Contains spoilers....


This particularly chilling tale is written in part from the view point of a serial killer (dubbed the Surgeon) who is stalking female rape victims in modern day Boston, and partly from the perspective of the police officers trying to catch him - Detective Thomas Moore and Detective Jane Rizzoli. From the outset, the detectives see horrifying similarities between the work of the Surgeon and that of another killer who terrorised Savannah until he was killed by the final woman he attacked, a beautiful and successful trauma surgeon, Catherine Cordell. As the investigation continues, it becomes clear that the Surgeon has singled out Cordell as a future target. A gruesome campaign of terror against Cordell ensues, with the Surgeon emailing her photos of one of his mutilated victims and murdering a patient in Cordell's hospital, and culminating in Cordell's abduction by the Surgeon and a suspense filled sequence in which Cordell is defiant even when faced with the Surgeon's knife herself.
I loved this book! I thought the contrast between the fiery Rizzoli and the emotionally guarded Moore was excellent and the insights into the mind of the Surgeon brilliant, although utterly horrific. I also though the romance between Cordell and Moore was beautifully understated and Gerristen, a former physician, was able to bring valuable insights into the medical world and also explore what it can mean to be a female in a male dominated career.