Vanish by Tess Gerritsen

A nameless, beautiful woman appears to be just another corpse in the morgue. An apparent suicide, she lies on a gurney, awaiting the dissecting scalpel of medical examiner Maura Isles. But when Maura unzips the body bag and looks down at the body, she gets the fright of her life. The corpse opens its eyes. Very much alive, the woman is rushed to the hospital, where with shockingly cool precision, she murders a security guard and seizes hostages . . . one of them a pregnant patient, Jane Rizzoli.

The story alternates between the past (a group of Soviet girls brought to the U.S. and forced into prostitution) and the present (a hostage situation in a hospital).  The two plots eventually mesh together with lots of turns and surprises.  My standard for a thriller rates three areas: pace, predictability and gore.  Vanish rates well in all three categories.  The action moves fast, keeps you guessing and, although there is considerable bloodshed and violence, it isn't graphic.

This was my first Gerritsen book and, In usual fashion, I jumped into the middle of the series.  In this instance, it may have helped to start at the beginning and have more background on Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles.  Jane, especially, came across very superficially, so I think the previous four novels would have been a big help.  I would rate this one a 4 out of 5 and I plan to catch up on this series.

Gerritsen was my random author for the Take a Chance Challenge at my library.