Listen To Me

Another great instalment in a fantastic series!

Boston PD Detective Jane Rizzoli and Forensic Pathologist Maura Isles again team up to solve the brutal murder of a widowed nurse in her home. Investigations reveal that Sofia Suarez had been conducting intriguing internet searches and trying to contact former nursing colleagues in Maine - could there be a link with her murder? Another entwined storyline follows a hospital colleague of Sofia's in Boston, whose daughter has a strange encounter with an unknown man at Sofia's funeral.

Meanwhile, Jane's mother Angela Rizzoli has two mysterious issues of her own to get to the bottom of - the disappearance of a local teenager and a suspicious couple who have moved into the vacant house across the road. As in the television series adaptation, based on Tess Gerritsen's books, Angela's antics provide a lighter comic foil to the more serious professional pursuits of Jane and Maura. But this time, Angela might have stuck her nose into something more serious, as shots ring out across the road one night...

I regret that I haven't read this series in order, as there are clear character arcs that would be better appreciated by reading consecutively. In spite of this, Listen To Me was a thoroughly engrossing read, and I'm sure would be appreciated by other readers who haven't read all the previous books or are newcomers to the series. Despite featuring many of the same characters and themes, there are distinct differences between the books and the television adaptation.

Tess Gerritsen's plotting is superb, with the story swinging back and forth enticingly between different narrators, maintaining the reader's interest throughout. I picked one aspect of the solution from about the midway point, but this didn't detract from my enjoyment of the ride to the end. Indeed, it occurs to me that Gerritsen deliberately gives the reader the experience of being ahead of the protagonists on occasion, creating an immersive reading experience. Jane Rizzoli, Maura Isles and Angela Rizzoli feel like old friends, all three strong women with fascinating backstories, identifiable and likeable, despite their various foibles.

I'd enthusiastically recommend Listen To Me to any reader who enjoys well-plotted police procedurals and crime-thrillers. While this is no cosy mystery, there is added domestic and character interest which add occasional light humour to the narrative.

My thanks to the author, Tess Gerritsen, publisher Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Bantam Press, and NetGalley (UK) for the opportunity to read and review this title.