Vanish

A Rizzoli & Isles Novel

By: Tess Gerritsen

Narrated by: Susan Denaker

Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles— the inspiration for the hit TNT series —continue their bestselling crime-solving streak.

A blessed event becomes a nightmare for pregnant homicide detective Jane Rizzoli when she finds herself on the wrong side of a hostage crisis in this timely and relentless thriller.

A nameless, beautiful woman appears to be just another corpse in the morgue. An apparent suicide, she lies on a gurney, awaiting the dissecting scalpel of medical examiner Maura Isles. But when Maura unzips the body bag and looks down at the body, she gets the fright of her life. The corpse opens its eyes.

Very much alive, the woman is rushed to the hospital, where with shockingly cool precision, she murders a security guard and seizes hostages...one of them a pregnant patient, Jane Rizzoli.

Who is this violent, desperate soul, and what does she want? As the tense hours tick by, Maura joins forces with Jane's husband, FBI agent Gabriel Dean, to track down the mysterious killer's identity. When federal agents suddenly appear on the scene, Maura and Gabriel realize that they are dealing with a case that goes far deeper than just an ordinary hostage crisis.

Only Jane, trapped with the armed madwoman, holds the key to the mystery. And only she can solve it, if she survives the night.

©2005 Tess Gerritsen (P)2005 Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Never fails to deliver chilling suspense...leaves the reader breathless." (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
"Drawing on current events, Gerritsen's latest novel is a tense, taut thriller that grabs readers from the get-go and never lets up." (Booklist)
"It's scary how good Tess Gerritsen is; this is crime writing at its unputdownable, nerve-tingling best." (Harlan Coben)

Same caliber as Baldacci

This was an excellent book and very well written. I thought the narration was top-notch and the accents believable. I would put Gerritson right up there with Baldacci. I actually enjoyed this book more than Baldacci's latest work, which also focused on abused government defense contractors. Gerritson does a fabulous job of weaving in the plot through so many different angles. You're never really sure who is good or bad until the end. Loved it and can't wait for her next one!

Good book, bad accent

The book was great. The reader was ok - once I got past the accents and the attempts to do characters, I enjoyed the book. Great twisting plot!

Another great story from Tess Gerritsen!

I enjoyed Vanish from beginning to end. I know some had problems with the reader’s accents but I thought she did a fine job with all of the different voices. I lived in the Boston area for part of my life and maybe her Boston accent wasn’t perfect but it didn’t detract from the different characters. Overall, a great listen!!

Wow

Intense and emotional; a very good book. And the narrator on this one did a wonderful job.

Tough to listen to

I love Tess Gerritsen all the way through to Mephisto Club. But this one was tough to listen to-just could not get into the dialogue the characters. The story of Anna etc was very sad, but for some reason, I wish she was the center of the story, and in this one I didn't feel the focus was on the most powerful story line.

Intrique, Intrique

I loved this book, as I do most of Tess's books. It kept me glued to the Ipod again. I love the characters, especially Maura, and Jane. I recommend this book and Tess's books to anyone who loves mysteries.

Harsh but interesting

Excellent novel in the genre of Tess Gerritsen's heroines. This one focuses on a Rizzoli discovering motherhood in the most harrowing of circumstances.
Warning: some very harsh and sexually graphic content (none of it gratuitous, IMHO). The subject warrants the sex because it has to do with white slave trading in the US.
Overall excellent read and very good narration.

1st Tess Gerritsen novel - will come back for more

Just got an audible.com membership for Christmas, and this was my first downloaded book. I really loved this book - once I finished it, I looked for more by TG. I really enjoyed the narrator - she really gave Jane's "voice" an authentic feel. I would recommend this author and this book to anyone who is interested in this genre.

Head-Hopping Annoying...

When a Russian teenager and her friend are given a free passage to America, little do they realize they will be forced into the seedy underworld of forced prostitution. Can medical examiner Maura Isles and her Boston PD friends help before its too late?

I listened to the unabridged audio edition of "Vanish", and while I liked it, I found the book irritated me on some levels. The constant head-hopping between the three major protagonists was irksome. I much prefer books with one perspective. But three? Annoying. This is especially jarring in audio.

Second, I found the story somewhat clich?: "hardened female medical examiner casually searching for clues as she dissects bodies and dishes out justice" has been done to death in major contemporary fiction. Frankly I'm a bit bored by the inevitable dissection and chest-cavity-probing scenes.

Finally, the characters- For a story which centers upon tough female characters there is a whole lot of female characters in constant jeopardy. This became tedious after a while. It would be nice to see a male character in need of rescue once in a while. I also grew really really bored with the discussions of childbirth and breastfeeding... And the scenes where the male FBI agent is telling his Police investigator wife that he 'just wants her to stay home and be safe...' Had my eyeballs rolling in my head. The ensuing fight scene made me wince. Perhaps if I'd gotten to know these characters I might CARE why they are having a fight. As it was, I just found the husband condescending and irritating and the wife self-pity annoying and prayed the couple would get back to investigating very soon.

This is my first Gerritsen book, so I take it there are a whole series of novels which introduces these characters and explains their convoluted relationships. I wish sequels would say so on the cover so I know what I'm getting into before downloading it! Hmmm... I found this novel good, but nothing to shout about 3 stars.

Moving

I found this even more emotionally gripping than the first R&I story I encountered. The narration was excellent.