Body Double: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel

Written by Tess Gerritsen

Narrated by Kathe Mazur

Boston medical examiner Dr. Maura Isles literally meets her match–and must face a savage serial killer and shattering personal revelations–in the brilliant new novel of suspense by the New York Times bestselling author of The Surgeon and The Sinner.
Dr. Maura Isles makes her living dealing with death. As a pathologist in a major metropolitan city, she has seen more than 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 doppelgänger 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, an unknown murderer 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 . . . an icy and cunning woman who could be responsible for giving Maura life–and who just may have a plan to take it away.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Release date: Apr 29, 2004
• ISBN: 9781415916117

Tess Gerritsen

Internationally bestselling author Tess Gerritsen is a graduate of Stanford University and went on to medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, where she was awarded her M.D. Since 1987, her books have been translated into 37 languages, and more than 25 million copies have been sold around the world. She has received the Nero Wolfe Award and the Rita Award, and she was a finalist for the Edgar award. Now retired from medicine, she writes full time. She lives in Maine.

[thebacklistbook · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Rizzoli must be exhausted. Chasing after bad guys and prepping for a baby. Plus long distance husband. Maura's plot in this one hits out of left field.

[nyiper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Terrific series....definitely helps to read them in order!!

[anniesdreaming · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really liked this one, it had a wonderful flow and movement and the perfect amount of suspense =)

[ennuiprayer · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When I first picked up The Surgeon - mostly because Amazon recommended that I should read it - I didn't know if I could make it through. The romantic aspect of the story nearly killed it for me - echoing Harlequin romance. With The Apprentice, my gut told me that I was reading the chick lit version a mystery - but I ignored the romance and stuck to the plot (which made it enjoyable). The Sinner nearly killed me because of the triangle that was introduced and Rizzoli's defiance against falling in love with Agent Dean. With Body Double, being the fourth book in the series, I've come to accept the romantic aspect.

Tess Gerritsen's writing is marvelous. She has the power to suck you into the story and not let go. While it took me longer to read than I expected - mostly due to other reasons - the book was hard to put down the moment I picked it up (and if i wanted to do any writing, I had to force myself to put it down).

Maura Isles returns from France to find a crime scene near her neighborhood. Her neighbors are shocked to see here. Her friends stare at her as if she's a ghost. Even her friend Father Brophy seems taken aback by the sight of her. Someone was shot and killed in front of her house. She doesn't know why people are acting so surprised to see her standing before them. That is until, the victim is revealed to her. Slumped in a car, a bullet hole against her head, sits Anna Jessop. While Maura has never met Anna before, her face is nevertheless familiar. It's the face she wakes up to every morning - Anna Jessop could be her twin sister.

When DNA confirms it, Maura sets out to learn more about her twin sister, leading her to a family with dark secrets. Secrets that would very much leave her dead.

Unlike the other novels - with the exception of The Surgeon - this one seemed to focus more on Maura Isles than it did on Jane Rizzoli, even though the latter is supposed to be the main character. It's understanding, considering the content of the book - why would something clearly about Isles focus solely on Rizzoli's findings?

The story is gritty and dark. It leads you to believe several things at once, and keeps you guessing. Even though revealing evidence is presented, it doesn't turn out quite the way you expect it. From being misled on who killed Anna Jessop to the pivotal ending, the book is a page turner. Even the most astute probably didn't see the ending coming. I know I suspected the wrong people, and I'm usually good at these sort of things.

Once again, the forbidden desire for Father Brophy (who was introduced in The Sinner) keeps Maura at bay relationship wise. She knows nothing can come of it, even though there are signs that his affection for her is almost mutual. New character, Detective Ballard, on the other hand, gives her hope that she can find love again. Nearly absent character, Gabriel Dean (first introduced in The Apprentice) doesn't play a role in the story at all. He's mentioned to be out on a mission, leaving a pregnant Rizzoli behind.

Gerritsen's voice is resonating. No one before her has captured my attention like this. As I read on, her voice grows more established. She's gone from guilty pleasure to the top of my list. Can't decide if I want to continue on with Vanish or give Moxyland a go before continuing on with Rizzoli & Isles.

[payday1999-430350 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I just love the Rizzoli and Isles books and I read this as fast as I could. It's a fantastic and well written medical thriller.

