After being a huge Gerritsen fan back in the day, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to read this one!
This is a belter. A gritty read with the well loved characters Rizzoli and Isles doing what they do best!
I have loved coming back to see these two again, they take me back to a time when I first started reading thrillers!
Gerritsen is still writing brilliant novels, with a complex plot which I really enjoyed working out what happened. Whilst the reveal wasn't as much of a 'woww' moment for me, it was cleverly crafted and I loved my trip down memory lane.

The wait is over! After a long five year wait, Rizzoli and Isles are back! I’ve been following this series for almost 20 years and I’ve enjoyed every installment enormously. Listen To Me was not the exception. Although this time Maura takes more of a back seat, she has a phenomenal replacement: Angela Rizzoli, Jane’s mum, busy body extraordinaire and self appointed investigator (much to her daughter’s regret!).
 
A nurse has been brutally murdered, bludgeoned to death in her own home. A widow living a quiet life, who would want to kill her? But behind that quiet facade, some weird calls are uncovered and will tie her death to a hit-and-run case months before. Meanwhile, Angela Rizzoli founds herself in the midst of her own mystery when a teen from her neighborhood disappears and a suspicious new couple moves across the Street.
 
Although I’ve enjoyed the series as it’s been until now, the prominence acquired by Angela’s character has been such a breath of fresh air, and her part of the story had a lighter feel. Interactions between she and Jane were so much fun, and it was awesome to get a deeper insight into their mother/daughter relationship.
 
Pacing was great and when I realized I was more than halfway through. The alternating storylines made the pages fly and I found myself equally gripped by both of them. Even though at first, all these storylines seemed a bit disjointed, at the end it was all nicely connected in a satifying (and a bit shocking) way.
 
Jane and Maura are as great as always, and though this is book 13 in the series, enough background info about both characters is provided if you wanna read this as a stand-alone.
 
Pacy and gripping mystery that will keep you guessing, with some beloved characters and a great new addition, that made of Listen To Me the perfect summer read. Hopefully we won’t have to wait another five years to meet Jane, Maura and Angela back!
 
Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I definitely have been missing Rizzoli and Isles and Tess Gerritsen didn’t let me down. I loved see Rizzoli’s Mom, Angela, more in this book but Isles wasn’t around as much as normal.
Angela has had too much extra time on her hands and has become the neighborhood watchdog. But sometimes you snooping comes in handy and other times it puts you in harms way. But don’t worry, with Rizzoli as your daughter, she will always save the day.
One of my favorite series!

Listen To Me by Tess Gerritsen
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First, I want to say man I have been missing out on a great series. I have watched some of Rizzoli & Isles on tv so I did have a general idea about the characters. Anyways this is the first book of the series I have read and boy was it good. I am glad that it could be read without feeling confused about the characters being book 13 of the series.

Secondly, This book revolved more around Jane Rizzoli's mom Angela who seems like a nosy neighbor. I really liked Angela how she was a bit of a nosy neighbor but for good reasons. Keep your neighborhood safe is always good for everyone. The story is good because so much is going on women is found dead. Angela's neighborhood is nothing what she thought it was. Jane is working fast to solve the dead women's crime which leads her all over the place. This is what made the story good so much happening that draws you in and keeps you there flipping the pages.

Finally, This is a five star read for me it was that entertaining it did not disappoint at all. I will go back and read the other books in the series. I highly recommend this book even if you haven't kept up with the series it still could be read as a standalone. I didn't feel lost about the characters Tess Gerritsen did a great job talking about the characters to get you caught up with the characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing for a free copy of this book for an honest review.

Listen to Me by Tess Gerritsen is a great addition to the Rizzoli and Isles series. I loved reading this story and I purposely only allowed myself to read a couple chapters at a time because I really wanted to savor the story and the characters for as long as possible. Needless to say, I enjoy the Rizzoli and Isles series and I always look forward to getting to come back to this world.

Listen to Me is the thirteenth novel in the Rizzoli and Isles series. While you could probably follow the plot without reading the previous volumes, you would miss out on a great deal of the character and relationship building done in those books, so I recommend starting at the beginning.

