This book was a recipe for enjoyment: an atmospheric setting, a flawed heroine trying to hide a secret even from herself, a good ghost story. But there was something lacking in the final result. I wasn't gripped by the story. I guessed at Ava's secret pretty much from the start so that wasn't hooking me. I saw the bad guy coming as well so that reveal wasn't a big shock (actually I was a little annoyed at Ava for being so slow on the uptake). Not a bad read, just not the gripping page-turned I was expecting.

Tess Gerritsen is one of my favorite, go-to authors so I was thrilled to have the opportunity to read an advanced copy of THE SHAPE OF NIGHT. Touted as a gothic mystery, I thought the combination of a damaged main character in a secluded, cliff-side hulking haunted house, and a murder mystery would be right up my alley, but, sadly, it fell flat for me.

Ava is broken by a tragedy, the details of which are slowly doled out but easy to guess, and drinks herself stupid to deal with the guilt and shame. When the original owner of the house, who has been dead for one hundred fifty years, sea Captain Jeremiah Brodie begins to visit Ava at night, she is really not sure if there really is a ghost or just an alcoholic manifestation of her loneliness and culpability. To further distract her from her job as a food writer, she wonders what happened to the former house tenant who left unexpectedly.

I got about half-way through the book and had to stop and regroup before I could continue, thinking the whole thing was crazy. Unfortunately, it only got stranger and stranger as the story played out. Ava and the Captain Brodie are well developed, but the murder investigation, the history of the house, and some key characters are underdeveloped, and that is a shame because there is great potential for a really good mystery here. The book is first person present tense which is my least favorite style of writing.

THE SHAPE OF NIGHT is not like Gerritsen’s other books. Some readers may really enjoy it, but I did not.

I gratefully received an ARC of this title through NetGalley and Ballantine Books and voluntarily shared my thoughts here.

A clue to the nature of sexual discourse in The Shape of Night should be provided for readers so that those who find pornographic content repugnant will be forewarned. Couching such language and activities in the guise of a quaint, small town mystery is a stretch, to say the least.
Very disappointed.

Captivating And Suspenseful!

Ava Collette is a national food writer working on a new book about some of New England best- loved recipes and her book is way behind schedule. So Ava rented an oceanfront house (sight unseen) in a historic town (Tucker's Cove) in Maine thinking she might be inspired by by the nostalgia of the area and the ambience of the sea. Ava's only companion is her Maine coon cat (26 pounds) who goes everywhere with her. Shortly after she moves in, Ava feels as if she is being watched especially at night and she is having disturbing dreams about Captain Brody who had built and lived in this house in the 1800's and had suffered an untimely death at The young age of only thirty-nine years of age. Ava hears noises and whispers, whether it is day or night and begins to drink hoping to settle her nerves and to help her sleep. Unfortunately, this does not work and she continues to drink more than she ever has and feels her house may be haunted or she is starting to lose her mind from all the stress and emotional baggage that she has carried with her from her apartment in Boston. Ava makes a few new friends and also a handsome town doctor who seems interesting but she still feels alone and lonely, except now, in her home. Ava knows she is not alone anymore, After she investigates the history of her current residence she finds there have been several tragic deaths that have occurred over the past century, all women living alone in seclusion in "Brodie's Watch". the name of her property. Are these just coincidences and Ava is having delusions and hallucinations from a drunken stupor or is there a real possibility that "Brodie's Watch" is haunted?

I found "The Shape Of Night" to be an atmospheric and satisfying gothic-styled story. The book encompassed a little bit of everything including suspense, murder, romance, the paranormal and mystery. Tess Gerritsen is a wonderful writer and storyteller and I would recommend this book to any reader who enjoys a great storyline with many twists along the way and a touch of the supernatural. (Maybe or maybe not, let the reader be the judge!I

I want to thank "Random House Publishing -Ballantine Books" and Netgalley for allowing me the opportunity to read this terrific book!

I highly recommend this story and have given a rating of 4 Mesmerizing 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Stars!!

Ava rents a house through a realtor is in the village of Tucker Grove, in Maine To get away from her hometown Boston to finish her cookbook. She feels somebody touching her in the middle of the night, and invites a ghost hunter to the property. Is it Captain Jeremiah Brodie, the original owner of the house? There are a lot of suspects and motives you don’t really find out until the last chapter.

I loved reading this story from Tess Gerritsen. The writing was very smooth, and she always kept me in suspense. I would compare her to one of my favorite Authors, Sandra Brown. I HIGHLY recommend this book!

Dark, edgy, and brilliantly written.

First off, this is not Rizzoli & Isles, so if that’s what you’re looking for…stop, but don’t because this story is fabulous, it’s just different. If you’re a fan of ghost stories and especially The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, but maybe want something a little sexier, darker, and definitely edgier, then this is your book.

