The Sinner is book three in the Rizzoli and Isles series by Tess Gerritsen and with it we move away from the villain first introduced in The Surgeon. It opens with Rizzoli investigating a murder of two nuns in the chapel of the local convent. Dr. Isles is the ME assigned to the case and works with her to help figure out exactly what happened. However, she also ends up facing her own past when her ex-husband randomly shows back up in town wishing to potentially reconcile. As things around the murder start to get even more complicated Rizzoli ends up facing her own personal issues and her relationship or lack thereof with Agent Dean. While still puzzling out the double murder, Dr. Isles is called to the scene of a woman who had been eaten by rats and was being investigated by Detective Crowe. Inevitably both Rizzoli and Isles end up discovering that things are never what they seem and are potentially more interconnected than appear.
I know this book is technically the third book in the series but in many ways it feels more like the first book. The previous two books focused more on Detective Rizzoli with Dr. Isles only being a background character in the second book. This book ping-pongs back and forth between their two perspectives so we actually get to see how both of them progress through the case and their interactions throughout. It is the first in-depth portrayal of their friendship, limited though it still may be at this point in time. I rather enjoyed getting to see both sides of the case as well and how they each work to puzzle it out over time. Each of them contributes different insights and viewpoints in order to eventually solve it. The plot itself was also rather interesting as it was well developed with just the right amount of intrigue and puzzlement to hold your attention over the course of the book. I will say that some things that were revealed were expected at times and I saw it coming from rather early on. Other elements were a complete surprise and I struggled to figure out how it all went together. Let’s just say that I enjoyed the story overall. Everything worked together pretty well to create an enjoyable read. Something that can be hard to accomplish for this kind of story is good pacing but I felt like this book did a good job there. It gradually built things up and revealed things without feeling like it was either rushed or too slow which is a hard balance to maintain for the entire book. This was a good solid mystery and one that gets four out of five stars from me.
This book is a crime or mystery novel and a pretty good one at that. If you happen to enjoy that genre than you might consider trying this one out. I know this book is the third book but you can probably read it without having read the previous two and not be missing much. However, reading the previous ones first will add some needed background information so I would recommend you do so if you have the opportunity. This book is also definitely aimed at an adult audience and I would recommend that primarily only adults read it. Dr. Isles is the ME and there is a lot of rather graphic and gruesome details when reading her point of view. There is also some other mature and suggestive content present in the book. All of it adds to the story so is probably necessary but it is something to be aware of going in. Due to the presence of this content I would recommend younger readers be careful about reading this. In my opinion, only older teens and young adults would be okay reading this and not anybody younger. It is however a pretty good book and I hope you will consider reading it. If you do feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.