A woman trying to outrun her past is drawn to a coastal village in Maine—and to a string of unsolved murders—in this novel of romance and psychological suspense from New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen.“Suspenseful, sexy, and soulful.”—J. R. Ward, bestselling author of the Black Dagger Brotherhood seriesAfter an unspeakable tragedy in Boston, Ava Collette flees to a remote village in … Ava Collette flees to a remote village in Maine, where she rents an old house named Brodie’s Watch.
In that isolated seaside mansion, Ava finally feels at peace . . . until she glimpses the long-dead sea captain who still resides there.
Rumor has it that Captain Jeremiah Brodie has haunted the house for more than a century. One night, Ava confronts the apparition, who feels all too real, and who welcomes her into his world—and into his arms. Even as Ava questions her own sanity, she eagerly looks forward to the captain’s ghostly visits. But she soon learns that the house she loves comes with a terrible secret, a secret that those in the village don’t want to reveal: Every woman who has ever lived in Brodie’s Watch has also died there. Is the ghost of Captain Brodie responsible, or is a flesh-and-blood killer at work? A killer who is even now circling closer to Ava?
Praise for The Shape of Night
“Gerritsen is at her atmospheric best in this spine-tingling tale of a lone woman, an old house, and all the secrets everyone tries to hide.”—Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“With a twisty mix of dangerous passion, obsession, and suspense, Tess Gerritsen reinvents the Gothic novel, giving it a razor-sharp, modern edge.”—Jayne Ann Krentz, New York Times bestselling author of Untouchable
“Curl up in your favorite reading chair and let Tess Gerritsen whisk you away to a coastal town reminiscent of Daphne du Maurier’s best settings. You are in for a dark and sexy night, and you will be up very late with Tess’s twisted, haunting tale.”—Iris Johansen, #1 New York Times bestselling author
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Unfortunately, I was very disappointed in this book. I have enjoyed the Rizzoli and Isles series and the other non-series books by Tess Gerritsen, but this book fell short of her normal quality. I’m not offended by the paranormal aspect, but when you factor in the main character’s alcohol issues and the sexual experiences, it was essentially an alcoholic pornographic story.
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Disappointing for Gerritson.
Pure escapism. Suspend your disbelief as you enter. There’s no room for it here, but this is a fast read, and one that I just enjoyed. Great holiday reading, long journey reading, killing time in a waiting room reading. Grabs you and keeps you glued. Thought it was fab.
The newest from one of my favorites, Tess Gerritsen, was just ok. I preordered the book expecting a mystery in the vein of the Rizzoli mysteries, and while I realized it was a standalone I was not really expecting the subject matter. The novel involves a food writer, who drinks too much, and goes to an old New England mansion to complete the book she is stalled on. We soon learn she harbors a guilty secret, thus the drinking. The twist — she also encounters a ghost who is akin to Christian Grey, so some steamy scenes and suspense. It was, frankly, kind of annoying and did not make for much of a story. Add to this the murder of the former tenant of the mansion, and you have a mystery, although not an engrossing one. With this I am done preordering Gerritsen’s books and will wait and read reviews next time before buying.
not your typical Tess Gerritsen book
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.
Great read! Tess will keep you hanging on the edge to finally figure out who the antagonist really is! Loved this story.
This was a quick, fun read, and completely different from the author’s previous titles – both her Rizzoli & Isles series and her stand-alone novels. I wouldn’t call it romantic suspense, as it’s being billed. There really isn’t anything at all romantic about what happens to Ava. I’d call it paranormal mystery/suspense leaning toward gothic – and well done!
“After an unspeakable tragedy in Boston, Ava Collette flees to a remote village in Maine, where she rents an old house named Brodie’s Watch, hoping to work on a cookbook inspired by New England cuisine that she’s been trying to finish for months. In that isolated seaside mansion, Ava finally feels at peace . . . until she glimpses the long-dead sea captain who still resides there.
Rumor has it that Captain Jeremiah Brodie has haunted the house for more than a century. One night, Ava confronts the apparition, who feels all too real, and who welcomes her into his world—and into his arms. Even as Ava questions her own sanity, she eagerly looks forward to the captain’s ghostly visits. But she soon learns that the house she loves comes with a terrible secret, a secret that those in the village don’t want to reveal: Every woman who has ever lived in Brodie’s Watch has also died there. Is the ghost of Captain Brodie responsible, or is a flesh-and-blood killer at work?”
The descriptive passages are terrific, bringing a long-dead ghost to life in vivid detail. I had no trouble at all picturing the house as it was in the Captain’s time, or believing the scenarios in which Ava found herself. I could absolutely see Hannibal the cat as he helped to rid the old house of its mouse population. I could almost taste the wonderful flavors in the meals Ava was testing for her cookbook. And I could very nearly smell the sea.
As with many of the author’s previous works, she kept me guessing right up until the big reveal – which I did not see coming. The Shape of Night is a well-written, fast-paced read with a satisfying conclusion, and I’d love to see more like this from this author. (But of course, keep writing those Rizzoli & Isles stories, too, please.)
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.
Ava is a great food blogger but a crappy sister. She feels immense guilt at her part in the tragedy which changed her sisters life. She has secluded herself on the Maine Coast to finish her latest book. Along with her huge cat, there are a couple of carpenters also rattling around at the house due to the building work going on.
While happily trying out recipes on her willing guinea pigs, Ava begins to feel uneasy. She seems to have a…ghostly visitor but can’t tell if they are there to help her or scare her! Add in 2 very handsome men who are vying for her affections and all of a sudden we are in a Gothic Romance!
There are some triggers on this book of sexual assault/rape, kidnapping/abduction – so please keep these in mind. Great atmospheric writing and a tense storyline. As a lover of Rizzoli and Isles this was a completele different feel of book and I heartily enjoyed it!
