Think out Loud #13

Think Out Loud.

This is a weekly meme used for bloggers

to post something they would normally not post.

So, post whatever YOU want!

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This weeks Think out Loud by ClarA RowlKin

This is my first attempt at this, so be gentle ;)

I went on my first trip out of the country! I’d love to tell you a little about it. I went to Curaçao with my parents and boyfriend and his cousin in the first week of October. We had to check in at 3 am, so I was pretty sleepy. I didn’t really explore the airport either.

Finally at 5 something a.m we boarded the plane. It took a while before we took off, but it felt so strange. I was upset I didn’t get to experience this with my boyfriend next to me since it was our first time in an airplane. I slept for most of the plane ride. We stopped in Trinidad for 45 minutes, after which we directly flew to Curaçao.

We were picked up by the lady at whose apartment building we were staying at. She was very nice and told us a little about the island on the drive. The apartment was smaller than I expected, but it had a pool and a beautiful patio, so I didn’t really mind. Later I realized that the house we were staying had a nameplate in the front that said: “Fam. Gerritsen”. How awesome is that!

I felt very itchy that day, so I showered. After which I sat on the bed and looked at myself. I saw red spots everywhere! I showed my boyfriend and my mother. She thought and we hoped it was a rash caused by the jacket I was wearing, but it was chikungunya. So I was sick and in pain the first 4 days of my vacation, which sucked.

But I got to swim in the sea and go to most of the beaches. I also loved swimming in the pool at the apartment. I got to drink a lot of ice tea and had Starbucks coffee and bubble tea for the first time. Despite my sickness I enjoyed my vacation. I did look for bookstores, but I didn't find one in the city. Another reason to visit the island again. I really wanted to buy a book to read in the plane, but since I didn't find a bookstore I just bought a magazine and puzzle book.

We stayed for 7 days, but I didn't feel like leaving yet. It was so amazing. At the airport, to kill time, we browsed in the shops. They sold books, but they were so expensive. My boyfriend called me to come to the book rack he was standing by. From afar I saw The Fault in Our Stars, so I quickly walked over. I picked up the book and it was A HARD COVER COPY!! But my boyfriend told me to close my eyes. I did and he put a book in my hand. That book was……….  THE CASUAL VACANCY by the one and only J.K. Rowling. And of course I bought it!

I literally almost cried. It was a bittersweet day.. sigh.. If my little blogger bestie has the time, she’ll write a review. After I’ve read it of course.

The Silent Girl by Tess Gerritsen

Every crime scene tells a story. Some keep you awake at night. Others haunt your dreams. The grisly display homicide cop Jane Rizzoli finds in Boston’s Chinatown will do both.

In the murky shadows of an alley lies a female’s severed hand. On the tenement rooftop above is the corpse belonging to that hand, a red-haired woman dressed all in black, her head nearly severed. Two strands of silver hair—not human—cling to her body. They are Rizzoli’s only clues, but they’re enough for her and medical examiner Maura Isles to make the startling discovery: that this violent death had a chilling prequel.Nineteen years earlier, a horrifying murder-suicide in a Chinatown restaurant left five people dead. But one woman connected to that massacre is still alive: a mysterious martial arts master who knows a secret she dares not tell, a secret that lives and breathes in the shadows of Chinatown. A secret that may not even be human. Now she’s the target of someone, or something, deeply and relentlessly evil.Cracking a crime resonating with bone-chilling echoes of an ancient Chinese legend, Rizzoli and Isles must outwit an unseen enemy with centuries of cunning—and a swift, avenging blade.GOODREADS

Publisher: Ballantine Books
Series: Rizzoli & Isles #9

In comparison to the last Rizzoli and Isles novel, Ice Cold, this one wasn't as chilling or frightening. However in it's own right it's as mysterious and interesting and surprising as any of the books in this series.

It starts with Maura on the witness stand against a cop. This raises an interesting topic about  cop killings. The cop on the stand is on trial because he beat up and killed a cop killer. So here we have Maura testifying against the cop (explaining her findings in the autopsy) this doesn't sit well with the Boston PD , who have never really liked her. They now see her as a traitor and treat her coldly. This is interesting because it reflects on Jane and Maura's differences. I won't try and explain Jane because she's just too much work , Maura on the other hand is all about the facts. She even says in the book that she's there to speak for the dead. This is also why the book is called The Silent Girl:
-  There was an incident where a man( the cook) allegedly  went postal and killed several people in  the restaurant he was working in then killed himself. This incident happened in Chinatown and is called the Red Phoenix case. Maura follows up on some leads and finds some new evidence that shows that there was another person in the kitchen. A little girl, the cook's daughter, who heard everything and knew what really happened, The Silent Girl.

Another reason  I enjoyed this book was getting to reacquaint myself with my favorite characters again. Gabriel (Rizzoli's husband) shows up after Jane gets shot and he's worried about her and wants her off the case. Although this is a thriller there's always an underlying romantic feel to these books (my opinion) which I like.

