Listen to Me is Tess Gerritsen's latest installment to the Rizzoli & Isles franchise. The book covers the murder of a nurse, a stalking incident, and suspicious neighbors. The case in question was not the only focus, as the narrative tends to go back and forth between Jane's case and Angela's neighbors. While it gives focus on other characters surrounding the detective and medical examiner, I am not the greatest fan of padded writing just to make the novel longer than its actual contents. Still it was an entertaining entry to the series.

#ListenToMe #NetGalley A long awaited return of the Rizzoli and Isles series and even though in this book Rizzoli featured much more prominently than Isles it did not disappoint. Although part of a series, the author gives plenty of background on the characters so it is perfectly capable of being read as a stand alone. Gritty and full of action with Jane's mother having a key story line which I thoroughly enjoyed. I look forward to the next installment in this series and hope we don't have to wait as long!!

I have mixed views on this book. I did enjoy it though, I normally devour Gerritsen stories but this one did not grip me in the same way as earlier books have. Despite that it is a great book and for those that have not read most of the previous Rizzoli and Isles books will find the tale well paced and punchy.

My thanks to Random House U.K. Transworld Publishers for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Listen to Me’ by Tess Gerritsen.

This is Book 13 in Tess Gerritsen’s popular series of crime thrillers featuring Boston Police Detective Jane Rizzoli and Medical Examiner Maura Isles. It’s been five years since the last book was published and as someone who has followed the series from the start, I was very pleased to read it.

For readers new to the series, Gerritsen provides background on her characters and setting. However, the entire series is very good and I am happy to recommend. The sharp dialogue between its characters has always been a plus for me.

Throughout ‘Listen to Me’ Gerritsen moves between various points of view and a cluster of cases, including some amateur sleuthing by Jane’s mother, Angela Rizzoli.

The murder of Sofia Suarez appears to be a senseless crime. She was a respected nurse, well-liked by colleagues,friends, and neighbours. Yet as Rizzoli & Isles continue to investigate the baffling case, they begin to realise that Sofia was guarding a dangerous secret.

Angela Rizzoli feels it is her responsibility to keep an eye on the neighbourhood where she has lived for forty years. When her new neighbours act a little sketchy her suspicions are aroused. With Jane and Maura busy in the hunt for Sofia’s killer, Angela feels that no one is listening to her and decides to undertake her own investigation. Oh dear, Angela.

I am fond of Angela, especially following the long running TV series where she was brought so vividly to life by Lorraine Bracco. Here it was fairly obvious that she was going to get herself into a spot of trouble.

Overall, I found myself completely engaged by ‘Listen to Me’. It was like meeting up with old friends again. Hopefully there soon will be more cases for the dynamic team of Rizzoli and Isles.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

I have a confession to make…

I’ve not read anything by Tess Gerritsen before and I got confused when I chose this as I thought I’d seen the tv series – but I hadn’t (I was thinking of Scott and Bailey 🤣). I was very confused – it happens far more than it should. Anyway, now we’ve established that I’m an idiot who doesn’t know one detective series from another let’s get to the review!

As you’ve probably seen from my previous reviews I’m a big fan of gritty police fiction. I love Karin Slaughter, Chris Carter and Karen Rose. Therefore this seemed like a logical series for me to try.

Obviously having not read the others I can’t compare this to them but to me it didn’t seem like it was Rizolli and Isles, there wasn’t an awful lot of medical examiner Maura Isles in this, the plot focused more on Rizolli and her mum, Angela. Angela was such a mum; comedy gold and interfering, blowing up Jane’s phone with her thoughts, you could imagine her as head of the Neighborhood Watch! I did really enjoy having her in the novel – even if it was at Maura’s expense.

You all should know by now that I love multi-POV and dual timelines, this has them both with chapters being told from the POV of Jane, Maura, Angela or Amy (a girl who was involved in a hit and run a few months previous). I loved getting to see how all of the various threads came together.

