The crime scene has the woman lying in apparently peaceful repose on her bed, and Maura finds no apparent cause of death. The victim’s eyes have been removed and placed in the palm of her hand - a gesture that echoes the terrifying films she produces. When another victim is found, again with no apparent cause of death, again with a grotesquely staged crime scene, Jane and Maura realise the killer has widened his circle of targets. He’s chosen one particular woman for his next victim, and she knows he’s coming for her next. She’s the only one who can help Jane and Maura catch the killer...

In the twelfth gripping novel featuring Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles, the crime-solving duo —featured in the smash-hit TNT series Rizzoli & Isles — are faced with the gruesomely staged murder of a horror film producer. I have read all the previous novels in this series and they, like this one, are all of the high quality. Like most Gerritsen books I have read, I thought I had worked out the murderer and his/her reasons about half way through but again I was completely wrong and this is one of the main reasons I look out for this author's latest book. Rizzoli and Isles give this case everything they've got, and it's both gripping and disturbing in equal measure. The book is a very good read that is well-paced, full of twists and, away from the plot, has an interesting balance of family issues.

As readers of Gerritsen would expect, the murders depicted throughout are pretty grotesque. I am not sure where Tess gets her ideas from for her characters' untimely demises, but this is a lady with an incredibly vivid and twisted imagination. There are numerous threads running through this tale and I did find myself wondering how they could all possibly connect, but, as always, the author does a magnificent job in bringing everything together in the most shocking way. “I Know A Secret” definitely sent my mind into overdrive as I tried to piece the clues together. The author retains a real ability for telling a story and keeping the reader guessing right to the very last moment, and, once again, she proves that she is still one of the leading female authors in crime fiction.

Digger 95

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

I can't believe this is book 12, It feels like forever ago since I last read a Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles book.
​It was great getting to meet up with them again, like being back with old friends.
​I have followed this series of book right from the beginning and thoroughly enjoyed each and every one of them. This one was no exception.
Detective Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles are faced with a pretty gruesome crime scene. It's going to be a toughie but with these two on the case it shouldn't be to much of a problem.
​However the cause of death of the woman found isn't as clear cut as they would like.
​It seems there could be links to a crime that was committed many years ago.
The problem is, people have kept secrets for a very long time, and some are not willing to give up their secrets just yet.

A brilliant yet gruesome read, will have you hooked from early on. Any Rizzoli and Isles fan will love this latest addition to the series. I certainly enjoyed it

I am a massive fan of the Rizzoli and Isles series and so very happy to be offered a copy.

This is another fantastic story. A girl is found in her bedroom with her eyes gouged out and placed in her hands. Maura is unable to determine the cause of death. Then a second body is found, a man with arrows protruding from his chest and again this body had no apparent cause of death. Maura then starts to work on a theory which links directly back to the church. The race is on to put the pieces together and stop another murder before it's too late.

I spent ages trying to figure out who the killer was and never guessed and I jumped from suspect to suspect.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Good plot line, great characters who are now fully fleshed out from previous novels. Kept me guessing until the end - thouroughly enjoyable read.

Brilliant cover but I really struggled to get into this one and just wasn't for me.

This is the 12th full length novel in the popular Rizzoli and Isles series by author Tess Gerritsen. I enjoy both the novels and the TV series but although there are a lot of similarities the books in my opinion are so much better. Like most series the more you read the more familiar you get with the characters and 'Rizzoli and Isles books are no different, each character is so much more interesting once you get used to their manerisms.
In this novel a young woman's body is found in a house decorated with horror movie poster. She lies on her bed, two bloodied objects clutched in her palm. Detective Jane Rizzoli and Forensic Pathologist Maura Isles are called to the murder scene, but even faced with this gruesome sight they are unable to identify the immediate cause of death.
Their investigation leads them to a high-profile murder case that was seemingly solved years before. But when another body is found in horrific circumstances, the link between the two victims is clear. Was the wrong person sent to prison? Is the real killer out there right now, picking off new targets?
One woman knows the killer is coming for her next. She’s the only one who can help Rizzoli and Isles catch him. But she has a secret that she has to keep.
A very good read that is well paced,full of twists and away from the plot has a good balance of family issues. Another success and probably the best book in this very good series for a while.

I would like to thank Net Galley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Before you take a peek inside the book, take time to savour that beautiful cover ( I absolutely love it ) and whilst a cover does not indicate a great read, fear not, because the storyline certainly lives up to this alluring work of art.