Everyone loved the victim. Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli has seen more than her share of crimes where plenty of people thought the perp had it coming, but the perplexing homicide involving a beloved ICU nurse is not one of those cases. Co-workers, neighbors and patients all agree that the murdered woman was an angel nobody would want to harm. And yet someone broke into her house and bludgeoned her to death. Medical examiner Maura Isles’ meticulous examination of the scene provides absolutely no clues as to who could have done it or why it happened. It’s a case that has Jane spinning her wheels, pulling at the slightest scrap of evidence in the hope that it will provide some kind of lead.

Which is exactly why she doesn’t need her mother Angela Rizzoli calling her all hours of the day and night to report on everything she sees through her window. The new neighbors, with their privacy fence, endlessly drawn curtains, and unwillingness to interact with the other denizens of the subdivision have Angela in a tizzy. She doesn’t understand why anyone would be so private if they didn’t have secrets to keep. And Angela hates secrets.

Fans of the series probably remember that in addition to the books there was a TV show very loosely based on these mysteries. And I do mean loosely – Jane’s husband actually disappeared completely after the first few episodes along with innumerable other characters and the two leads were written very differently from their book counterparts. One of the big changes was that Angela, who had been a very minor character in the books, became a major player in the show. Since the show was much, much more comedic than the books (as in the books are not comedic whatsoever), I was glad the author never allowed any crossover between her writing and the stuff they put on screen.

Unfortunately, that has ended with this particular novel. Angela’s role in this tale outstrips Maura’s and it gives the story a rather schizophrenic feel. On the one hand, we have Jane doing what is very typical of these stories – a thorough investigation of an intriguing mystery. The culprit is surprising – and frankly, rather horrifying – the motivating factor is among every parent’s worst nightmares and the trail we follow along with the detectives to get to the truth is satisfyingly complex. While Maura’s part is very small, it’s true to who she has been established to be in the books. She presents clinical, precise evidence to Jane and equally thoughtful opinions/hypotheses to go with them. As always, she is happy to play devil’s advocate in order to aid her friend in looking at the case from a different angle and help Jane avoid going down a rabbit hole after a pet theory that doesn’t hold up. Jane does her usual exhaustive investigation, following leads many cops would ignore and untangling threads until she has a perfect picture of what happened. Maura and Jane’s partnership, investigative styles and personalities, developed carefully over the entire set of books, hold true in this one. I genuinely appreciate an author who maintains consistency in her series and Gerritsen does that to perfection with the portions of the story that concentrate on the two leads.

My one problem with this novel is the juxtaposition of Jane’s meticulous police work and Angela’s slap-sticky, cozy-style amateur sleuthing. Angela bustles around her neighborhood asking ludicrous questions, taking crazy guesses as to what is going on, being completely wrong most of the time and yet managing to resolve not one but two major issues. She has a habit of excusing her calls to Jane and the local police department by quoting, “If you see something, say something” which became very grating very quickly. I very much appreciated the depiction of a fifty-something woman as desirable, intelligent and capable, but there is so much buffonery mixed in with that message that the moral is eventually buried beneath it.

Listen to Me isn’t a typical Rizzoli and Isles thriller, which leaves me two minds as to whether to recommend it. Fans of the books will, I think, enjoy the main mystery and Jane’s resolution of it. Fans of the show will be glad to see Angela in action. It’s a mixed bag but I think people on either side of those very different aisles will find it a satisfying edition to the lexicon, even if it isn’t likely to make anyone’s favorites list.

Rizzoli and Isles: Listen to Me by Tess Gerristen is the newest in this acclaimed series, which I must admit, I have never read before. Why? Coincidence, apparently, as I totally enjoyed this one.
Jane Rizzoli is a police detective and Maura Isles is a police coroner. The murder is victim is a 52-year-old Hispanic nurse with no record, no husband, no children, and really, not much of a life. Who would want to murder her? With a ton of police work and some intuition, her murder was solved, but not before several more took place. It was a convoluted mess, compounded by Angela Rizzoli, Jane’s mother, the self-appointed guardian of her neighborhood who turned over more than one mystery right from her own home. Jane and most of her neighbors thought she was a busy body and a pest, which she was, but she was so much more. Sometimes people don’t given women of a certain age enough credit.

