** spoiler alert ** 
 The author, Gerritsen, was recommended by our local librarian for the library's book club meeting in October. In The Surgeon, a serial killer with surgical knowledge is killing and mutilating women in a very unpleasant way in the city of Boston. A survivor of a similar crime in Savannah, Dr Catherine Cordell, a skilled trauma surgeon now living and working in Boston, becomes aware of similarities between the horror of the past and the present. Will she be next? How is this possible when she shot and killed the Savannah perp. two years ago? 
 This is a serial murder investigation with a mixed bag of characters down at the Boston Homicide Unit. There is a cranky-pants female detective, Jane Rizzoli, who is smart, tough, lacks poise and sex appeal and is her own worst enemy. Then there is Mr Goodytwoshoes widower, Detective Thomas More, who is complementary to Rizzoli, never putting a foot or word wrong. Trouble is, she fancies him but he fancies the trauma surgeon, Catherine. And all the other detectives are classically chauvinistic and unpleasant, cussing and talking politically incorrectly like there was no tomorrow. 
 Well-written, gripping but the outcome is very reliant on having a gun close to hand. 
 Is this disposable fiction? I could barely remember what it was about a couple of weeks after finishing it. Does this matter anyway? 
 The author, Tess Gerritsen, is a retired medico (she gave up medicine when she had children and took up writing instead) and her knowledge of surgical procedures will have you reaching for the smelling salts after the first couple of pages, but I still wasn't able to put it down or skip over the gory stuff.