I would recommend that everybody should check out the other books in the series because these books are awesome.

[ameise1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It was an exciting hearing. After a congress in Paris, Maura Isles returns home to find that a dead woman has been found in front of her home who is like her. Who was this dead woman? She knows that she was adopted, but had no idea that she had a twin sister. During the investigation of the case, Isles and Rizzoli come across a serial killer who is still active for several years and is targeting heavily pregnant women. Isles also gets to know her birth mother, with whom she does not want to make any further connections.
The plot is very captivating and scary at the same time.

[lyndainoregon · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Tightly-plotted about a hunt for a serial killer that is kicked off when the main character, Dr. Maura Isles, arrives at a murder scene to discover that the victim looks exactly like her.

One question leads to another as the investigation unrolls, and the careful reader will probably see most of the big reveals coming, but it's a satisfying trip.

This is part of Gerritsen's "Rizzoli & Isles" series, but stands well alone.

[brakketh-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A solid thriller with some decent twists and turns.

[skinglist · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Maura comes home from Boston to find out that her friends and colleagues think she's been murdered in a car outside her house. The story widens to include a woman who may be her birth mother, a Brookline cop who was involved with her sister and the secrets of a small town in Maine.
The sub plot of Mattie Purvis was an interesting one until it tied into the main plotline, which Gerritsen did well. A well crafted story with multi-dimensional characters.

[wassilissa · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Maura Isles kehrt aus Paris zurück und findet vor ihrer Haustür ein Polizeiaufgebot vor: Eine Frau (Anna Leoni) wurde erschossen. Der nun folgende Fall führt Maura tief in ihre eigene Familiengeschichte. Dabei ist ein wesentlicher Gedanke der, was nun mehr zählt: Die Gene oder die Sozialisation? Der Krimi beantwortet diese Frage eher mit "Umwelt", aber auch nicht ganz eindeutig. Die beiden Schwestern um die es geht, sind getrennt aufgewachsen und haben sich nie kennengelernt, dennoch sind sie sich erstaunlich ähnlich - die Eltern hingegegen sind beiden völlig fremd. Grundsätzlich ist das auch richtig: Anlage oder Umwelt- man kann die Einflüsse nicht prozentual festlegen, denn Gene brauchen Umwelteinflüsse um sich zu entwickeln.
Der Krimi ist streckenweise sehr spannend. Vor allem die Parallelhandlung um eine entführte Schwangere ist an manchen Stellen echt nervenzerfetzend. Auch die Frage, wer denn nun Anna Leoni wirklich ermordet hat, ist am Ende nochmal interessant.
Das Buch ist aber insgesamt dermaßen übertrieben und unglaubwürdig, dass es einem (von der Autorin unbeabsichtigt) so geht, wie bei einem Tarantino-Film: Man weiß einfach, dass all das Blut einfach surreal ist.
Ich habe das Buch gehört, ohne auf die Reihenfolge der Serie zu achten. Man kommt problemlos mit, das spielt überhaupt keine Rolle.

[drhapgood · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow. Wow. No, really, wow! The Sinner was light years better than The Apprentice, and Body Double was light years better than The Sinner. Tess, while I still have much love for Kathy Reichs (with the exception of Virals), you're now my go-to for quality murder mystery!!!

[kaysbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Bücherrezension: Tess Gerristen: Body Double
It is always very interesting to re-read a book every once in a while, especially when the context has changed. Some years ago I got a copy of the German version of this detective, considered it to be readable, gave it 3 stars but never thought about the idea that this may have been a part of a whole series. But Tess Gerritsen kept being on my mind. Well, now it was time to reconnect with her detectives as part of the Rizzoli & Isles series.
Knowing the characters and their personal histories adds an extra value to these books because now it's not only a pregnant detective who misses her husband and a shocked pathologist who finds back her sister, although it's too late to get to know her. I guess this is part of the R&I dynamic that these stories are more than just a suspense story like the ordinary Whodunits. Having read the first three instalments is part of the experience and adds an extra star to the general judgement.
When pathologist Maura Isles returns from the beautiful city Paris to Boston, she is shocked to find police in front of her house, but apparently everybody else is even more in shock because the murder victim looks exactly like Isles. So everybody thought it was her. But DNA proves that the victim was a sister Maura didn't know of. During the search for the killer Isles and Rizzoli discover even more horrid details about the past of the adopted sisters leading to the question whether evil is part of your genes or not.
The most important question of this book is not, who shot Maura Isles' sister but what kinds of love to we have and feel. How destructive or constructive can love be? There is the love of Jane Rizzoli for her unborn child, the love of relatives towards one another, but also the love of a policeman for the victim, the love of a wife for her husband, and the love of a mother for her child and vice versa.
When you are willing to entertain those questions and don't mind to forget about the murder plot (which is difficult as there is a lot of vicious dying in this book), you will definitely enjoy the read.