Jane is middle-aged, with a husband and small daughter. She has a busy life, but she is a clever detective, putting the smallest, unrelated clues together to form a larger picture. Maura is an even more interesting character who is also a concert pianist and whose lover is a Catholic priest. If these two aren’t enough to unpack, maybe you have too much time on your hands. The crime is rooted in the past, to a murder 20 years earlier, hundred of miles away. That murder generated another almost immediately and then the killer went dormant for a number of years. It was not the clever police work, but the intuition that solved this crime. The reader had all the pieces, but the solution didn’t seem to make sense so we looked for something else. Gerristen is a master at plotting. It was a good read.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of Rizzoli and Isles: Listen to Me by Ballantine, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #netgalley #ballantine #tessgerritsen #rizzoliandisleslistentome

Pretty standard Rizzoli and Isles book. Too many POV. The mystery here is easy to figure out and pretty unlikely I think, relying as it does on a quirk of memory.

While I’ve read MANY of Tess Gerritsen’s books, this is my first of the Rizzoli & Isles series. Where have I been🤷‍♀️ it certainly won’t be my last!! This book can easily be read as a stand alone. Gerritsen weaves together three completely different crimes effortlessly in her newest book. With well thought out characters that you will love, this book was completely entertaining from the very first word until the very last period. I have some catching up to do, but am looking forward to getting to know Rizzoli and Isles much better in the very near future!

It has been a long wait for this installment in the Rizzoli & Isles series but it was worth it. I enjoyed revisiting these familiar characters and was pleased that Rizzoli's mom, Angela, played such a prominent role. Great characters with a well paced plot kept me turning the pages. The fairly predictable twists were not as suspenseful as I imagine they were intended but it did not detract from my enjoyment of the story. Strongly recommended

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the advanced reader copy.

As someone who has never read this series but watched the show, it was easy to drop into this story and just enjoy it, It wasn't necessary to know what had gone on in the previous book, this can be read as a standalone.

Jane and Maura are working on a new case, following the senseless murder of Sofia Suarez. A widow and nurse beloved by her co-workers and neighbors is found after being brutally attacked in her home. There aren't many clues until Jane makes a connection with a hit and run that happened months earlier.

Angela, Janes's mom watches her neighborhood like a hawk because she likes knowing what is going on around her. When the teen Jane once babysat goes missing, Angela reaches out to her daughter hoping she can help in any way possible. Then new neighbors move in who keep to themselves, unpack their belongs in the middle of the night, and keep in blinds drawn. Unnerved she tells her local police and when they dismiss her, she tells Jane. But everyone seems to think Angela is overreacting.

Thanks so much to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC to review.

The crime-fighting duo Rizzoli and Isles are back!

I’ve been a fan of Tess Gerritsen’s writing, with both this series and her stand-alones, for many years. So of course I wanted to love this book. Unfortunately, it was just an okay experience for me.

Listen to Me has far more of a cozy/drama feel than the dark/thriller vibes of the earlier books. Jane is working a case with potential to carry the story, but instead we spend a lot of time with Jane’s mother, Angela, as she noses around her neighborhood, taking it upon herself to investigate potential crimes, and getting involved in domestic issues. Angela came off as childish and demanding, as if she didn’t understand why her daughter couldn’t be at her beckon call.

I missed the edginess, and I figured things out pretty easily.

This is the 13th book in the series, but could be read as a stand-alone. It actually reads more like an episode of the TV show than any of the earlier books.

I was so happy to see a new book in this series! I’ve been a fan of this series for a long time and this new addition does not disappoint! The characters are all interesting and well developed. You do not have to have read other books in the series to enjoy this one. This book has multiple narrators: Jane, Maura, Angela and Amy, an accident victim. While Jane is trying to solve a murder, Angela is feeling lonely with Vince off in California taking care of his sister. This leads her to take even more notice of what is going on in the neighborhood. There are mysterious neighbors, a missing teenager, and a strange white van. She tries to express her concerns to her local police without any success and tries to get Jane involved. Everyone seems to have plausible explanations, but Angela is not convinced. Meanwhile, Jane is involved with the murder of a much-loved nurse and disregards her mother’s concerns. The twists and turns will keep you fascinated until the end. I couldn’t put it down!

