan of Tess Gerritsen’s medical thrillers, I asked several people who they think the best medical thriller author is, and everyone seems to be repeating Robin Cook’s name. So off I went to the library to borrow one of his books; Coma. This is actually his first book and it is old, written around the 70’s if I’m not mistaken. It was also made into a movie starring Michael Douglas.

I’m very indifferent about this one. I like the genre, and I like the style. I think Robin Cook is obviously very knowledgeable and credible. His writing is pretty good too, plus he’s written so many until this date that I thought okay, this should be really good. I have to admit it kept me up late at night because I like the story. It was very exciting. I really like the characters, the plot, action, writing, etc…..

Except for the ending. It failed, in my opinion. ::SPOILER:: What happened to the main character, whatever her name is. I can’t even remember anymore because of how much I hated the ending. It was too ambiguous, too unclear. It seems as if the author wants us to figure the ending out for ourselves. But I believe that based on what I read, I assume he wrote her off. In other words, she did die. I keep thinking to myself, she worked so hard to figure out the medical mystery, being the heroine and everything, fighting for “what is right,” only to become a victim in the end after all. Wow. So much for heroines and well-deserved happy endings. I mean, come on. Why did the author have to build the character up so much? I found myself rooting for her, because 1) She was correct about everything that was going on 2) She was a woman (biased, I know) and she was discriminated the entire time!

And she dies.

Now that I think of it, although it’s a good story and all, I shouldn’t have wasted my time because I just got annoyed with the ending. Sorry Robin Cook, never again.

"Rizzoli/Isles" series

Yup, I’m talking about Tess Gerritsen’s awesome line of crime/mystery/thriller. There are seven books in the series centering on different crimes and mysteries and the two female characters. Jane Rizzoli, a strong woman of a detective; Maura Isles, the medical examiner. Together, they help each other figure out the crime; what took place, who did it, and why, while at the same time living their lives as women in this society, in two very difficult professions.

Let me write just a short description of each book and maybe add an opinion or two.

• The Surgeon – This is the first in the series. And let’s just say that if it wasn’t for this book, I wouldn’t have immediately put on reserve ALL of the remaining books in the library that have been written by her. Creepy, eerie, gory, scary, exciting, unmistakably suspenseful and mysterious. Tess Gerritsen’s very vivid imagination and descriptions lure you into her traps, make YOU imagine hearing every blood-curling scream and every anguish. Tsk. Tsk. I’m getting carried away. Awesome book!
• The Apprentice – 8/10
• The Sinner – 8/10
• Body Double – this is one of my favorites in the whole series. It was crazy! Read it!
• Vanish – 9/10
• The Mephisto Club – 8/10
• The Keepsake – 10/10

What’s really cool is that you don’t really have to start from the very first book in the series. You can start anywhere you’d like and you’ll still get the same spine-chilling feeling, leaving you wanting to read the rest of her books!

That’s it. Aside from the fact that Tess Gerritsen just has the coolest job in the world being both a physician and a writer, her writing and style can not-should not-be missed.