Rat , the boy who had saved Maura in Ice Cold, also returns in this book . He's visiting Maura from school. He points out the inconsistencies in the Red Phoenix case which lead to finding the Silent Girl.

Then there's Barry Frost, Rizzoli's partner. He's wife has recently left him and he's like a lost puppy.He's a good guy, charming and gentlemen like. He has a charming way with old ladies aswell (especially in this book). This character will charm you as a reader aswell. Although I did find it annoying because .I kept thinking Bary was Mrs Fang's reincarnated husband.(or maybe I was wishing it).

I loved how the story of the Monkey King was incorporated into this book and used as an instrument for justice. It was also surprising to find out who the actual Monkey King was, it was not a person but 3 people in turns. Mrs fang , Bella. and they aren't the ones that caught me of guard. Johnny Tam is the third person. In the beginning it's said that Wu Weimin (the cook) had a son by another woman. I completely forgot this and was so surprised that agent Tam was in on it. Tam is also a detective and had joined Jane's team from the beginning and new what was happening every step. Tam's character is new and will be joining Jane's team . Tam is dark and mysterious and has awesome eyes (although this is a book and I have never seen his eyes).

 I kept picturing Tam as agent Cho from The Mentalist for some reason( no, it's probably because of that episode where he went undercover as a casanova).












With that being said I'm really looking forward to reading more about Tam in future books.

Grade:

Rizzoli & Isles series (6-10) by Tess Gerritsen

Flash Review/ Reading Suggestions 

This is part 2 of the Rizzoli & Isles recommendation post . There are currently 10 books in the series so I split it into to two posts each 5 books. I had read till the Mephisto club until I realized Gerritsen had written more books. So then I went and read The Keepsake and Ice Cold. I still have to read the 2 last one. But I'm sure they are as good as the others,because having read The Keepsake and Ice Cold ,I can say this series just keeps getting better. 

Christmas in Boston brings horror rather than good cheer when a woman's body is found dismembered in a crime scene that leaves even hardened cops queasy. Doctor Maura Isles is assigned to the case, but soon another brutal murder takes place: a woman has been mutilated and murdered on Beacon Hill, near the home of the director of the Mephisto Club. This is a clandestine society whose subject is the study of evil -- and its agenda is to confront it in its most unadulterated forms. As Detective Jane Rizzoli becomes involved, it's quickly apparent that both women (no strangers to the bloodiest extremes of human cruelty) are up against something which is close to a distillation of the pures

First of all it's called the Mephisto club, because there is an actual club " a society whose subject is to study evil" They believe evil is in DNA and the director although he helps catch the bad guy in this book. He also wants Maura to join the club and he kind of falls for her. This character also shows up in other books, Like Ice Cold. This is another of my favorites in the series, it's suspenseful. One of the POV's follows a girl running from the killer and what she has to do to survive. As for the evil in our DNA theory that adds for a psychological play in the book,because Maura's mother is a killer, does that make her as bad?

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For untold years, the perfectly preserved mummy had lain forgotten in the dusty basement of Boston’s Crispin Museum. Now its sudden rediscovery by museum staff is both a major coup and an attention-grabbing mystery. Dubbed “Madam X,” the mummy–to all appearances, an ancient Egyptian artifact– seems a ghoulish godsend for the financially struggling institution. But medical examiner Maura Isles soon discovers a macabre message hidden within the corpse–horrifying proof that this “centuries-old” relic is instead a modern-day murder victim.

To Maura and Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli, the forensic evidence is unmistakable, its implications terrifying. And when the grisly remains of yet another woman are found in the hidden recesses of the museum, it becomes chillingly clear that a maniac is at large–and is now taunting them.
Archaeologist Josephine Pulcillo’s blood runs cold when the killer’s cryptic missives are discovered, and her darkest dread becomes real when the carefully preserved corpse of yet a third victim is left in her car like a gruesome offering–or perhaps a ghastly promise of what’s to come.

The twisted killer’s familiarity with post-mortem rituals suggests to Maura and Jane that he may have scientific expertise in common with Josephine. Only Josephine knows that her stalker shares a knowledge even more personally terrifying: details of a dark secret she had thought forever buried.

Now Maura must summon her own dusty knowledge of ancient death traditions to unravel his twisted endgame. And when Josephine vanishes, Maura and Jane have precious little time to derail the Archaeology Killer before he adds another chilling piece to his monstrous collection.GOODREADS

Definitely another of my favorites. I loved the mummy with the modern dental work and the history lessons. I especially loved the  part with the shrunken heads. This one was very eerie so probably best not to read it at night. It's called the Keepsake because the killer preserves his victims in several unusual ways,mummification, shrinking their heads or throwing them in a bog. The different techniques he uses are intriguing and old fashioned. If that makes me weird to be fascinated by that then WTH

Rizzoli & Isles (1-5) series by Tess Gerritsen

Flash review/ reading recommendation

The Rizzoli and Isles Series is one of my favorites. It's a medical thriller by Tess Gerritsen. It's called Rizzoli and Isles because of  two of the characters Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles who are always in the thick of the plot. Jane's the detective and Maura's the medical examiner. It's set in Boston and the characters Jane and Maura have depressing, exciting , troubling lives enough  to make each book in this series a page turner. This series has recently been made into a TV show, which I haven't seen yet (sadly) . 

