Vanish by Tess Gerritsen - A Book Review

Vanish is the fifth book from Tess Gerritsen's Rizzoli and Isles series.  Just as the books before it, it did not disappoint.  Vanish was a fast paced story with many twists and turns.

It begins with Mila, a young girl from Russia, impressed upon that she could have a better life in America.  Believing the new dream, she boards a plane that lands in Mexico.  Finding herself as one among several other girls, they are loaded into a white paneled van and driven to the boarder.  It's not a legal crossing but a rough one that leads them by foot over a rock and sand terrain, down through a dirty old river bed and up the opposite side to another van stopped and waiting for them.  Instead of being welcomed into the free country they have come to believe in, they find themselves stripped and attacked, with one brave runner who ends up left behind lying on the sandy desert floor after taking two bullets for her efforts.

Meanwhile, Jane Rizzoli, now nine months pregnant, gives testimony in court to a crime case in front of a full jury.  When the defendant claims police brutality and can't keep his mouth shut during her questioning, the judge demands that he be removed from her courtroom.  Before that happens, all hell breaks loose and Rizzoli finds herself on sitting top of him, forcing his arms behind his back and into a pair of handcuffs, all the while leaking fluid onto him and the floor as her water breaks. 

While this news is unbeknownst to Maura Isles, she finishes up a routine autopsy and heads to her office to dictate her notes.  Unable to answer a question without confirming the it first, she heads to the refrigerator where the bodies from the days work await transfer.  To her horror, she discovers the a young woman delivered earlier in the day is anything but deceased.  She immediately dispatches an EMT team from the hospital across the street.  By the time Jane Doe is delivered to the emergency room, she is awake and fighting for her life.

Over the course of the next few hours, Jane's labor is slow to start and she is sent down to the Diagnostic Imaging Center for a sonogram and Maura witnesses Jane Doe shoot a security guard who was trying to subdue her and is taken hostage by the woman.  While Maura manages to escape, Jane Doe holes up in the Diagnostic Imaging Center with six hostages, including Jane. 

While Maura and Gabriel Dean, Jane's husband, fight to understand what has happened, things unravel quickly.  The Boston Police Department is forced to step aside as the FBI makes an appearance.  When the perimeter is breached by a lone gunman, things heat up and nothing makes sense, especially when negotiations are denied and a undisclosed tactical team takes over.  It's a messy situation as Maura and Gabriel race to find the answers that will free the hostages and save his wife and child.

There is much more to this story and I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat through parts of this book.  The back story of Jane Doe is interspersed throughout the pages and you come to know her well.  The characters were perfect and the plot excellent.  Whether you're a fan of Rizzoli and Isles or not, it was a great read.  This is another book I strongly recommend.