I love Tess Gerritsens books, great suspense. Sprinkled throughout is mystery, suspense and even some ghosts. Al you can do is keep turning the page and enjoy the ride

I have been a fan of the author's medical thrillers and this one is a bit of a departure from that. Ava comes to a small town in Maine to finish her book and deal with the fallout of an indiscretion on New Year's eve with her sister's husband. She settles in an old mansion that is said to be haunted. Ava finds the house a little creepy, but likes the views and isolation. She becomes curious about the history of the house and soon the ghost of Caption Brodie, the house's original owner appears. This is where the book gets weird. The Captain wants Ava sexually and the next thing you know he takes her back in time through the turret of the house into his sex dungeon. As Ava does more research on the house she realizes the former owners have died and she gets scared. The ending was a bit of a surprise. In all the book was a quick read and I enjoyed it, though I didn't need the time travel and S&M.

Oh my - romance, mystery, history, architecture, seafaring captains, delectable food. What more could a girl want? Ava is an emotionally wounded cookbook author seeking a place to test her recipes and write in solace. She picks a coastal town in Maine that offers her a mansion on a hill, named Brodie’s Watch. Over 150 years ago a seafaring captain built this historic house and then perished at sea. What she finds is a welcoming house under renovation. Maybe a little too welcome when things start appearing in the night. Ghost? Demon? Apparition lover? Is Ava losing her mind or being haunted? Meanwhile she learns women have previously died in the house while the town doctor starts a romance with her at the same time she has to deal with her estranged sister. It all becomes too much and something has to give, but what will that be? Just read it already!

This was certainly a departure from books by Tess Gerritsen I've read in the past. I was expecting Rizzoli and Isles and got - - Victoria Holt? Which is fine except that it required a bit more "willing suspension of disbelief" than I was in the mood to give. The characters were interesting enough and the setting gave it the proper gothic feeling. It's an entertaining book - - as long as you aren't expecting Gerritsen's usual crime fiction.

For years I have enjoyed reading Tess Gerritsen’s RIZZOLI & ISLES series of books and watching the television series, so I could not wait to read THE SHAPE OF NIGHT, one of her standalone thrillers. Though I love books centered around the paranormal, this one just wasn’t for me. The main issue I had was my inability to connect with and really care about the main character and narrator, Ava.

PLAYING WITH FIRE is the next Tess Gerritsen standalone thriller on my to-be-read list, and I can’t wait!

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, for providing me with an advance copy of THE SHAPE OF NIGHT in exchange for an honest review.

The Shape of Night is an abrupt departure from this author’s usual police procedural. It’s an atmospheric gothic romantic suspense story with some modern twists thrown in.

Ava has a terrible guilt-driven secret. In addition, she is over a year past the publisher’s deadline on her latest cookbook. Hoping to escape her guilt, Ava rents a remote old house on the windswept Maine coast. The house is incredibly cheap because it is still undergoing renovation and the previous tenant left without giving notice.

Ava soon sees the ghost of the former owner of the house, 1800s Sea Captain Brodie. When he appears in her bedroom, they start a unique relationship involving Ava’s guilt and the Captain’s unusual method of helping her get over it. Will he really never hurt her in his house as he promised? Or is there something darker afoot?

The entire plot of the Shape of Night is unexpected. It is a slow-burning gothic suspense novel mixed with a modern amateur sleuth story. There are actually three mysteries involved. What is Ava’s secret? Who or what is Captain Brodie—a benevolent ghost or a vindictive demon? What caused the previous tenant of the house to run away one night never to return?

I thought that the atmospheric gothic feel of the novel was pitch-perfect. I had some issues with the mysteries. One was too easy to figure out. Another was wrapped up too quickly at the end of the book—though in an exciting way. The other was never clearly answered.

Surprisingly, since I am a mystery reader, I enjoyed the paranormal aspects of this novel the most. That part of the plot was engrossing making this book a compelling page-turner. However, the mysteries left me underwhelmed for the reasons I stated above. Because of that schism, it is hard to rate this book. However, since I love genre mash-ups, I’ll round up to 4 stars!

Thanks to Ballantine, Random House and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

I am a huge fan of the rizzoli snd isles series. The writing, the chemistry between characters, etc. so I was thrilled to learn of this story and could not wait to check it out!

Well...I found this book to have a great balance of intrigue, mystery, crime, romance and family love. There is certainly a question of harm/evil, but is it paranormal or human? A dark secret or more also exist and some questions do remain unanswered! Loved the twists in the story and the vivid descriptions of home and geography. Certainly a page turner and I loved the incorporation of flashbacks.

Thank you for the chance to read this book and share my opinion!

The Shape of Night is a suspenseful novel that is full of the interesting characters. It is the entertaining read that Tess Gerritsen is known for. When a fantastic summer rental suddenly becomes available on the Maine coast, Ava jumps at the opportunity. She hopes that the time away from her Boston home will allow her to finish writing her cookbook and to get her life in order. Ava drinks too much and is estranged from her beloved sister. The Maine house was built in 1861 and is called Brodie's Watch. Captain Brodie made his fortune sailing between Maine and Shanghai. Ava begins to see Captain Brodie's ghost and is entranced by him. Is the house haunted? Ava discovers a designer scarf left behind by the previous tenant leave who broke her lease. Why did she leave the house suddenly and where is she? The Shape of Night is a page turner that should not be missed.

