Looking beyond the bad reviews
My last blogpost was all about ignoring bad reviews and moving on. Hah, if only I could! We authors have trouble moving on. We can quote verbatim that awful review we got in the Podunk Gazette back in 1982, while we forget all the good things that have been said about our books. So in the spirit of looking on the positive side, I will steadfastly avoid mentioning the two Reviewers-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named who slimed THE BONE GARDEN.
Well, okay, you twisted my arm. They were Publishers Weekly and some guy named David Pitt who made the jaw-dropping comment that he didn’t see the point of using Oliver Wendell Holmes in the story when any fictional character would have served the story just as well. Hello?  A book about childbed fever? A disease that the real Dr. Holmes almost single-handedly stamped out in America? Yeah, and if I’d written a Revolutionary War novel, Mr. Pitt probably would have groused, “why use George Washington as a character when any fictional first President would have worked just as well?”
But I digress.
The point is, I’m obsessing over those two bad reviews when there’ve been many more great reviews of BONE GARDEN. And now it’s time to mention them, if only to make myself feel better. So here goes, with links when I could get them:
KIRKUS (starred review): “Readers with delicate stomachs may find Gerritsen’s graphic descriptions of corpse dissection hard to take, but the story, which digs up a dark Boston of times long past, entices readers to keep turning pages long after their bedtimes.”
USA TODAY: “Lively dialogue and a pitch-perfect narrative make for a highly engrossing novel.”
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS (Colorado):Â “Mixing the gruesomely bloody with the scientifically compelling, this time-traveling tale never misses its mark.”
SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL (Oline Cogdill): “No matter how graphic the medical scenes are, it is the poignant stories of Gerritsen’s well-developed characters that make “The Bone Garden” one of her best.”
THE GLOBE AND MAIL (Toronto): “Gerritsen knows how to do historical detail: the plot, with ghouls and grave-robbers is great, and the mystery of the body in the modern yard is well done, too. This is one of Gerritsen’s best.”
THE GAZETTE (Montreal): “I adore a historical novel, particularly a mystery, and The Bone Garden is one such book. It’s a ripping good read, and I learned something, too.”
OTTAWA CITIZEN (Canada): “An intriguing departure for Gerritsen… Shifting deftly back and forth between the present and 1830 Boston, she creates a compelling and historically detailed narrative about an earnest med student, illicit cadavers, brutal murders, and the state of medicine at that time.”
MADISON COUNTY HERALD (Mississippi): “A bold and unexpected new direction from the queen of medical suspense… The Bone Garden is as thrilling as it is horrific, combining a shameful time in American medical history with murder and intrigue a la Sherlock Holmes.” Â
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM: “Tess Gerritsen is a master technician whose specialty is cauldrons of blood, pus and treachery. It may keep you up at night, but that’s the point. It works.”
DAILY AMERICAN (Somerset County, PA): “This is a fascinating look at early medical science, as well as a good, character-driven mystery. The murderer will come as a complete surprise.”
BOSTON GLOBE: “The medical practices that Gerritsen depicts are fascinating. In addition to the well-drawn scenes in the hospital, she takes readers on grisly journeys with a procurer of cadavers, to be used in the training of medical students. Here, too, she calls on her experience as a physician to render situations in excruciatingly horrific detail.”
MYSTERY NEWS: Tess Gerritsen tells her story beautifully, with just a smidgen of humor… Her own medical background is evident and her peering into a true historical past just adds to the enjoyment.”
WICHITA EAGLE: “Gerritsen brings 1830s Boston to life with vivid detail, from the stench and squalor of Rose’s rented room to the delectable opulence of the doctors’ parties… Aside from the chilling suspense and well-plotted mystery, THE BONE GARDEN certainly makes us appreciate how far medicine has come.”
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: “With realistic detail, Gerritsen describes the unimaginable living conditions endured then by the poor… Richly plotted, with superbly developed characters, it’s a suspense thriller likely to keep you reading into the wee hours.”
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