Gerritsen, Tess: Gravity

[calico_reaction]

Comments

[smeddley]

I have not read this particular Gerritsen book, but I have read a few of her others. I'd say that her earliest ones were her best (Bloodstream, Harvest, and Life Support come to mind) and she really lost me when she started in on The Surgeon Series (The Surgeon, The Apprentice, The Sinner, Body Double, Vanish). I read the first two, thought they were awful, and later read Body Double, and didn't much like it.

Even at her best, I would never compare her to Crichton. I've always equated her with Robin Cook, who is good for a few books before he, too, starts to wear thin. In both cases they're what I'd call "airport books" - the sort of thing you grab at the airport newsstand when you suddenly realize you've checked your book and need something to read. Good for whiling away otherwise wasted time, but nothing special.

[calico_reaction]

Very interesting to hear. I'd also classify her as an airport book, or as someone said in class, beach reading. :)

[m_allan]

Hey! How you doing? You posted on one my entries, so I thought I'd look up your journal and read some.

I'm new here, so forgive the silly questions..

Do you ever write anyway, I dunno... personal entries? All I see here are book/magazine reviews. Not that there's anything wrong with that, just curious if you ever wrote about your life and stuff, or maybe it was just a "books I've read" type journal.

Also, you seem to be into Calicos. We've got one at our house, you can see it here http://pics.livejournal.com/m_allan/pic/0000343f/g4 (not the best picture of her, but still... :)

[calico_reaction]

I have a personal journal that I keep VERY separate from this one, for obvious reasons, because this is a reading journal. :) I've actually had writers stumble upon this thing, and there's always a chance they won't like what I say. If you're interested in the PERSONAL journal, let me know, and I'll find a round-about way to let you know. :)

And cute kitty!

[cataroo]

Wandered over here from bookshare-- and after reading your review, I've come to the conclusion that former doctors should not be allowed to write books. Granted, I haven't read any of Gerritsen's books, and have really only read one book by a former doctor (Plague by Gary Birken-- it's horrible!).

The idea of a medical thriller is cool to me-- I graduated with a degree in biology and while I'm not in med school, enjoy reading novels related to science and medicine. BUT, having read Birken's book, I was definitely not impressed.

If you're still interested in reading a science/medicine related thiller (well, sort of, it's not exactly in the thriller genre-- more sci-fi, but not quite) I would suggest Darwin's Radio and Darwin's Children by Greg Bear. I enjoyed them, for what it's worth.

[calico_reaction]

I've heard good things about Bear, so I'll keep those in mind. :) Thanks!

[satanicharisma]

I've read one of her books too, "Body Double" I think it was called?.. it was quite poor and not engaging at all.

Funny how bestsellers are often a diluted take on the tropes that "genre" readers are already familiar with.

I had the same reaction

[anonymous]

I've read 2, maybe 3 Gerritsen novels, and I find them forgettable. She's not bad, she's just not amazing. I may pick up a Gerritsen novel if I'm in an airport bookstore and that's all I can find that looks remotely interesting. Gotta rip on Crichton a little for "Timeline", though. His earlier novels were good, but I stopped reading him with that one.

~Abby

Re: I had the same reaction

[calico_reaction]

Oh, I enjoyed the hell out of Timeline. Granted, I read it before I was super-picky, but I have a soft-spot for time travel and medieval times. The movie sucked though. :-/

Reading Gerritsen made me want to re-read some of Crichton's earlier work, like Andromeda Strain.