I have always loved Jane Rizzoli, and motherhood takes away none of her feistiness.

These seemingly unrelated plot lines gradually merge into one suspenseful and horrifying narrative about the abuse of power by influential, wealthy, and immoral individuals. A negotiator is brought in an attempt to bring the standoff to a peaceful conclusion. Next, a man and woman with a hidden agenda hold Jane Rizzoli hostage. Gerritsen then switches gears as a startled Maura Isles finds a corpse in her morgue who is still breathing. The book opens as a seventeen-year-old girl named Mila, from Belarus, tells the heartbreaking tale of how she and other like her were lured into the United States under false pretenses. Vanish features some familiar faces, including Boston Detective Jane Rizzoli, who is nine months pregnant, Gabriel Dean, Jane's devoted FBI agent husband, and medical examiner Dr. These girls are beaten, drugged, imprisoned, and sold into prostitution. Both books deal with the loathsome practice of importing vulnerable young girls into the United States from countries such as Mexico and the former Soviet Union. Tess Gerrtisen's Vanish has the same general theme as another engrossing novel that I read a few weeks ago- Dead End by Mariah Stewart. (Reviewed by Eleanor Bukowsky DEC 12, 2005) ( Jump down to read a review of The Apprentice) ( Jump down to read a review of Body Double) Set in a stunning world where evil is easy to learn and hard to end, The Apprentice is both a terrifyingly sustained psychological thriller and an adrenalin fuelled-trip to hell that we urge you to sign up for. They have joined forces to stalk the most challenging prey of all, the very woman who now hunts them. And they are united, a pair of blood brothers who share grotesque appetites and a combined genius. Suddenly there is not one hunter on the loose, but two. Then Warren Hoyt makes a brilliant and bloody escape from custody. He knows something about this killer, something so politically explosive that he cannot reveal it to her.

Again and again, Rizzoli clashes with Special Agent Gabriel Dean, who shows up at every crime scene. A new complication arises as a federal investigator from Washington joins the case. For Rizzoli the death scenes have a horrifying air of familiarity, especially when she realizes that this new killer is copying one obscure element from Warren Hoyt's crimes. Now she faces a new killer, a hunter who preys on well-to-do couples. A year has passed since the capture of the Surgeon, serial killer Warren Hoyt, yet the memory of his brutal crimes continues to haunt Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli. He may be behind bars, but Warren Hoyt still haunts a helpless city, bequeathing his evil legacy to a student all too diligent - and all too deadly.

The Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen