Cheating Death

Last to Die (Rizzoli and Isles #10) by Tess Gerritsen (Ballantine hardcover, 28 August 2012).

When Teddy Clock was twelve, his family was living on a yacht in the Caribbean.  Anchored in a quiet bay near Saint Thomas, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, one night, the boat exploded.  His parents and his two sisters were killed, but Teddy was found in the water, wearing a life jacket,  by a dive boat the next morning, unable to describe what happened.

Two years later, Teddy is living with a foster family, the Ackermans, in an wealthy area of Boston.  Jane Rizzoli is called to their house in Louisburg Square, to find that Bernard and Cecelia Ackerman and their three daughters have been shot to death.  Teddy hid under his bed until the killer left, and then ran next door to the neighbor's house.

Assigned as Teddy's primary contact, Jane is loathe to send him to yet another foster home.  She whisks him to a very private boarding school, Evensong, whose students are limited to youngsters who have been the victims of violent crime, and include Maura Isles' adopted son Julian. Intended to be a sanctuary for the traumatised kids, the school is situated in the midst of several acres of Maine forests.

But as Jane digs deeper into the mystery of Teddy's life, she begins to think that the two incidents may not have been accidental, that the killer wants something from this boy.  Determined to keep the students of Evensong safe, she and Maura must discover the killer's identity.

Ms. Gerritsen has created another eminently readable, intrinsically suspenseful tale.  We learn the details of the case along with Rizzoli and Isles, and feel the same frustrations that they must upon realizing that they need to know just one more thing...

Fans of Tess Gerritsen's crime-solving team will love this book; newcomers need not worry about jumping in mid-series, although after reading it, they will certainly want to start from the beginning.



Please drop by Crime Fiction Collective, where Tess Gerritsen is  guest blogging today.



FTC Full Disclosure: Many thanks to the publisher, who sent me a copy of the book for review purposes.