The story is brilliantly and beautifully written as you’d expect from Tess Gerritsen. The details are there so you feel like you’re in a small, coastal town in Maine in a hundred and fifty-year-old home. No surprise in either of those areas because we’re talking Tess Gerritsen. What was surprising was the paranormal aspect. But yet…was there really a ghost or was it just Ava’s mind? I’ll let you decide. No spoilers from me. I will say, I read this in one day because I couldn’t put it down. The story drew me in, consumed me, wrapped Ava’s pain and guilt around me and wouldn’t let go until the end.

If you like a good psychological suspense with twists and turns give this book a try. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Thanks to Penguin Random House for the ARC.

I was provided with an ARC of this title by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This one will make you check under the bed, scurry for the covers and yank them over your head!

Ava rents the remote old house because she is running from guilt, memories and bad choices. She needs peace and quiet to focus on writing her new book, and a seaside escape sounds perfect.

But the house is already occupied by the enigmatic presence of a long dead sea captain. She is pulled into a world of erotic dreams, and overwhelming grief. The edges between reality and her imagination begin to blur, and her search for the truth is precariously dangerous.

Since I have thoroughly enjoyed almost all of Tess Gerritsen’s Rizzoli & Isles series, I figured I would like this book also. Wrong assumption. This is a book that is quite different form her mystery novels, and the more I read, the less I liked it.

Ava has left Boston after some pretty disturbing things (she keeps alluding to them though never really going into them though the reader can just about figure things out as he/she reads more and more), and moved into a creepy, old mansion in Maine. Ava wows to complete work on a cookbook that is far behind on schedule, which has prompted her agent/publisher to hound her about. The mansion was built by a sea captain, Jeremiah Brodie, who was lost at sea during a voyage in the 1800’s. The current owner has rented the house, at a reduced rate, since he has contractors working on refurbishing the house during the renting. Once in the house, Ava immediately becomes captivated by the house’s history, figuring that some of the house lore will fit in nicely in her Main cookbook. Her interest becomes more intense when she begins seeing and hearing strange things in the house. What follows is a strange story of a ghost-human relationship, including a lot of sexual episodes, both in the conventional sense with bondage thrown in. In addition, as the story continues, we find the house is a hotbed of secrets the towns folk do not want to divulge or even discuss.

This was definitely a different story. However, I never did get into it. I am not being prudish, but the whole bondage thing is a big turn off for me. I also found the character of Ava difficult to like. She drinks heavily and has a lot of mysterious introspection and baggage about and from her past and why she is living in this house. I also am not so sure about the ghost-human relationship, though I am not against ghosts. Just not sure about the relationship, especially the sexual and bondage part. I got the impression that Ava had some real big problems but did know how to figure them out of solve them. They went back in her life for years. The mystery the author threw into the mix was okay and added somewhat to the tale but did not really come across as integral part of the novel. As I said, this is very unlike her mystery series novels or anything else I have read by her. It will never be my favorite Tess Gerritsen novel. I received this from NetGalley to read and review.

Too predictable for my taste , Tess Gerritsen needs to stick murder and mayhem in my opinion.. She is an amazing author . Her other titles are nail bitters that keep you up at night. I just didn't find that suspense in this book.

This book is a bit bananas, I'll admit. Ava is a cookbook writer overcoming a personal tragedy, and she decides to work on her book in a rental in Maine. Fortunately or unfortunately for Ava, her very nice rental happens to be haunted by a domineering sea captain, and he has, um, particular tastes. As Ava gets more involved in their unconventional relationship, the body of a woman is discovered, and Ava realizes she might be in more danger than she expected.
I had no idea what to expect with this one, and I've never read Tess Gerritsen before, but kudos to her for just going there. The food descriptions were my favorite parts, other than Ava's cat Hannibal. There's not really quite a book like this out there, so give this one a try if you want to go into the headspace of someone in a bdsm relationship with a ghost.

A brooding 150-year old house on the sea named Brodie’s Watch has secrets within its’ walls. It appears to draw in young single women, the latest being Ava Collette, renting the house to get a fresh perspective and overcome writer’s block. This haunting backdrop is the perfect setting for a dark, disturbing and utterly unputdownable story.

I was really excited when I first heard about The Shape of Night by Tess Gerritsen. As much as I love the Rizzoli/Isles series (the books, the TV show...not so much), the last book, while a good suspense novel, felt regressive in terms of character development. So a "break" to return to her romantic suspense roots felt like a smart move to me - and let's be honest, I am here for Gothic anything every day of the week and twice on Sundays. So how was this? Well, it's different - I'll give it that. It was a very mixed read for me during the first half, but it's compelling and it will certainly irritate the heck out of Eww, No Romance Cooties In My Dead Body Books brigade - which I take perverse pleasure in because...well, I'm a spiteful old cow.

