Shelley Civkin Richmond Public Library

Body Double has double the suspense–Nail-biting thriller is like Kathy Reichs meets Hannibal Lecter

Caution: Do NOT read this book before going to bed or if you are alone in the house on a dark, quiet night.

The book I'm referring to is Body Double by Tess Gerritsen, the incomparable mistress of the medical thriller. We're talking nail biting, edge-of-your-seat suspense. We're talking Kathy Reichs meets Hannibal Lecter.

This is no ordinary suspense novel. This thriller had me jumping off the couch at the mere sound of my door opening last night. (It was only my nephew, and it was only 9 p.m.).

Gerritsen builds suspense the way ferry traffic builds on a long weekend. The story revolves around the murder of a woman who is Dr. Maura Isles' virtual body double. For Isles, who thought she was an only child, this can be a pretty creepy experience.

Dr. Isles is a Boston-based pathologist who deals daily with the minutiae of the dead. The discovery that her doppelganger has been shot point-blank and at close range by some deranged killer is scary enough. But when it leads to a trail of serial murders and a truckload of horrifying family secrets for Dr. Isles, the story takes off like a racehorse.

Gerritsen is an accomplished storyteller and wields her suspects like a surgeon wields a scalpel. (And what a coincidence, Gerritsen is a doctor in real life!) The book contains lots of red herrings to throw the reader off the track and boy is she good at this.

Even though the cast of characters is long, and my powers of concentration are not what they used to be, I was still glued to the book long after my usual bedtime.

There was no way in the world I was going to sleep until I found out who the killer was.

Between finding out that her birth mother is a convicted killer waiting out her days in prison, and discovering claw marks on her car, Dr. Isles is more than a little freaked out. For sure, this is no open and shut murder case. It's a mega murder case and it's a little too close to home to let Dr. Isles sleep well at night.

The plot (or simultaneous plots I should say) is woven together neatly and masterfully. While Dr. Isles is on a search for her own familial roots within this stew of evildoers, she encounters more and more questions. Those questions, in turn, are answered within the context of the main murder plot.

I know that this review doesn't do the book justice. My mind reels when I contemplate what it took for Gerritsen to think this all up, and do it so brilliantly. It's truly one of the best thrillers I've read in a long while.

So, all I can say is get thee to the library, and for goodness sake, start reading!

Shelley J. Civkin is the Communications Officer at the Richmond Public Library. For other popular reading suggestions, check out Richmond Public Library's Web site at www.yourlibrary.ca/goodbooks.