This book was very different from other Tess Gerritsen books I have read. It is part ghost story, part suspense, part dark romance (kind of?). Ave is not a very sympathetic character and you get the gist of why she is on a self-destructive path pretty early. However, it is not really said out loud until late in the book. So when it is revealed, it was pretty anti-climatic. The suspense part was the saving aspect of the book for me. You didn't really know what was happening until the last few chapters.

Not the type of story that I have become accustomed to from Tess, but still pulled me in. Can guilt make one conjure up a ghostly being or is Brodie's Watch truly haunted? Is Captain Brodie still haunting his house a century and a half later after being lost at sea? Or is Ava so guilt ridden by a past incident that she is imagining the house has a hold on her.

The Shape of Night
By Tess Gerritsen

I took a chance with requesting, "The Shape of Night," by Tess Gerritsen. What an absolute polished writer she is. I am aware that she has been an internationally bestselling author for many, many years. I wasn't expecting to be so completely dazzled by her writing style. From the very first page until the last I enjoyed and was mesmerized by how this author can integrate great storytelling with minimal characters and be such an absolute pleasure to read. Perhaps because the locations she has set this spooky and atmospheric tale are locations that I am familiar with is part of the reason I could picture the vivid scenery in my head as if I were watching a good movie.

This book is a stand alone which I didn't realize until I started reading it because I was clueless as to what this one was about. It is a perfect Halloween read . So aptly perfect for its publication date of October 1, 2019. It is a charming story about a woman named Ava who has rented a mansion to finish her overdue manuscript which is a cookbook featuring traditional New England recipes. She has rented a mansion that overlooks the ocean in a coastal quaint Maine small town where everyone knows everyone else's business. You can smell the briny, salty sea and the house is let us say haunted.

Ava is haunted herself and running from a past traumatic experience that we as readers don't know what happened for most of the novel. She drinks heavily at night to escape the guilt and shame she feels just to be able to fall asleep at night. She is totally likable and I found myself thinking while reading that she drinks an awful lot. I really did love this book. Even though the narrative has only one main character, the author writes so skillfully with warmth that I was so sad when I finished reading. Isn't that the sign of a magnificent book that you are left wanting more? I highly recommend trying Tess Gerritsen if you haven't had the pleasure of reading her work. I am so glad that I have discovered her and I will be reading more of her accomplishments as she has piqued my interest to read her other stand alone books.

Thank you to Net Galley, Tess Gerritsen and Ballantine Books for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

I don't usually enjoy ghost-romances very much, but this one held my interest and I enjoyed it to the end.

This is the type of book I love! A woman, trying to outrun her past is drawn to a quiet coastal town in Maine- and to a string of unsolved murders. Great book of romantic suspense. She is consumed with her quest to solve this disturbing mystery.
You will love it!

I received a free ARC from Net Galley in exchange for my honest review.

The Shape of Night by Tess Gerritson is a murder mystery. Or is it a romance? Or is it a ghost story? Or is it women's fiction about a woman coming to grips with her past? Or is it all of these? What a very interesting book. Ava Collette has rented a house in Maine to hole up in for a few months to finish writing her cookbook. It is a year overdue and she has been paid for it. It is going to be all about historic Maine recipes but before she can select a recipe she has to try it out. So she does and feed the two workmen in the house she has rented: Ned and Billy. They are more than happy. But, she feels a presence, a ghost. For the cookbook and her own curiosity, she does some research on the house but doesn't come up with much other than the bare facts. She continues to see the ghost so she contacts a "ghost chaser," Maeve Cerridwyn. Maeve researches, and eventually comes to visit, then brings a film crew. Everything is getting stranger and stranger. Where will it end?

The Shape of Night is definitely a setting driven book. From the first few pages, the setting takes from and center as the lead in this book. Nearly everything that happens, happens there or is related to it. Other people have lived in this house, on this beach. Have all of them seen the ghost, too? Then there is the missing woman, Charlotte, who had rented the house before Ava, but left quickly with not much of a reason. Where is she? And the very odd owner of the house: a retired college professor who owns a multi-million dollar home. Such an odd set of facts. Is it that Ava drinks every night, most nights into oblivion. It's all too much. What a fabulous book this was. It kept me on my feet, wondering when Captain Brodie would appear and what personality he would assume. What is real? What is not? I cannot recommend it highly enough.

I received a free ARC of The Shape of Night from Netgalley. All opinions and interpretations contained herein are solely my own.

The Shape of the Night

Author: Tess Gerritsen

Pages:288

Genre: Mystery

October 1,2019

Rating: 4



A woman trying to outrun her past is drawn to a quiet coastal town in Maine–and to a string of unsolved murders–in this haunting tale of romantic suspense from New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen.

