Last to Die - Tess Gerritsen

For the second time in his short life, Teddy Clock has survived a massacre. Two years ago, he barely escaped when his entire family was slaughtered. Now, at fourteen, in a hideous echo of the past, Teddy is the lone survivor of his foster family’s mass murder. Orphaned once more, the traumatized teenager has nowhere to turn—until the Boston PD puts detective Jane Rizzoli on the case. Determined to protect this young man, Jane discovers that what seemed like a coincidence is instead just one horrifying part of a relentless killer’s merciless mission. Jane spirits Teddy to the exclusive Evensong boarding school, a sanctuary where young victims of violent crime learn the secrets and skills of survival in a dangerous world. But even behind locked gates, and surrounded by acres of sheltering Maine wilderness, Jane fears that Evensong’s mysterious benefactors aren’t the only ones watching. When strange blood-splattered dolls are found dangling from a tree, Jane knows that her instincts are dead on. And when she meets Will Yablonski and Claire Ward, students whose tragic pasts bear a shocking resemblance to Teddy’s, it becomes chillingly clear that a circling predator has more than one victim in mind. Joining forces with her trusted partner, medical examiner Maura Isles, Jane is determined to keep these orphans safe from harm. But an unspeakable secret dooms the children’s fate—unless Jane and Maura can finally put an end to an obsessed killer’s twisted quest.

After gobbling up the other books in the series could I really resist picking up Last to Die? No I couldn't although I am now feeling a bit sad that there's no more books waiting for me...

I really enjoyed that in Last to Die Dr Maura Isles is once again the main character. Not that detective jane Rizzoli doesn't have a strong presence here, because she does, but the main focus is on Dr Isles. They are such different characters, each great in theior own way, that I do love to speend more time with one or the other depending on which book I'm reading.

Maura decides to go and visit her young friend Julian at the Evensong Boarding School. There we meet again the members of the Mephisto Society, some of which have played a significant role in previous books. And there Dr Isles realises first that Evensong is a very special school, and second that two of children attending the school have a very similar story to a teen she just met at the scene of an horrific murder.

Both Jane and Maura realise that there must be a connection between the 3 children and when strange things start to happen at the school it seems obvious that danger has followed them to Evensong.

I did like that motherhood has brought a new softness to Jane Rizzoli and to the way she looks at crime scenes and victims. In fact I think both Jane and Maura are showing signs of motherhood, one because she is a mother and the other because she feels that way towards Julian. While one might think that would make them weaker I think that Gerritsen managed to show them stronger because of that, especially in wat concerns Jane.

She does manage to suprise us, yet again, about what really was at stake although I wasn't as convinced by that ending as I would have liked. There was something a bit off in how Gerritsen solved the case. Despite that I really liked reading this, I really liked the new characters and I very much enjoyed revisiting the ones I already knew... 

Grade: 4/5

So does anyone know if Gerritsen is already working on her next Rizzoli / Isles book? Miss Fantasma you will notice I did my best not to spoil anything ;-)