This book was enjoyable enough that I’ll be working through the backlist – and hoping for a bit more from Maura in them as I do like a medical examiner’s prespective.

I’ll hopefully get my buddy reader to start this series from the beginning with me (with my memory once we’ve made it to this one I’ll have zero recollections of what happened).

I have been watching and rewatching the Rizzoli & Isles tv series for years now (I know some of the episodes by heart), but I am ashamed to admit that I am a little behind with the books and I have a bit of catching up to do. Luckily, I had no trouble reading the latest one in the series, Listen to Me, because, even though it is the 13th book in the Rizzoli & Isles series, it can be easily read as a stand alone.

The story focuses on different cases. Detective Jane Rizzoli and her friend and medical examiner Maura Isles are investigating the brutal murder of a nurse. She was loved by everyone and led a quiet and normal life, so Jane Rizzoli is having trouble finding a motive for her murder. In the meantime, they also discover that a young woman is being stalked and she could be in danger. If a seemingly unmotivated murder and a stalker aren’t enough, Jane is also kept busy by her mother, Angela Rizzoli, who is convinced that her new neighbours are hiding something. They weren’t interested in her welcome-in-the-neighbourhood zucchini bread, they have installed bars over the windows, and the husband carries a gun. And while spying the new neighbours takes most of Angela’s time, she is also worried about the teenager neighbour who ran away. Since Jane doesn’t want to help her, Angela decides to start investigating on her own.

I loved Listen to Me. Angela’s storyline was the more entertaining and intriguing one. I always liked the character of Angela. Nothing goes past her, especially in her quiet suburb that it’s not so quiet right now. In fact, it seems that each one of her neighbours has a secret and, somehow, she manages to uncover them all… it’s true that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

The plot is fast-paced and full of twists and turns. Even though I started suspecting the truth before it was revealed, there were still many things that took me by surprise. I really enjoyed reading Listen to Me and I plan to catch up on the books that I haven’t read yet (I have already bought a couple of books). Highly recommended!

It's been a while since I last read a Rizzoli and Isles book, but have been instead enjoying the TV series and the banter between Jane and Maura, but always with a serious job to do!

In this book Janes mother Angela features heavily, who is trying to emulate her daughter's vocation herself, by her over interest in all of her neighbours but particularly the mysterious Greens!

Meanwhile Jane is trying to solve the murder of Sophia Suarez, a well respected and experienced nurse; who could possibly want to harm her?

Find out how these 2 storylines play out in this latest and excellent Rizzoli and Isles book.

Please don't leave it as long for the next instalment of this duo.

A great story, which had me gripped from the start to the end.

Iv read all the Rizzoli and Isles novels by Tess Gerritsen and while it’s been a while since Wev had one this was just like old times with them, it was good to get back into being with them, the natural friendship between them and their working relationship is always good to hear about and the added story with Angela doing her own little detecting was different too, good mystery plot as always and I enjoyed this. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this early copy.

Its been a long time since I have read a Rizzoli's book, i had forgotten how much I love them. Jane Rizzoli's character is a take no nonsense kind of cop. Her friendship with medical examiner Maura is always a pleasing read, its not heavy documented in this book however there is still a little bit on how well they work as friends and colleges . This book follows her mum and what's going on in the neighborhood where Jane grew up. Angela turns detective, spying on the new neighbours and their weird habits. This book can be read as a stand alone like with all Tess's books however its made me want to go back to the start and follow the characters at their best.

I loved this book and really couldn’t put it down, I was hooked and found myself needing to get to the bottom of this case with Rizzoli, so absolutely raced through it. Such a good book! It’s a fast paced book with short chapters which meant that it was so easy to get lost inside it and just carried away with the story. I found myself not wanting to put this book down, striving to find out who the killer was and what was happening in Angela’s neighbourhood.