[daniexj · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This novel is a mish mash of stories. The fourth book in the Rizzoli and Isles series. Rizzoli's still pregnant, though at least in this book it's just a fact and not one of the big subplots. That's also okay because there's a boatload of other pregnant ladies in the book. Yikes.

As usual it starts with a murder. What is unusual about this murder is that the victim looks exactly like Maura. Generally I'm not a great fan of the mysteries where one of the ones who usually solves the mystery becomes an integral part of the mystery, but Gerritsen didn't do a bad job with that aspect of the mystery in this book. And, it's always great to see a character who doesn't get to do the autopsy of the woman who looks like her. Since in real life there's no way in hell she'd get to do it.

The book is more of a thriller than a mystery, at least in regards to the main story. Still, there are smaller mysteries layered in underneath so it's not all thriller. A solid, but not super stupendous book. Solid three stars.

Oh, and I was so excited when Gerritsen mentioned the guy with the front yard full of bed frames on the way up the coast of Maine. It's sad that they're not longer there.

[toobusyreading · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The murders are so awful that they don't bear thinking about too closely, and the beginning was horrible in terms of victims' suffering. But still, I like to read the occasional mystery and am willing to not dwell on specifics too much. So, overlooking that, I plodded on.

And I did enjoy this book despite some flaws. In chapter two, something became quite obvious to the casual reader but was not verified until page 95 (in my mass market paperback copy). You'd think the protagonist, a smart and logical doctor, would have caught on earlier than that, wouldn't you? There were some other flaws as well, and some bits of forensic and pathological science that I found interesting. There was a surprise at the end, one I didn't anticipate, so that is always a plus.

Overall, this murder mystery held my interesting and was good for summer, don't-have-to-think-too-hard entertainment.

[urmika.manjrekar · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

terrifying creepy book unputdownable till the end !!

[barb_h_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Audiobook. I loved this book starring Rizzoli and Isles. It was very good. I enjoyed the narration of the book as well. I look forward to continuing this series.

[balthazar0lawson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this book, more than any of the others. It was a nice uncomplicated good read.

[creighley_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dr. Isles has returned from a European seminar to find a woman who could be her exact double dead in front of her house. Who this woman is and how she came to be there is a mystery Rizzoli, seven months pregnant, must resolve as Dr. Isles searches for her true family.

[delphimo_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I thoroughly enjoy the momentum of Gerritsen's writing. Dr Maura Isles returns from Paris to find a dead woman in a car outside her house. The event is not surreal, but the woman seems to be a mirror image of Dr Isles. What follows this amazing coincidence is Maura's discovery of a twin sister, and a path to their biological mother. Gerritsen presents two stories running in tandem, with little connecting the narratives. A heavily pregnant Jane Rizzoli attempts to protect Maura from the villains and the awful truth. Maura 's mind wanders to thought of love, but with unattainable men. The story ends with that infamous discussion of nature versus nurture.

[sheilacornelisse · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A real pager-turner. Dr. Maura Isles gets caught up in an intense murder mystery involving the death of her identical twin sister who she had no idea existed. The plot twists and turns through a number of story lines. The death of the sister, a serial killer preying on pregnant women, and a complicated romance. However, all the parts have a purpose and blend perfectly.
Great writing style and a plot worthy of a CSI episode.
Highly recommended for murder mystery fans.

