Girl Missing by Tess Gerritsen

3.0 out of 5 stars

Mildly interesting mystery but too much romance..., January 26, 2010

It's difficult to get the gist of what this book is about from reading the fairly inaccurate product description. This was a mystery about the deaths of some young people from a new narcotic-type drug that hadn't been released to market yet. Kat Novak, the medical examiner, gets suspicious that there's more to these deaths than accidental drug overdoses.

I have read all of Tess Gerritsen's previous suspense books and even some of her early romances. It is easy to see the progression and development of her skills as author by reading them in order of publication dates. It was fairly evident that this was an earlier work, but without having seen the original printed book, Peggy Sue Got Murdered, I can't say for certain what changes and updates were made for this particular version of the novel.

This is a review of an audiobook, which I find quite a different medium than print, and tend to like and enjoy less. I found the narrator of this version to be acceptable, but some of her voices, accents and affectations did bother me somewhat -- especially the male voices. Adam sounded completely stilted most of the time and the cops were portrayed as whiny and inept (so cliche). Some of her pronunciations of medical and chemical terms were off -- perhaps some coaching should have been done prior to the recording session. I feel that it would enhance the audiobook if different voices were used for the various characters - make it much more realistic and dramatic.

As far as a story -- well this was OK. I didn't think the denouement was very exciting and the motivation for the murders was slim. The last action packed chapter again is typical of the genre -- men and women go beyond normal human capabilities to survive against incredible odds. I could have done completely without the romance part -- Tess reduced Kat Novak to a simpering fool in the face of her love for Adam and once again we have another rich knight in white armour rescue of a damsel in distress (emotional or physical -- it's all the same). I prefer my suspense thrillers to have less focus on the love interest and more on the science and the procedure. Typical forensic pathologists do not go investigate cases in the field, but we wouldn't have many thrillers to read if the authors didn't write them doing exactly that or if they left them in their labs!!

So, all in all, the book was fairly enjoyable but unremarkable. I like Tess Gerritsen's recent suspense and thriller novels so much better and still plan to buy them. But this one can be skipped or borrowed!