So much happened during the course of the book that you just felt gripped and although I did slightly guess one twist I didn’t guess the killer and didn’t really see the end coming.

I’ve not read this series of books for a while but I did binge watch the whole series online so I could picture the characters so closely while reading this - there are quite a few differences between the TV show and the books but I enjoyed them both as much as each other and the discrepancies didn’t impact my enjoyment at all!

Rizzoli is probably my favourite TV/Book cop as she’s such a down to earth and real character, her relationship with Maura is also really touching as it’s clear that they have such a strong friendship. In fact, apart from the villains there wasn’t really a character I didn’t like in this - especially not from the precinct anyway.

I could go on about these books for ever but I won’t apart from saying that if you’ve not read one and you like crime thrillers then you are missing out BIG STYLE!

Book 13 in the Rizzoli & Isles series but it’s book 1 for me having never read any of the series.

Here we have the seemingly random murder of a nurse, a missing woman and a legacy murder of interest.
Meanwhile Jane Rizzolis mother has a mystery of her own on her hands as new neighbours move in across the street and act suspiciously, from not unloading their moving truck until it’s dark, to keeping the curtains closed all the time and installing bars on the windows!

As I said I’m very late to the party here starting on book 13. Obviously I have missed loads of back story but I had no problems reading this as a stand-alone.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one. The characters were all really interesting and well written and the story I found very clever with an unexpected but totally satisfying finale.

I will be delving into the back catalogue based on this one.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC through Netgalley

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel.
This is the first of the Rizzoli & Isles series and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Fast paced, just enough gore and characters with flaws.
I am off to look into the other adventures of Rizzoli & Isles and I recommend that you do to !

When Sofia Suarez is found murdered Detective jane Rizzoli is struggling to find who would want to kill this lovely woman. Sofia was an intensive care nurse, well liked and respected. When they find her laptop, Jane hopes that it could give them some clues to what happened to Sofia. Could Sofia's online searches lead Jane to her killer? And could the killer have another victim in their sights.
While Jane is busy on the murder case her mother Angela is acting as a one-woman neighbourhood watch, desperate to work out what her new neighbours are hiding behind their closed shades. Her nosy nature could well get her into more trouble than she could imagine.

Tess Gerritsen thank you for writing about Jane and Maura again.. I will never get enough. I almost forgot how much I like them. A few years ago they somehow helped me in the most difficult period od my life and now here they are again.

Jane' mom is the star here in this book. She is staying home without her new love Vince that went to California and have time so spy on the neighbours. She knows everything except for the new neighbours. But there is a reason why of course. And it is well hiden and not obvious to all.

Then there is a young girl that has an incident and the nurse cure her is found dead. Is there really non connection??? It is really worth to discover it yourself reading this book. It helps to know a little about the previous stories but not necessary.

I maybe missed Maura this time a little more but ok... Father David was by her side and that was enough. I can not wait for the next one in this detective series.

Thank you Random Hause uk and Netgalley for this great arc.

Another compulsive Rizzoli & Isles thriller!
Tess Gerritsen has done it again .The calibre of the writing is excellent and the chapters are short and compelling, keeping my interest throughout.
I enjoyed the narrative from Angela Rizzoli it gave another dimension to the book.
Jane is investigating the death of a nurse , which seems to be a puzzling case she has no enemies and is respected in her field. This in turn brings other strands into play which are expertly woven together making for a great crime thriller.
An enjoyable , easy to read thriller I highly recommend it!
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK.

Thank you NetGalley for the Arc of Listen To Me by Tess Gerritsen in return for my honest review.
I was really looking forward to reading this new Rizzoli and Isles book as its been ages since the last one although this is book 13 in the series it can be read as a standalone. The story moves at a good pace with all the usual characters and with lots of twists and turns to keep you guessing. I really liked how Jane Rizzoli’s mum Angela had a bigger part in this book, she turned super sleuth with her own investigation, missing girl, new neighbours who are not what they seem…. this ran seamlessly along side the usual Rizzoli and Isles investigation. Can’t wait for the next instalment.