Ava Collette is punishing herself for an unspeakable tragedy. So she flees Boston and rents an old home named Brodie’s Watch on a remote coastal peninsula of Maine, hoping to work on a cookbook inspired by New England cuisine that she’s been trying to finish for months. She immediately feels at peace in the isolated house–until she starts to hear strange noises.

Rumor has it that a sea captain named Brodie has haunted the house for decades. Then, one night, Ava is awakened to find herself face to face with an apparition who looks–and feels–all too real. Meanwhile, there’s been a series of accidental deaths nearby that don’t add up. And as Ava starts to check into the previous renter’s mysterious disappearance, she starts to realize that there’s a disturbing secret some in town are desperate to keep hidden.

Soon all of Ava’s waking hours are consumed by her investigation, and her nights are ignited by Captain Brodie’s ghostly visits. But even as she questions her own sanity, she knows she must uncover the truth before a killer strikes again.



My thoughts

Would I recommend it?yes

Will I read anything else thing else by this author? yes

Will it was way different then I was excepting from this author ,it shows that she can write other stories that is way different from the series she's known for, and it has a touch of The Ghost and Mrs.Muir mixed with a murder as well as dissapance , and a bit of romance. And if your expecting it to be like her other works then this just might not be for you , because it's more along the lines of a gothic paranormal stand-alone mystery, which was one of the reasons I requested it from Netgalley and I'm so glad I did, while there was times you have to ask yourself is Ava dreaming or is this happening because Ava might be losing her sanity , or is there more to the picture then what you can see, just like her books this one is field with suspense that had me hooked from the beginning to the ever end and kept me guessing on to trust and who not to trust , with that said I want to thank Netgalley for letting me read and review it and I can't wait to read more by her .

A twisted tale of secrets and danger, I am glad I had an opportunity to review an advanced reader copy of this great book from Netgalley and Random House Publishing - Ballantine Books.
Running from something that she cannot confess, not even to her sister, Ava leaves Boston and flees to Maine to hide and heal. A food critic, she is hoping that by leaving Boston she will be able to finally finish the overdue food book that she is writing. Looking for peace, she rents a seaside home that has held many secrets and is reported to be haunted. As the days pass, Ava too begins to believe the rumors that the house is haunted. She is drawn into evil dreams that are so real that she fears for her sanity. Tess Gerritsen has written a book that is a real change for her and I look forward to reading another of this kind of book from her.
The above review is my honest thoughts and opinion.

he Shape of Night by Tess Gerritsen is a complete departure from books I have previously read by this author, primarily because it is being billed as romance which I don’t read.
Ava is a cookbook writer who moves to a secluded village in Maine to not only finish her long overdue cookbook but also to escape from Boston and some unnamed horror there.
Of course you can’t escape and Ava soon finds herself in the middle of strange happenings both in the village and in the house she is renting.
Tess Gerritsen has always been one of my favorite mystery writers and even delving into romance does not detract from her ability to write a great story. That being said this is not my type of book so this will never be a favorite of mine but I am sure people who read romances will love this book.
Thanks to NetGalley for the free advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Shape of the Night by Tess Gerritsen was a thriller. A mixture of paranormal and creepy stalker that was interesting to say the least. The main character, Ava haunted by guilt and remorse moves to a remote location in Maine. She moves into an old mansion set on the cliffs right out of a horror story. However, Ava is determined to finish her newest book, a cookbook, and find herself. The problem with that, includes a ghost from the past, Captain Jeremiah Brodie, local legends, gossipy old ladies, one huge Maine Coon Cat and a couple of nice guys. Hard to believe all that works into this mystery, but it does.

I liked the story line, which is saying a lot as I do not normally like anything with paranormal elements. I loved how the house became an integral part of the story and made the story seem more gothic in nature. Tess Gerritsen’s newest novel The Shape of the Night was a good read.

I've heard wonderful things about this author and was excited to see one of her books on Net Galley, since she is an author I haven't (but wanted to) read. The description of the book seemed like something that was right up my alley. I quite enjoy most paranormal thrillers. Once I started reading though, I quickly found that this wasn't really what I was hoping it to be. Since I have no real frame of reference towards her other books, I can't say if it's any better or any worse than them (but from what I have heard, her Rizolli & Isles books are wonderful). I found that all of the elements of this book, separately seemed to be ok, but when lumped altogether in one book, just didn't work for me. I was a bit disappointed but I am willing to give the author another shot. Maybe next time I will try one of the Rizzoli & Isles books.


*I received a free copy of this book from the publisher and Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.*

3 1/2 ⭐️‘s

“I think of the first time I saw Brodie’s Watch and the chill I felt, as if the house was warning me away. Tucker Cove seems quaint and picturesque, but it’s also a village that guards its secrets and protects its own. This is the house where I should have died, but instead learned to live again.”

Gerritsen does a nice job with a modern day gothic ghost story. Brodie’s Watch is the perfect “haunted house”. With all of the key elements, Gerritsen keeps us on edge throughout. While I like a good ghost story, there were aspects of this one that I felt went too far and I ended up not liking, while other aspects worked quite well. With just a hint of the first season of American Horror Story and the Haunting of Hill House, this is a book that will hook many from start to finish.