The Sinner

A Rizzoli & Isles Novel

By: Tess Gerritsen

Narrated by: Anna Fields

Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

The cloistered grounds of the convent have traditionally represented a place of faith and peace. Now, that peace is shattered as two nuns are found, one dead, one mortally wounded. The killings appear to be without motive, without an obvious suspect, and are further complicated by the murder and mutilation of a third woman. Together, medical examiner Maura Isles and intense, moody homicide detective Jane Rizzoli (both introduced in earlier Tess Gerritsen novels) uncover an ancient horror that connects these terrible slaughters. As long-buried secrets come to light, Isles finds herself drawn inexorably towards the heart of an investigation that strikes closer to home, and towards a dawning revelation about the killer's identity too shattering to consider.

©2003 Tess Gerritsen (P)2003 Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A briskly paced, terrifically suspenseful work that steadily builds towards a tense and terrifying climax." (People)

"Another captivating, horrific thriller in her extremely popular canon." (Booklist)

Rizzoli and Isles - Together Again

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

It was okay. I like Tess Gerritsen's writing and the characters, but the audio itself not so much.

What other book might you compare The Sinner to and why?

None I can think of.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Anna Fields' voice is annoying. her attempted imitations of the various characters are not convincing. I think she tries to sound like a tired, overworked, sardonic cop.

Great Read

Another good one for Tess. I enjoyed all the twists and turns of the plot. She holds Rizzoli to character. No matter what is going on in her personal life she still finds time to get a jab in at even the most innocent seeming villian. No one goes unpunished in some way with her and that's satisfying. Some of her points make you want to say "you go girl".
This is a great book and you can't go wrong with it.

Five stars:

The humorous passages are hilarious, Dr. Gerritsen's imagination covers even more ground in this novel, and you won't guess the resolution as all the parts come together thoughtfully. I only regret that I did not "read" this novel in order of publication.

almost wonderful

Terrific suspense and character development. What keeps me from giving it 5 stars are the prologue and the last chapter, both of which are unnnecessary -- the book would stand much better without them.

For reasons I can't explain, I want to say that this is more of a women't mystery. Take that as you will.

I look forward to reading more of this author, and the narrator is excellent; always an important consideration.

still great

I wish she stayed away from attempts at deep psychology and relationship analyses, but as a thriller it's still among the best. Perhaps not as good as the first one in the series, still enough to keep me hooked.

Terrible narrator.

Narrator has sing-song voice, too deep, poor characterization of a male voice, cannot pronounce medical terms correctly, and mispronounced “Rizzoli” (she says “Rit-zoli”.

Intriguing story--some surprising twists

This is my first Rizzoli and Isles book. I mostly enjoyed it. The story was quite good--beginning with the murder of a young nun and brutal assault on another, pulling the listener into the story in an immediately compelling way. Isles seemed a no nonsense medical examiner who had been dubbed "The Ice Queen" by some due to her interest in autopsies and finding causes of death. Rizzoli starts out seeming equally job focused from the policing side, but through the book, much is revealed about the more personal lives of both women.

The surprising twists this book takes in bringing together the prologue material of a horror that occurred in India with the convent activities, made the story very exiting. I personally felt that the author's use of great medical details shows a lot of knowledge on her part, but seemed a bit more than necessary to me (just in this book). Having never read others in this series before, don't know of this is typical or not. Was an exciting book, but somehow after all the build up, the ending just came so quickly, it felt over in kind of an abrupt manner.

I liked this well enough to listen to more. I know they are wildly popular. I might even get curious enough to check out the tv series. Was not overly fond of the narrator.

Great Plot!

This is the first one I have read by this author but thoroughly enjoyed it. It has differences from the TV show but I actually liked the book better. Great storyline! I wasn't able to pick out bad guy ahead of time. Narrator great also.

Cannot praise her enough

I love Tess's books.
I read them all and listen to them all.
I love her flow and characters.
She is great and as an Anesthesiologist, I love her ideas and true medical information.

Great story

Reading all these reviews, I can't believe how many people complained about the pronunciation of Jane's surname. In Italian, Z's are pronounced with a 'ts' sound on many, if not most, occasions. When people incorrectly pronounce the silent 'G' in Italian words (-gn and -gli) that drives me crazy. This narrator did a good job overall, but some of the male characters could have been improved and modified to have a bit of a better sound.

Another great story from Ms Gerritsen.