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 goes to Maine to hide and heal. A food critic, she is also 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 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.
The Shape of Night is a gothic paranormal mystery from the author of Rizzoli & Isles series. When I picked up this book, I did not expect it to be quite so creepy and erotic at the same time. I was pleasantly surprised.
The main heroine Ava leaves Boston and moves into an old house on the coast of Maine to write her cookbook and to escape some traumatic events of her past. The house appears to be haunted by the original owner, Captain Brodie, who died more than a hundred years ago. Also, the previous tenant, Charlotte, mysteriously disappeared. Was the ghost the reason for Charlotte’s disappearance or someone even more sinister? The longer Ava stays in the house, the more she believes she is in danger herself.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. As soon as I started reading it, I was engrossed and could not put it down. I did have to stop reading at night because I was too spooked. The Shape of Night is the perfect fall read; it’s creepy and atmospheric, an excellent ghost story to read in time for Haloween.
There is so much suspense. Did Ava really see a ghost or is there something/someone else causing the strange happenings? Or is Ava merely losing her mind. She came to Brodie’s Watch because she needed to get away from everything and to wrestle with her terrible guilt. She has seen the original owner of the house and some very strange things have happened, is it a ghost or some other entity. She gets to know some of the locals and realizes that some really weird things have happened over the years in the house. Will it happen to her? Will she die in the house like others before her?
Tess Gerritsen writes scintillating murder mysteries and this is no different. Ava is hiding from her sins when she comes face to face with her demon in the form of a ghost. She is mystified by the number of women who have died in the house she is renting. She starts an investigation to find out what is truly happening. There are secrets been kept by the people of the town and when she stumbles upon a suspect her life is in danger. The story will keep you turning the pages until the last shocking end. You will never guess who the killer is until it is revealed.
I received an ARC of this book. I read it in one day! I hated to put it down. It grabbed my interest from the first chapter. It is a haunting mystery with interesting characters set in a small Maine town. I really enjoyed this book.
Not my cup of tea
I have read and enjoyed part of author Gerritsen’s Rizzoli and Isles series and enjoyed the books very much.
This book just wasn’t the right fit for me. I read a lot of gothic romances when I was younger, enjoyed them, and outgrew them. This book just is too close to many of those books I used to read.
Ava Collette writes about food, embellishing her cookbooks with interesting info she happens across while researching.
She’s based in Boston but a tragedy piles on the guilt and shame and she decides to leave the big city for the summer. She ends up renting a mansion that overlooks the ocean and decides it’s a perfect place to finish her past-due project, get some rest, and drink a lot. And of course the mansion is haunted.
The book was written well (like all of Gerritsen’s work) but I didn’t like any of the characters and, as I wrote previously, I just didn’t like the storyline.
I received this book from Random House through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased 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.
Wow, this isn’t the usual type of book I’ve read by this author. This was different, unique and engrossing!
Ava Collette, a chef, is dealing with guilt and escapes to a very small town in Maine with her cat, Hannibal. She rents a very old home, Brodie Watch that is undergoing renovations so she can test and write her recipe book. The house was built by a sea captain, Jeremiah Brodie, who died at sea over a century ago. He is rumored to haunt the house. Ava doesn’t believe in ghosts.
Then one night, Ava notices her cat staring at something and soon hides under the bed. Ava sees an apparition who seems like a real person. The ghost promises that no harm will come to her while she is in his home. The ghost seems to know what she wants and knows her secrets. She begins to welcomes his visits and being in his arms. Ava develops a dependency on the ghost and starts to contemplate staying in the town.
Ava starts to question if the ghost is real and wants confirmation that she’s sane. She goes to the historical society to learn more about Jeremiah Brodie, and then seeks out a ghost hunter, Maeve Cerridwyn. Ava, also; reaches out to the previous renter to see if she noticed anything strange about the house.
Maeve and her crew show up with their equipment, and Kim, the team sensitive. Kim goes room to room to get a feel of the energy in the house, while the team sets up for an overnight stay. When Kim senses something terrible and evil, she announces that she can’t stay and flees.
After investigating, Maeve pleads with Ava to leave the house, because she uncovers that every woman that has lived in the house, they have also died there. Just as Ava is about to leave, Hannibal, is no where to be found.
I love the paranormal aspect of this story. The ending left me just wondering if the ghost was indeed real or imagined. At the beginning, the reader gets a feel that something horrific happened in Ava’s life, but we are left to wonder why she is so filled with guilt. It isn’t until all the pieces are put together that the reader learns it’s more than what was first thought.
I received an Advanced Reader’s Copy from NetGalley via Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine and I have voluntarily reviewed this book.
I have always l;loved her Rizzoli & Isles books so was looking forward to this book and it was totally different and that took some getting my head around. Once I got over the hangup in my own head enjoyed this book It is a very tangled read
Ava has rented a old mansion that is on a point looking out to sea. She tells everyone she needs the space to write her latest cookbook and needed the large kitchen but really she is on the run from her own guilt as she blames herself for her brother in laws death. Things take a strange twist when she meets the ghost of the sea captain that built the mansion but this ghost is definitely R rated and when he tells her he will protect her as many young women have died in the house you have to wonder who he will be saving her from This is a story that draws you in and has you questioning just who Ava needs protection from the ghost or something much more human
I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher and this is my honest review.
I believe this was my first book by the author, and overall I found it to be very well written with lots of twists and turns. Ava rents a house in Maine for the summer to finish up her book, at first glance she decided she wouldnt stay but once she entered the house she felt comfortable. What follows is a paranormal book that leaves you wanting more, it was hard to put the book down. I was surprised at how much I did enjoy the book. I would definitely recommend this book to those that enjoy supernatural or paranormal books.