Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: New Rizzoli & Isles Novel

If you're a fan of the Rizzoli & Isles TV series and you're bummed because the third season is ending, don't be. A new Rizzoli & Isles novel is here! In Tess Gerritsen's The Last to Die, the students at Evensong, a school deep in the Maine wilderness, study science and investigative techniques to prepare for careers in crime fighting. That's where medical examiner Maura Isles goes to visit 16 year old Rat Perkins, and that's where Det. Jane Rizzoli decides to hide Teddy when the rest of his foster family is murdered. An unspeakable secret dooms the fate of the children at the school unless Jane and Maura can put an end to an obsessed killer's quest. Suspense doesn't get any better than this.

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Genre: Adult Non-Fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5

"Being Mortal is about the limitations of what modern medicine can provide for people as their lives draw to a close. Gawande argues that the objective of medicine should not merely be treatment and survival; medical care should also ensure dignity in death and having control over one's final moments. He argues that instead of aggressively fighting the inescapable realities of aging, we should ask the hard questions of ourselves and our loved ones -- What makes life worth living? When should we try to extend our lives, and when should we choose a better quality of our remaining days over extending their quantity?

This book is difficult to read. Not because of the way Gawande writes -- his style is highly engaging, and he never lapses into excessively scientific jargon or overly simplistic explanations -- but because of the tough subject matter. Gawande draws on his own experiences as a doctor and peppers his book with honest and humane stories of his patients, friends, and family; the stories he tells make the book more accessible, and also more heartbreaking. (And that's not a bad thing.)

No one likes to think about their loved ones', or their own, impending mortality. But it's important to have these hard conversations, because as Gawande says, "endings matter." - Amanda

New Rizzoli & Isles Novel

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