Homicide Detective Jane Rizzoli, and Medical Examiner Maura Isles are back for the twelfth instalment of this ever popular series from Tess Gerritsen.

The opening chapter takes us straight to the crime scene of a horror film producer found dead in her apartment. Though there are no obvious signs of the cause of death, the victim's eyes have been removed and placed in her hand. Another murder soon follows and again the body is displayed in a grotesque manner, and so the race is on to discover a link between these murders in order to prevent further victims. However, this proves to be an extraordinarily difficult case to crack.

Eventually clues lead to a 20 year old investigation of ritual child abuse at the Apple Tree Nursery and the case of a missing 9 year old girl whose whereabouts still remain a mystery.

Interestingly, Maura's biological mother features initially in this particular storyline, and she certainly adds plenty of interest in quite a sinister way! Jane's personal life too interrupts proceedings, but of course it all adds to an already gripping read.

Rizzoli and Isles give this case everything they've got, and it's both gripping and disturbing. I actually thought I had this one figured out about half way through, but I was SO wrong - wasn't even close, so what do I know? ( not so clever eh? )

Avid fans of this series,( and newbies alike ) will find this an utterly compelling read

*I was offered an advance copy by the publisher Penguin Random House UK, Transworld and have given an honest review in exchange*

I always get excited when a new Rizzoli and Isles series comes out! I was not disappointed by this latest instalment either. With lots of twists and turns, the main character is a bit of an odd ball who you're not quite sure about. It's up to Rizzoli, Isles and the good Detective Frost to work out whether she is a victim, a trouble maker, very unlucky, a very canny liar or...

One of my all time favorite authors!

This book is compelling, unputdownable and a page turner from the start.

The characters draw you in from the start, even if you were not familiar with previous books in the series.

If you have never read any of the series, I highly recommend you start

I was thrilled to be given the chance to read an advance copy of this book as it is a series I love. It didn't disappoint at all. The book opens with a gory death of a woman left holding her own eyes! From here Rizzoli and Isles must work together to find out who killed her and why before there are too many more deaths.

The characters continue to unfold and develop in this story and we have more fascinating insights into their lives and what makes them tick but none of this detracts from the storyline. Highly recommend the whole series.

Rizzoli and Isles is one of the few crime fiction series I have stuck with over the years. I just love the regular characters so much andthere's always a decent helping of stuff about them, rather than just the crime. I Know a Secret is the 12th book in this series, starring Detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles.

The narrative goes between third person, following Jane and Maura, and the first person narrative of Holly a book publicist. Early on there are signs that Holly could be a sociopath but is she actually guilty of anything?

Jane is investigating two seemingly unrelated murders, ones where Maura cannot identify the cause of death. In both cases the bodies have been mutilated after the victim is dead, possibly in symbolic ways, but there's nothing else to conenct them.

Meanwhile Holly is aware of these deaths, and another which is linked. She knew the victims as a child, but is she a victim or a suspect? It takes a while for the detectives to get caught up and find the link, which I can find irritating sometimes but it's a fast-paced page turner and I was glad to catch up with the characters.

This case brings Maura to Brody's door once more, but she swears it's only in a professional manner. Jane still hasn't forgiven him for breaking her friend's heart. Another person Maura had sworn to stay away from, but for different reasons, was her birth mother, who is now dying of cancer.

Jane's life is pretty peachy, with her daughter doing well and Gabriel's sort of in the background here but still supportive. Her only personal thing in this instalment is her parents' relationship. They're back together but Angela is starting to lose her patience. I actually think this book leaves all the characters in a good place...which makes me wonder if this is the end?

Note this book contains references to child abuse. There's usually a specific type of criminal law or procedure looked at in these books and this one is around the psychology of child abuse cases, hysteria and unreliability of young witnesses.

The 12th book in the Rizzoli & Isles series does not disappoint, building on their mutual back stories and those of the other characters.

What I enjoy most about Gerritsen's storytelling is her restraint when it comes to backstories. Instead of padding her novels out with abridged accounts of everything that has happened to her characters (And author Chris Carter is a terrible example of how pace and quality deteriorates when a novelist does this) she treats her readers with some respect and assumes they have kept pace with her.

This means the story does not flag even when when Gerritsen does refer back to her characters' past.

The storytelling is well paced, suspenseful and not gratuitous in its descriptions of violence unlike some police procedural novelists I could mention who seem to need to up the ante when it comes to outright sadism with each successive novel.