He slips into homes at night and walks silently into bedrooms where women lie sleeping, about to awaken to a living nightmare. The precision of his methods suggests that he is a deranged man of medicine, prompting the Boston newspapers to dub him “The Surgeon.” Led by Detectives Thomas Moore and Jane Rizzoli, the cops must consult the victim of a nearly identical crime: Two years ago, Dr. Catherine Cordell fought back and killed an attacker before he could complete his assault. Now this new killer is re-creating, with chilling accuracy, the details of Cordell’s ordeal. With every new murder he seems to be taunting her, cutting ever closer, from her hospital to her home. And neither Moore nor Rizzoli can protect Cordell from a ruthless hunter who somehow understands–and savors–the secret fears of every woman he kills.Goodreads

The Surgeon is the first book of the series. Jane's the leading detective on the case and when Moore shows up she's kind of bitchy because she wants to make it clear it's her case. I like this book  because it has a wonderful plot and a strong female lead. The bad guy is some sick perverted freak who likes cutting women open and taking a "trophy" . Now he's targeting this one victim who escaped. There's also a romantic sub plot : this between Moore and Catherine .

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THE APPRENTICE It is a boiling hot Boston summer. Adding to the city’s woes is a series of shocking crimes, in which wealthy men are made to watch while their wives are brutalized. A sadistic demand that ends in abduction and death.
The pattern suggests one man: serial killer Warren Hoyt, recently removed from the city’s streets. Police can only assume an acolyte is at large, a maniac basing his attacks on the twisted medical techniques of the madman he so admires. At least that’s what Detective Jane Rizzoli thinks. Forced again to confront the killer who scarred her—literally and figuratively—she is determined to finally end Hoyt’s awful influence . . . even if it means receiving more resistance from her all-male homicide squad.

In the first book Jane had saved Catherine who had been kidnapped by the bad guy, Warren Hoyt, and now the perverted Freakazoid has escaped and is obsessed with Jane.  Another wonderful and suspenseful book by Tess Gerritsen. I guess in a way Agent Gabriel ,the FBI agent, who's also investigating can be seen as another romantic sub plot. this makes the book a bit amusing to read because Jane's a knucklehead stubborn female character aswell.

Review: Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen

I love Tess Gerritsen's Rizzoli&Isle serie!. A boy from from school lent me one of her books (from the series) that's when I got hooked. I wanted to read them all and  I did cuz the guy had them all. A couple of months ago I found out there was a tv serie!! I havn't seen it yet but really want to. Unfortunatly it doesn't air in my country yet. But that doesn't bother me as much as finding out there were 2 more books out from the serie and I HAD NO CLUE!. Ice Cold and The Silent Girl. So when I found it in a bookstore I had to buy it (I'm broke now btw) and it was worth  the money. and worth being broke now.

Ice cold starts off with Maura Isle going to wyoming for a conference. Father Brophy( Father in the literal sense(guy is a PRIEST)) drops her off at the airport. There affaire has reached the point where it's not about the hot sex anymore and more about Daniel (priest) choosing between Maura and the priesthood. Anyways Maura meets a guy, Dough at the conference  who she went to school with, who invites her to go skiing with him and his friends. Maura, who's always the levelheaded one, agrees and that's how the worst weekend of Maura Isle's life happenes.

I really liked this book and it took me back to why  I love this series. I got to reacquaint myself with my favorite characters Maura Isle and Jane Rizzoli.

What I liked about this book was the horror story kind of feeling it gave. The abandoned houses, the dead animals, the footprints in the snow. And when the owner of the supermarket warns then about a place called  "Kingdom Come" and they end up on an abandoned road and find a sign that says "welcome to kingdom come". and then continue to find strange things. It really made you wonder What DID  happen to the people.
When Jane comes looking for Maura and they end up finding a body that matches a woman of Maura isles height and weight they all think she's dead. I didn't , although while I was reading, I didn't really believe she was dead, so I skimmed through a couple of pages just to make sure she was still alive.

I liked Rats character and old characters like Sansone and Lucy ( the mephisto club) are also in this book.
Daniel and Sansone have  a moment where (when they're returning to Boston with "Maura's" body) they kind of have an argument about who loved her more. Although I think having an affair with a priest is wack (bad) . I like Daniels character. and how Maura is with the guy. And I feel sorry that she breaks up with em, well maybe I feel bad for the priest .  Maura loves him but he is also the cause of her unhappiness.

The book ends with a twist. At first everything kind of led to it being a case of mass murder but it was actually just an accident .

I can't wait to read The Silent Girl .
Ice Cold is another awesome book by Tess Gerritsen ****