Body Double - Tess Gerritsen

Dr. Maura Isles makes her living dealing with death. As a pathologist in a major metropolitan city, she has seen more then her share of corpses every day – many of them victims of violent murder. But never before has her blood run cold, and never has the grim expression “dead ringer” rung so terrifyingly true. Because never before has the lifeless body on the medical examiner’s table been her own.

Yet there can be no denying the mind–reeling evidence before her shocked eyes and those of her colleagues, including Detective Jane Rizzoli: the woman found shot to death outside Maura’s home is the mirror image of Maura, down to the most intimate physical nuances. Even more chilling is the discovery that they share the same birth date and blood type. For the stunned Maura, an only child, there can be just one explanation. And when a DNA test confirms that Maura’s mysterious doppelganger is in fact her twin sister, an already bizarre murder investigation becomes a disturbing and dangerous excursion into a past full of dark secrets.

Searching for answers, Maura is drawn to a seaside town in Maine where other horrifying surprises await. But perhaps more frightening, and unknown murder is at large on a cross country killing spree. To stop the massacre and uncover the twisted truth about her own roots, Maura must probe her first living subject; the mother that she never knew… and icy and cunning woman who could be responsible for giving Maura life – and who just may have a plan to take it away.

I was thinking of pacing myself and save Gerritsen's books for a rainy day but the truth is that I can't resist them and one of these days I grabbed Body Double.

One of the things that I am greatly enjoying with Gerritsen is how she writes an opening scene that, apparently, has nothing to do with what happens next. In the previous book I kept thinking of that opening scene and wondering what it was all about. This time I already knew she was going to surprise me with a connection.

The focus in this book continues to be on Dr Maura Isles, I'm not going to complain about that because The Sinner, the book where she is introduced, is my favourite book in the series so far. As the blurb above mentions Maura is forced to look at her roots when a twin sister she never knew existed is found dead on her doorstep.

Rizzoli and the police force try to uncover the murderer while Isles has to search for her roots and the memory of her twin found too late. At the same time a serial killer is targeting pregnant women and has found a new victim.

I really enjoyed revisiting Rizzoli and Isles. Rizzoli is now 8 months pregnant, while she seems as active as ever and her brain is still in good working order the pregnancy is taking its toll on her body. It was funny to see the results of the pregnancy conditioning some of her actions, she was one tough cookie and it's nice to see another side of her even if it's just glimpses. Isles has to deal with what is discovered about her biological family and with her attraction to Father Brophy. I wish they would actually talk to each other...

I do want to know more about Rizzoli and Dean and I definitely want to know how Rizzoli is going to handle motherhood.

In the end I loved seeing how Gerritsen juggled all the different plotlines and made them all make sense in the end. While the story didn't touch me as vividly as The Sinner this was another rollercoaster ride and I can't wait to pick up the next one!

Grade: 4/5