Ava Collette is running away from Boston after Something Bad Happens, and heads to a quiet small town in Maine to rent an old coastal manor named Brodie's Watch. Built by a sea captain, Jeremiah Brodie, who went down with his ship, the isolated manor has a color history including rumored sightings of the ghost of Captain Brodie, the death of a teenage girl one Halloween night, and a previous tenant who hastily left town with two months left on her lease.

Ava's not in residence for long before she's experiencing encounters with Captain Brodie, who seems to see directly into her soul, revealing her deepest, darkest and most shameful secrets. As she falls in love with the house and under the spell of a ghostly apparition, Ava's grasp on what is real and what is not starts to unravel, leading her to confront her own past and solve the mystery of Brodie's Watch, a house that has a history of claiming the lives of its female occupants.

The big hurdle for me was Captain Brodie who is not only a ghost but a BDSM ghost. Yes, you just read that sentence. The whole thing felt hokey, silly. But, as a general rule, my enjoyment of supernatural, let alone sexy supernatural, is pretty low. A lesser writer, one I don't have a history with (I've read A LOT of Gerritsen over the years), would have been on a shorter leash. So I stuck with this, and in the end, Gerritsen puts a spin on the whole BDSM angle that worked for me. Your mileage may vary.

What worked better for me were the side subplots that also added to the mystery and tension of the story. Namely, why is Ava running away from Boston, what really happened to the previous tenant who left behind personal belongings, and the story behind Brodie's Watch as a whole. Ava follows the recent trend of suspense novel heroines who hits the bottle liberally, leading her to making terrible life choices (see: leaving Boston) and questioning her sanity.

My two firm quibbles with this story is that Ava's drinking problem, while eventually addressed, never really gets more than a surface treatment and the mystery of why she fled Boston is revealed but I suspect some readers will be annoyed that it's never fully aired out. Revealing more than that is a Huge Honkin' Spoiler - but suffice it to say that Ava is party to something Really Not Cool and I suspect it will be a bridge too far for some. Hey, everybody makes mistakes. Everybody has regrets. But Ava's is a doozey. Boy howdy.

Which makes it sound like I didn't like this book. I did. Is it perfect? No. But it's haunting and compelling and even with my quibbles it's a story that has lingered with me days after finishing. Which, given the amount of books I've read over the course of my lifetime? Is saying something.

Final Grade = B

I have to give this two stars but am tempted for one since I DNF'd it. i managed about 40% and it was just boring. The character was boring and whined. I liked the cat...Hannibal for me was the star thus far! Just not for me. Kind of bummed as I really like her other works!

This story was interesting but I didn't get the creepy vibe I thought this one would've had. Creepy things happen, but I just didn't get that sense. I don't know if it's the way the story is told or the circumstances surrounding the ghost, but The Shape of Night was more run of the mill mystery than psychological suspense, and I definitely didn't find anything romantic about the story. Haunting or flesh and blood killer, either way, this mystery was way too easy to figure out, and you don't have to be an avid reader of the genre to get there. In the end, it's not a bad story, I just expected so much more.

This book was not at all what I was expecting, and I really enjoyed it. It’s a quick and easy read and it’s a little spooky which is great for this time of year.

Tess is one author that I love some of her books with a mad passion and some I just can't get into so it is really hit or miss for me. This book was a hit. Ava flees Boston for the summer after some trauma in her life and ends up renting a captain's home in Maine. As soon as she arrives the skin on her starts to crawl because things just do not feel right and her cat agrees. As she starts to delve into the town locals she finds out about many mysterious happenings that may or may not be connected to this house. The book and the characters were addictive and I was kept up wanting to know how this would end and what was really going on.

I just want to know what happened to the Tess Gerritsen I used to know and love. I adored the Rizzoli and Isles series, I've been a fan since the very beginning and her forensic knowledge and gripping mysteries have always made me gravitate towards her books. But this new bent she has toward the paranormal is just not my cup of tea.
This book is like 50 Shades of Grey with ghosts. And lots and lots and lots of drinking. Ava is nearly constantly drunk. There were times this book totally bordered on uncomfortable for me because erotica and paranormal are at the bottom of my list of preferred genres. I didn't care for Ava as a character because I thought she was a wimp and couldn't face some poor choices from the past (albeit made while...you guessed it...drunk).
I have been going back and forth between one and two stars, and I did finish the book, so that deserves a little credit. But if you think you're getting a smart mystery here, I'd advise you to steer clear and pick another book. If you like ghosts and drinking and sex with ghosts...go for it, you'll probably like it.

Ava Collette, still reeling from a tragedy that haunts her, decides to leave Boston and rent out a luxurious, newly renovated mansion in a remote village in Maine for the summer. She hopes the time away will give her the space she needs to finish the cookbook she’s writing.

