Unoriginal, unrealistic, and eye-rollingly bad. Gerritsen is my all-time favourite author and 85% of her books are phenomenal, but I’m convinced Presumed Guilty was written by a 13 year old.

Great from beginning to end!

Tess Gerritsen writes consistently good books. However, for me, the kind of good they are varies depending upon the era they come from. Presumed Guilty falls into her romantic thriller category, which is my least favourite category for her work. Don’t get me wrong, the books that fall into this category are still great, but there is far too much of a romantic focus (as the category title would suggest).

If you’re a fan of all of Geritsen’s work – by that I mean you have read her early nineties stuff and not just her Rizzoli and Isles books – then by all means give Presumed Guilty a try. I’m sure you’ll adore it, in its own way, as I did. However, if you have only read her crime thrillers, be aware that you get something quite different in these books.

There is the consistent mystery across all of her books. You are always trying to uncover some hidden facts. When it comes to her romance thrillers, though, you have a predetermined ending in a number of ways. You get the lead male. You get the lead female. You know they’re going to get a happily ever after – together. It ruins quite a few aspects of the story for me, with attention being focused upon forming a relationship between the two. Why does this relationship need to be formed? Because we have a consistent main character initial hatred. Alone the thriller aspects are wonderful, if not short, but with the romantic aspect you have a tale of old that has been done many times before.

This time the tale revolves are a case of mistaken blame. Our lead female is accused of murdering her lover. She didn’t do it, of course, we know this from the get go – but nobody will believe her words. Moreover, it seems as though people are out to make her seem as guilty as possible, through throwing more and more damning evidence in her direction. Our lead male is out to find out what truly happened to his brother. Why did this female kill him? Is she actually the one to blame? Whether or not he believes her cries of innocence, she seems to be the only way for him to get his answers. Thus, he starts working with her… and as you would expect the romance kicks in despite everyone knowing better.

It’s a storyline that already exists in the genre, but with Gerritsen you’re kept on the edge of your seat throughout as you guess all that is going on. Whilst some of it is predictable, it’s certainly an interesting read.

Overall, we still have a four star book. It is a weaker four stars than her Rizzoli and Isles books – the Rizzoli and Isles books are four stars working towards five, for me, whereas this is a four stars with the occasional slip into three star territory (mainly through my inability to deal with too much romance at once) – but it is still a four star read.

Certainly give it a read if you enjoy Gerritsen or romantic thriller.

Not bad, but not particularly good either. My first Tess Gerritsen book but I don't know if there'll be a second, though I've heard plenty of people say her early stuff isn't as good as her later. Also I'm just not much of a fan of romance in thrillers/crime fiction.

Perfect holiday book. Interesting storyline and well developed plot.