[cloggiedownunder · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Body Double is the 4th in Tess Gerritsen’s Rizzoli/Isles series. The story starts with Maura Isles arriving home from a conference in Paris, to find the police at her home, called to a shooting. The victim looks uncannily like Maura, so much so that Rizzoli, Frost and co thought it was her. Whilst Maura was an only child, she was adopted, and DNA tests prove that this woman was her twin sister. Maura endures the singular experience of seeing her own body autopsied. As Rizzoli and Frost investigate, Maura learns some horrifying truths about her past. Once again, Gerritsen gives us a fast-paced story with an excellent plot and quite a few twists. And a gutsy victim who decides not to be. Gerristen also provides a bit of humour, some of it quite black: the eight-month pregnant Rizzoli “guarding” Isles; Rizzoli giving Isles relationship advice; and Maura, who has never exposed more than her hands and face at work, present as her morgue colleagues, Rizzoli and Frost see a body identical to hers under the knife. Gerritsen also gives us food for thought about “private” adoptions and where those babies come from. Another excellent read.

[dancingbeagles · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Are Tess Gerritsen and Patricia Cornwall the same person? Seriously, without a cover I wouldn't know which author wrote this. I have enjoyed several books by both authors so I guess it doesn't really matter. This gives me another author to explore.

[ladybug74 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I don't usually enjoy this type of mystery, but won an ARC of a book from this series and have read a couple of others from the series since then. They are pretty good books and I will probably read more of them.

[mmyoung_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I have conflicting feelings about this book. On the one hand it certainly is a page turner. On the other hand it continues Gerritsen pattern of depending on 'women in danger' to ensure empathy and interest. On the gripping hand it is neither fish nor fowl: it is neither a procedural nor a thriller. The routine and painstaking work of solving a crime is barely hinted at and, with one exception, the only characters with whom the reader engages are Rizzoli and Isles--the two characters least likely to have anything 'happen' to them. The fact that a secondary character is convincingly and compelling drawn suggests that Gerristen's writing may be constricted by the genre conventions of writing around continuing characters.

[cooperca05 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love Rizzoli and Isles, but this by far is my favorite so far. When 'Isles' is found dead, nobody is more shocked than Isles. But the fact that Isles double has been killed outside her house is just the beginning to finding out Isles family background and the skeletons she never knew her family closet contained. But how is the killing of Isles double linked to a serial killer spree.

[jnavia_24 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Rolled my eyes several times at cliches, coincidences and things that didn't make any sense to me or seemed ridiculously improbable. Still, I kept listening to the end.

[silenceiseverything · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm a fan of the previous 3 novels in the Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles series. While I didn't read them one after the other, they were read within a short time span of each other. Yet, when I read the premise of Body Double, I put it off. It seemed too much like a soap-opera plot to me and the last thing I want is to have the thrillers that I enjoy turn into the rolling-eyes fest that soaps induce in me. So, I was pleasantly surprised when this turned out nothing like a soap-opera (or at least none I've ever seen).

The premise that turned me off this book was this: There's a body found outside of Dr. Maura Isles house when she's out of town. The body looks so much like Maura that Detective Rizzoli assumes it's her. Then we find out that the body is her twin sister which she never knew existed. Soap-opera, right? Wrong. This actually turned out rather twisted. Not going to spoil it for anyone and say exactly why it was twisted, but it was.

Body Double was a page-turning thriller. The likes which I've come to expect from Tess Gerritsen. This book also had me extremely paranoid. So much that when I was reading this book like at two in the morning (when it seems that I do all my reading), I had to stop reading it because I was getting too freaked out. That's exactly what thrillers should achieve.

Body Double isn't the best thriller written and sometimes it did have me rolling my eyes at the main characters behaviors thinking "Don't you two EVER learn?", but still, it was an extremely quick and enjoyable read. I can't wait to pick up the next installment in the series, but it won't be my next read. More than that, I absolutely cannot wait for the Rizzoli & Isles show that's going to premiere on TNT with Angie Harmon playing Rizzoli and Sasha Alexander (NCIS, anyone?) playing Isles.

[devenish_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Maura Isles,a pathologist in Boston,returns home from a conference in Paris to face the horror of a body which looks identical in every respects to her own. She later discovers that not only in looks but in blood type and even in birth date is this dead woman identical.
From this we are led into a dark spiral of madness and murder familiar to readers of this author.
Tess Gerritsen,in her Rizzoli and Isles series is a reliable writer of crime fiction who produces an excellent level of work and 'Body Double' is no exception.

[tinarigdon77 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I remember waiting forever for this book to be releases. It was worth the wait!!

[darrol_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I liked this book, although I do wonder about the likelihood of the premise.