Also reviewed at B&N under 1IrishEyes430 and Kobo under IrishEyes430

I was thrilled when I was offered this arc, I was not aware that Rizzoli and Isles was an actual novel. I have been a fan of the series since the first episode. Tess Gerritsen, a New York Times Bestselling author, has created characters that felt like good friends and I enjoyed having a visit with each person. I appreciated that Tess kept the character of Frost, since he was well missed from the television series.The story opens with the murder of Sofia Suarez, an ICU nurse. Why would someone takes the life of this well-liked critical care nures?
The writing was light and a pleasure to read. Often with reviews, I needed to read sections a second timein order to follow the plot. The writing was not earthshattering and the vocabulary was not a Virginia Woolf piece. This novel was a palate cleanser, a break from reading a highbrow novel. I do not like to antipate the conclusion of a novel, nor do I care for abrupt endings where I am surprised that I must have missed something. I enjoyed this novel from beginning to end and this would mke a great summer read.
It was interesting seeing the story through Angela's point of view, she lends a seperate perspective of a parent to a homicide detective. Angela was proud of Jane, but on the other hand, she was a mother who still has a lack of a goodnight's sleep. Jane does not back down and is quite brave. I enjoyed her saucy character, which is what I enjoyed with the television series.
Thank you Tess Gerritsen, Penguin Random House, and NetGalley for the privilege of reading and revieing thisn eARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

⏰ 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫: Jane Rizzoli is trying to solve the baffling homicide of a normal everyone-loves-her nurse, murdered in her own home. Except Jane’s mom Angela is convinced something is amiss in her idyllic suburban neighborhood when a local teen is missing , so she continuously Karen-calls Jane to investigate. Ugh mothers. But could Angela be on to something sinister?

💡𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬: This latest Rizzoli installment is a proverbial breath of blessed air in the running series, focusing o bit on Angela Rizzoli - retired, bored, kinda-Karening her ‘hood in search of something wrong, marking herself as the local busy body. And Angela is convinced something is wrong. Jane is eye rolling her way through the ordeal with a REAL murder to solve - and this one is a head scratcher.

The plot on this one was predictable but not less enjoyable because of Gerritsen’s deft pacing - a beach read mystery perfect for that summer getaway; this is a novel to be read in one big helping, with each page flying by as the gripping story unfolds leaving the reader picking that jaw up off the floor. Yup, pick it up.

Maura Isles takes the back seat on this one but to learn about Angela? The comic relief from this unique mother-daughter duo was worth it. 🤦🏼‍♀️

𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆𝗠𝗮𝗴𝘀.𝗰𝗼𝗺 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

📚𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Mystery/Police Procedural

😍𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨: All the R&I fans of course but universally an awesome read and yup - you could follow without having read previous novels.

🙅‍♀️ 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨: Can’t pick anything out. Gore level 6/10 to help ya out.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley and Random House Publishing - Ballantine for my advanced copy in exchange for my always-honest review and for introducing Angela, the mom we are all kinda lucky to have as we get older.

I missed Rizzoli and Isles on TV and in books.
But now that they are back, this book is not to be missed. There is the murder of a well liked ICU nurse with no reason for her killing and Jane’s mother is very nosey as to what is going on with her new neighbors across the street. Tess Gerritsen writes a book that ties it all together in another wonderful series that I hope we, as her readers, get to enjoy for a longtime to come. I received an early copy of this book from Netgalley and the Publisher, Random House, Ballantine Books. This review is my honest opinion. #4.5 Stars

I received an ARC of this book. I've always enjoyed the Rizzoli & Isles tv series, but this is the first time I've read one of the books. I'm so glad I did! The book was even better than watching a show. I love the characters. This story was awesome!

Another solid installment in the Rizzoli & Isles series. This book is told from multiple POVs including Jane’s, Maura’s, and Angela’s. It also has a couple of different cases going at the same time.

My only negative is that I actually prefer the women’s relationship & family dynamic that is portrayed in the TV show in comparison to the different relationships in the book.

Thank you @netgalley and @randomhouse for allowing me to read this book ahead of publication in exchange for my honest review.

This book should have been titled "Listen to Mom," "Don't Mess with a Mom," "What Mom Knows" or something along those lines. Moms play a huge part in this long awaited and needed new installment in the series. I loved that Angela, Jane's mom, takes center stage with her own point of view throughout the book. Her busybody neighbor character offers both a different insight and a little levity into a book with plenty of violence. We all know someone just like her! The twists and reveals were surprising. And as always, I love the continuing development of the various characters in the Rizzoli and Isles world. I hope this means the series is back with regular installments.

Another great book in the Rizzoli & Isles series. Though this one seemed a little more easy to figure out than previous books, I really enjoyed getting to spend more time with Angela.