I Know a Secret Tess Gerritsen
Rizzoli and Isles book 12

This is one of those books where I admit to an excited anticipation in waiting for it.

The Rizzoli and Isles books have been a staple of my reading for years and every new release has a lot to live up to. This one is yet another that does not disappoint.

Boston PD’s Detective Jane Rizzoli is doing what she does best, investigate murders with the help of her best friend Medical Examiner Maura Isles.

The unlikely pairing of the no nonsense Detective, with the professionally prim and proper Medical Examiner, is a partnership which never gets old.

When a series of seemingly unconnected deaths occur, nobody is looking for a serial killer. In fact, nobody is even sure that one of the of the deaths is suspicious.

Slowly Rizzoli and her partner Detective Frost start to realise that the deaths are connected, but how, and by what, or who.

The complex plot has a third protagonist, Holly. Holly was caught up in an investigation as a child, an investigation which made the career of the Prosecutor who took it to Court.

The sections of the book seen through Holly’s eyes is written in the first tense, and gives a different view on the happenings of the investigation. This gives the reader the view of the investigation from the outside. It allows Tess Gerritsen to show the anxieties of people involved in anon the peripheries, whilst Rizzoli and her team try to link the deaths and find who is responsible.

Gerritsen visits a time in Americas recent History where there was a feeling that radical religious groups were running amok, and the insecurities it brought to the general-public. How assumed dangers influenced investigations, and jury’s.

This book is fictional; but reading it provokes that feeling of “this cannot be far from the truth”

It’s not just the story of the crimes that make this book so good.

Rizzoli and Isles have become like close friends to Gerritsen’s readers. With every book, I look forward to renewing old acquaintances and finding out what is happening in their lives.

The Rizzoli family is never a disappointment and the relationships within and around it are always intriguing to read. Maura’s life is as fascinating as her character and is full of moral dilemmas brought on by her “black and white” scientific approach to her thinking.
All the way to the end this book kept me changing my mind as to who was the perpetrator, and how the investigation was going to be resolved.

336 pages came and went in no time. Now I have to wait for Rizzoli and Isles 13.

Not too long I hope

Pages: 336
Available to pre-order on Amazon
Publishing Date 10the August 2017.

I always worry when I love a series as much as I love this one. I have read similar series that have gone above 8 or so books and then lost their way and left me disappointed, so much so that I have often given up on them. This is definitely not in that category. I have read and loved every book in this series and so I had no such worries going into this, the twelfth book of the fantastic Rizzoli and Isles series.
As with all series books, it is best to start from book one and read in order. I understand that with this one, you'd have to read 11 books but, to be honest, they are all really good and, although the main crime in this book is self-contained, there is so much really good backstory and character development throughout the series, it would be a shame to miss out on it.
In this book, we have Maura a little flummoxed at a cause of death. With no visible signs both externally or internally of exactly why the victim died, she is at a bit of a loss. What is a concern though is the post mortem mutilation that has been exacted upon the corpse. When the next corpse turns up, also with no apparent c.o.d. and also mutilated, Jane and Maura face a race against time to figure the connection and thus find the killer before they strike again.
This was another book that pushed its way to the top of my tbr. In fact it did more than that. I actually ditched my current read for it - something I very rarely do but I've been so eagerly awaiting this book that I just had to do it.
Aside from the main story, there is also quite a lot going on in the characters' own lives. Especially with Maura. Oh dear, Ms Gerritsen does put her through the emotional wringer at times! And Jane's mum Angela has a bit of a trial to overcome here too. But, that said, the personal stuff that is included in this series is complementary to the storyline, it adds to the characters rather than distracts from the storyline so its inclusion is always welcome. To be honest, in my opinion, this series is quite character driven which is something I do love and, as such, I crave to learn all about their backgrounds as they give colour and credence to what is going on in their professional lives with respect to the crimes being investigated.
Talking about the crime well... it's a doozy in this book! As per usual it's extremely well plotted and had me on my toes, second guessing throughout the book. Although I did have a couple of inklings along the way, I was right with some, not quite there with others, and totally off with the rest - just where I like to be with a book. Especially given that the eventual reveal left me completely satisfied.
With darned near perfect pacing, great characters and a gripping storyline, this book has screamed itself into my top five reads of this year so far and looks like it may stay there. Having read 127 books this year so far, that's no mean feat!
Only down side of finishing this book is that I now have to wait for the next one - counting the days already.

My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.