Under the Knife

I thought this was a pretty good romantic suspense book! I have never gotten started on Tess Gerritsen's Rizzoli and Isles series, and I was intrigued to find one of her books that wasn't part of that series. This is a stand-alone romantic suspense that is one of her older, I suppose, pre-Rizzoli and Isles works, and after I finished the book I saw that it was copyrighted in 1990, although I found it as a new release.

When anesthesiologist Kate Chesne's nurse friend and co-worker, Ellen, dies unexpectedly on the operating table during a routine surgery and she is blamed, Kate goes directly to attorney David Ransom, who is representing Ellen's parents, to try to persuade him that there has been some type of mistake because she knows full well she did not make such a fatal error. Her argument to doctor-loathing Ransom fall on deaf ears until Kate receives a cryptic call from another nurse, Ann, who says she knows why Ellen was murdered, and upon arriving at the nurse's apartment to learn more, finds her murdered in the same way a local OB/GYN was killed, which leads David to give some credence to Kate's story. Someone has killed three people and gotten away with it, but what connection do they all share? The doctor and Ann knew each other and may even have been having an affair, but how does Ellen's death tie in? As they work together to piece together the puzzle, romantic sparks also begin to fly, but can they overcome their distrust of each other's profession enough to overcome that? They'll need to solve the mystery quickly, because their investigation has put Kate on the killer's list.

This was definitely an enjoyable mystery. Twice I thought I knew who was responsible, but the true killer was definitely a surprise, although I can see it in retrospect. Nice, solid story.

OK, so I should have read the cover more closely. It's "Romantic" suspense. It also was written 24 years ago, at the beginning of Gerritsen's writing career, for Harlequin. So it is replete with the requisite over-the-top sexual tension between the main male and female characters. What is interesting to me is that it is possible to see, even here, the development of the medical thriller genre that Gerritsen does so well. So I just skimmed through the "romantic" bits to get back to the interesting part of the story. If you are a fan of medical thrillers more than romance fiction, I suggest you do the same. Bottom line -- it's kind of interesting to see Gerritsen's beginnings, but definitely not as good as more recent works.

(This review was written in 2000, before the Rizzoli and Isles books began and really made Gerritsen's name. I'm not sure that it's still my favorite, though most of my thoughts remain the same.)

I had mixed feelings when I saw that Tess Gerritsen's UNDER THE KNIFE was going to be reissued in a standalone edition for the first time. This was my first Gerritsen book and remains my favorite after all these years. I'm glad people will have a chance to discover it. I've also seen how some readers who didn't discover this author until she started writing mainstream thrillers have responded to her early romantic suspense titles. I hope people will go into it with an open mind. This is a great book.

UNDER THE KNIFE was originally published in 1990 as Harlequin Intrigue 136. Yes, it is a romance novel. It is also the only one of Gerritsen's early books to take place in and around a hospital, though it is more of a murder mystery than a scientific thriller like her recent work. The main character is Dr. Kate Chesne, who is performing a routine operation on a friend in the Honolulu hospital where they both work. Then the patient dies and Kate is accused of malpractice. The woman's family hires a high-profile lawyer, David Ransom, who goes after doctors "like her." Kate is stunned. She knows she didn't do anything wrong and she is determined to vindicate herself. At first, David is skeptical of her claims of innocence. Then they learn that Kate's patient was only one of the staff members at the hospital to die under unusual circumstances. Someone is killing doctors and nurses to protect a long-buried secret, and Kate's search for the truth has moved her up to number one on the killer's hit list.

UNDER THE KNIFE is a book I have reread many times over the years, not only my favorite Gerritsen book but one of my favorite Harlequin Intrigues. I think the reason it works so well is because of the characters. I've read complaints about her other Harlequin rereleases that Gerritsen's romance characters are cardboard. It's funny. I've always thought the characters in her mainstreams were more one-dimensional, overwhelmed by plots that don't allow for much character insight. In this book David and Kate are real people with complex histories, families and hopes and fears. By the end of the book, I felt like I knew them well and cared what happened to them. That's why the final scene with David and Kate is so beautiful. I know some people will be uncomfortable with the high emotional level. There are some big moments, including the climax, will either strike readers as unbearably melodramatic or genuinely moving. I'm a guy and it takes a lot to get to me. This is one of the few books that I can think of that made me cry.