I do so like the Rizzoli and Isles books,I look forward to reading them.
Short, sharp chapters,characters brought to life in exquisite detail,excellent storyline.
I read it in one sitting, a compulsive read

Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles are plagued by what seems like a completely senseless murder. Sofia Suarez, a widow and a nurse who was universally liked by her neighbours, lies bludgeoned to death in her own home. But anything can happen behind closed doors, and Sofia seemed to have plenty of secrets in her last days, making covert phone calls to old contacts and burner phones. When Jane finally makes a connection between Sofia and the victim of a hit-and-run months earlier, the case only grows more blurry. What exactly was Sofia involved in? One thing is clear: the killer will do anything it takes to keep their secret safe.

Each chapter is told from either Jane, Maura, Jane's mother Angela or Amy, the girl from the hit-and-run accident. With a couple of mysteries to be solved, one was easier solved than the other. Tess Gerritsen has a great style in writing this series and manages to weave together what seemed like unrelated crimes seamlessly. I loved Jane's mum, Angela, and her knack of meddling and nosiness, This book could be read as a standalone.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #RandomHouseUk #TransworldPublishers and the author #TessGerritsen for my ARC of #ListenToMe in exchange for an honest review.

The gruesome murder in her own home of Sofia Suarez, a trauma nurse at the local hospital, had Detective Jane Rizzoli and her partner Detective Frost, stumped. And forensic pathologist Maura Isles could only give what Sofie's body showed her. Her colleagues were devastated as Sofia was a well-liked and respected team member. Why would she have been murdered? It was Jane's job to discover the answer...

Jane's mother, Angela Rizzoli, was her neighbourhood's matriarch and was called a "busybody" by many, even Jane. But Angela had her eye on the house over the road where new people had arrived. She knew something strange was going on but no one would listen to her.

As Jane discovered more about Sofia, she could see that there was a dark secret from the past which Sofia just might have been investigating. Was it this that caused her death? And who was stalking Amy?

It was so GOOD to fall back into Rizzoli and Isles' lives and live with them as they once again worked on a nasty and nail-biting case. Listen to Me is the 13th in the Rizzoli & Isles series by Tess Gerritsen, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved the interactions between Jane's mum and the neighbours, the good and not so good of them. She's a feisty one! And Jane and Frost worked well together, as usual. Maura's quiet demeanor, with Daniel still by her side, was special. All in all, Listen to Me was an excellent read and I hope the author doesn't wait so long between books next time! Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

When I first requested this book I didn’t realise it was part of a series, let alone that it was number thirteen in said series! However, it didn’t really matter. You can easily read this book as a standalone. Jane Rizzoli is a homicide detective with Boston PD, She is called to the scene of the brutal murder of Sofia Suarez – a middle-aged, widowed ICU nurse who is liked by everyone! Jane and work colleague and friend – medical examiner, Maura Isles can’t make sense of this seemingly senseless crime. As Jane digs deeper into Sofia’s life, the case only gets more confusing – what could Sofia’s demise and the victim of a hit and run months earlier possibly be connected?

With so much happening in the case of the murdered nurse, Jane struggles with patience when he mother – Angela comes to her with concerns about a missing local girl from their hometown (the local police believe her to be a runaway) and Jane doesn’t seem interested in the strange and standoffish new neighbours that have moved across the street from their family home either. Angela is convinced that something very bad is going on and lives by the motto ‘if you see something, say something’ but what do you do when nobody will listen to you?

I really enjoyed this book, especially the way that the various storylines come together. There were quite a few false leads and plot twists, which kept me guessing throughout the book. A solid read – makes me wish I’d started with book one in the series!

My thanks to the author and Random House UK for my advance copy to review via Netgalley. Due out 7th July 2022!!