--- description: Find out why 'The Surgeon' by Tess Gerritsen made the list. title: The Surgeon: The 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt89dc5a5dc4f739ca/698a407f096a94489f6ae265/TheSurgeon.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 03, 2023 # The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Catherine Cordell, a charismatic ER doctor, is the only known survivor of the serial killer “the Surgeon,” a brutal murderer who rapes and butchers his victims. So when the Surgeon—or perhaps a copycat killer—seeks revenge and begins to pursue Cordell again, detectives Thomas Moore and Jane Rizzoli are put on the case, embarking on a harrowing journey to save Cordell’s life. While the 2001 story contains some dated generalizations about sexual assault and mental illness, the book’s gripping characters and spine-chilling narrative landed it on the New York _Times_ best seller list. The novel is the first entry in the popular [_Rizzoli & Isles_](https://time.com/4788823/netflix-hulu-hbo-amazon-streaming-june/ "undefined") series by doctor-turned-author Tess Gerritsen, as well as the inspiration behind the hit TNT TV show of the same name. —_Rachel Sonis_ --- ### More from TIME --- **Buy Now:** _The Surgeon_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9781101887424 "undefined") | [Amazon](https://amzn.to/3Ph9neo "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309213/the-surgeon/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309213/the-surgeon/"},"headline":"The Surgeon","datePublished":"2023-10-03T11:50:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:20:18.923Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309213/the-surgeon/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt89dc5a5dc4f739ca/698a407f096a94489f6ae265/TheSurgeon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt89dc5a5dc4f739ca/698a407f096a94489f6ae265/TheSurgeon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309213/the-surgeon/","name":"The Surgeon"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How We Chose the 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time","description":"Here's how TIME created its 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books list. There are books from 15 different countries, and no author appears on the list more than once.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/bNzuDcsg/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2023-10-02T16:54:39.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/bNzuDcsg.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309213/the-surgeon/","duration":"PT1M35S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309213/the-surgeon/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```