I'm making this book sound really drippy. It's not. The mystery is excellent. There is a healthy dose of suspense and Gerritsen knows how to keep readers guessing. Some of the moments where Kate is stalked in the hospital are chilling. The ending is pretty powerful, when we find out the killer's motivation and all the secrets some out. I also liked that this wasn't a one-note villain. The character was 3-dimensional too. I liked the Hawaiian setting, too. Then again, it should be clear by now that I just love this book.

In UNDER THE KNIFE Tess Gerritsen writes chilling suspense, an intricate mystery, and a moving romance. I can't think of many mysteries where the characters are as important as whodunit, or romances that are truly gripping and suspenseful. This is one. Every time I finish it I want to start over again from page one. To me, that's a great book. I'm not saying it's literature, but for six dollars, or the two-fifty I originally paid, it's well worth the price. It made me a big fan of this author and ten years later, I'm still reading her. My first by her, and still the best.

FROM THE BACK COVER: "For David Ransom, it begins as an open-and-shut case. Malpractice. As attorney for a grieving family, he's determined to hang a negligent doctor. Then Dr. Kate Chesne storms into his office, daring him to seek out the truth -- that she's being framed. First it was Kate's career that was in jeopardy. Then, when another body is discovered, David begins to believe her. Suddenly it's much more. Somewhere in the Honolulu hospital, a killer walks freely among patients and staff. And now David finds himself asking the same questions Kate is desperate to have answered. Who is next? And why?"
In her eight months on the job as an anesthesiologist, Dr. Kate Chesne has had an impeccable reputation. But it only takes one moment to ruin a career ... and to end a life. When a routine surgery results in the death of a patient, medical records indicate that Kate was derelict in her duties ... criminally so. Attorney David Ransom hates doctors. All doctors. It was because of a negligent doctor...[that] David has dedicated all his time, energy and skill as a malpractice attorney to seek out and punish careless and/or completely incompetent physicians. So when Dr. Kate Chesne bursts into his office one day pleading with David to drop his case against her, proclaiming her innocence while admitting that there is no other reasonable explanation for the patient's death, David ruthlessly and dispassionately sends her away. As the body count rises and as David has more and more contact with Kate, he begins to believe in her innocence and in the undeniable physical attraction he feels for her. David is forced to withdraw himself from the case against Kate due to his "conflict of interest" ... after all, is there any bigger conflict of interest than sleeping with the opposition?
The suspense is wonderful. Someone is killing off all of the personnel involved in the death of a woman and her premature child several years earlier. Who and why? Is it...the still-grieving ex psychiatric patient who was the woman's lover and the child's father? Or is it someone else? Someone with their own reasons for making sure the events of that tragic night never reach the light of day? The romance is both great and frustrating. Great in that is it very passionate. Frustrating in that David and Kate ping-pong back and forth between "I've got to have you!" and "This relationship is never going to work out." Intriguing whodunit with several viable suspects.

Tess Gerritsen never disappoints!! Great mystery that kept me on my toes trying to figure out the who the culprits are. The love hate component of the story adds a nice twist to it. This one was very hard to solve until near the end which made it a real page turner.

I was a bit disappointed in Tess Gerritsen;s work. Her past works are better. It's like she didn't try was hard. Perhaps there is less time now that she is writing for her TV show. I really like her style of writing, but somehow she fell short this time.

Sadly I started reading her later books first. Early ones (like this) just not as good. Had me enthralled but not obsessed where I couldn't wait to get back to reading as with others. I'm still gathering up every book she's ever written so don't get me wrong.. very good book but just not great.

Gerritsen typically entertaining in plot and gripping, straightforward writing style - captures reader's attention and holds it throughout - good, quick read although I'm more a fan of her Rizzoli and Isles series.

I've enjoyed most of Gerritsen's more recent reads, so thought I'd take a
look see at her earlier work. This effort is seriously flawed in many ways
(how did the Chief Detective know she was at her mother's house with David
late in the book when he called??). Out of the blue, the heroine, Kate,
deduces that there were two babies with no logic as to how she 'got there'?
Then, Ms. Gerritsen rushes to conclude her tale --like she is locked into a
'word count'!! It is a strange, disjointed mess.