But everything is not as it seems in coastal Maine. When she arrives, the mansion is still under construction and she starts hearing disturbing stories about its history. Rumor has it that Captain Jeremiah Brodie, who had the mansion built specifically for him long ago, still haunts the house and grounds. And sure enough, Ava begins catching glimpses of a tall, dark, and handsome stranger.

Then those glimpses turn into something more, and Ava begins to question her sanity. Mysterious sounds and visits in the night, bruises she can’t explain, and more, lead her to search out more information about Captain Brodie and this mysterious mansion with its many secrets.

It turns out every woman who has lived in this house over the years has also died in it, and Ava doesn’t know whether it’s the ghost of Captain Brodie at work or if a real-life killer is living among the residents of the tiny village. But she’s determined to find out.

Okay, so, this book. I have… some thoughts. Most of them not great.

~Spoilers aheads~

First of all, I am a HUGE Tess Gerritsen fan. I have read 21 of her books and short stories, and have almost all of her books as first edition hardcovers. So, the opportunity to read an ARC of this one on NetGalley was too good to pass up.

Most Gerritsen fans know she got her start as a Harlequin romance author before transitioning to suspense and hitting it big, first with her medical thrillers like Harvest and then her Rizzoli & Isles series, all of which I love.

The Shape of Night is definitely more Harlequin than suspense, which I wasn’t really expecting. I had gone in thinking this was a straight up gothic thriller based on the description, and yes, there are elements of that, but this is more 50 Shades of Grey with ghosts than anything else. And I was not prepared for that. I mean, pretty much every chapter had graphic and explicit sexual scenes, most of them not consensual. Ava’s straight up telling the ghost of Captain Brodie “no” in several scenes and he’s just like “I’m only doing what you secretly want me to,” and I mean, what??? Frankly, I’m really surprised that a book like this would even be accepted and published in the midst of the #MeToo movement. It’s discouraging, especially coming from an author I love so much, who usually writes such strong, empowering female characters.

And, I mean, I’ve read a few of Gerritsen’s Harlequin romances, and they’re way more tame sexually than this book. So, it felt really out of left field compared to any of her other books, romance or suspense.

And look, for those who are fans of 50 Shades, I think you’ll probably like this book. No one can argue with the fact that Gerritsen is a great writer. She knows how to craft a story that keeps you turning pages. But I feel like the marketing department really missed the mark with this book because positioning it as gothic suspense when it’s really paranormal romance feels misleading. And the elements of rape and sexual assault are incredibly disappointing. I know most publishers aren’t keen on trigger warnings, but this is a book that could have used one, especially when its genre is (in my opinion) completely miscategorized, which will lead to even more readers being unprepared for some of the main story elements.

Overall, this is by far my least favorite of Gerritsen’s books. Even if you took out the many problematic elements I’ve already mentioned, the “mystery” itself felt lackluster. You could spot the bad guy a mile away and there weren’t any unpredictable twists and turns plot-wise. Two out of five stars for me.

There's more than a touch of the paranormal in this book, so if ghosts and things that go bump in the night fall outside your credibility wheelhouse, you might want to skip this one. I, however, found it quite enjoyable - even nail-biting in spots.

It's set in an isolated century house on coastal Maine that's been rented for the summer by Boston cookbook writer Ava Collette. Professional carpenters are still finishing up restoration work on the deteriorated upper-level turret, but after they're gone for the day, Ava gets a distinct feeling she's still not alone. Not long after, she gets a more up-close-and-personal look; her "guest," it seems, may be the ghost of the home's original owner, Captain Brodie, who died at sea not long after building the house of his dreams. Ava's vision of him is so real, in fact, that she literally feels him touching her (always at night when she's in bed, so read into that what you will). Because he always seems to know exactly what Ava needs - both physically and emotionally - she begins to look forward to the visits.

But Ava, who provides a first-person account of what's happening, has a dark secret of her own from which she's trying to escape. And not long after the captain's nocturnal visits begin, she realizes the house holds many other secrets much darker than hers - all of which involve women with whom she bears an uncanny resemblance. Throw in a couple of past and present murders and a real wanna-be boyfriend who can't compete with the ghost in Ava's eyes, and the result is a suspense novel that's a little bit scary and a lot of fun. That said, I do admit to conjuring up the thought, every once in a while, that Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles - much-loved characters from the popular series also penned by this author - would have had a hoot dealing with the apparition that appears here.

Well done, and I thank to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy.

“Why did I think running away would solve anything? Wherever you go, you drag along your own misery…” The Shape of Night is a sensual and mysterious tale of longing, guilt, lust and murder. The characters are interesting and realistic. The plot will have you thinking long after you close the book for the day, as its twists can be a little creepy. Definitely thought provoking, The Shape of Night will keep you up at night!