精選書評：The Surgeon

作者：Tess Gerritsen
出版社：Ballantine Books
中譯版：外科醫生，春天出版

• 本書入選「亞馬遜一生必讀百大推理小說」，並被改編為美劇《Rizzoli & Isles》（妙探雙姝）。 
• 作者具有醫生身份，擅長將專業的醫學知識化作一般人能理解的故事，加上充滿畫面感的敘事風格，使本書令人欲罷不能。 
• 恐怖大師史蒂芬金也推薦閱讀。

預估閱讀時間：01:50
文章難度： ★★☆☆☆

“The most intimate feeling people can share is neither love nor hate, but pain.”

「人與人可以共享最親密的感覺不是愛，也不是仇恨，而是痛苦。」

--Tess Gerritsen, The Surgeon

Who is Tess Gerritsen? “The medical suspense queen,” says Publisher Weekly; “An automatic must-read in my house,” says Stephen King, the author of It and The Dark Tower. Originally a physician, Tess Gerritsen did not start writing until her maternity leave, and it was her first medical thriller Harvest that marked her debut on The New York Times Bestseller list.

泰絲格里森是誰？《出版人週刊》稱她是「醫學懸疑天后」；《牠》、《黑塔》作者史蒂芬金說，「泰絲格里森的作品我必讀。」原先是醫生的格里森，因為休產假開始寫作，她以醫學驚悚為主題的第一本小說《貝納德的墮落》則讓她登上紐約時報暢銷榜。

The Surgeon is about a killer who targets lone women and performs terrifying torture on the victims before killing them. “His surgical skills lead police to suspect he is a physician – a physician who, instead of saving lives, takes them.” Take a look at how the author depicts the scene and atmosphere:　

《外科醫生》講述一個針對孤單婦女的殺手，在殺人之前對受害者施加恐怖折磨。「他的手法令警 方懷疑他是醫生—一個奪取生命，而非拯救生命的醫生。」看看作者如何描繪場景和氛圍：

Thursday is a warm night. It is so warm that all across the city, windows are left open to catch every stray breeze, every cool breath of air.
星期四晚上很熱。熱得全城各處好多窗子都開著，好迎接每一波零星的微風，每一絲涼快的空氣。

You crouch on the fire escape, sweating in your dark clothes, staring into this bathroom. There is no sound; the woman is asleep in the bedroom.
你蹲在防火梯下，穿著一身深色衣服留著汗，看著這個臥室。四周安靜無聲，臥室裡的女人睡著了。

She has to be up early for her job at the florist’s and at this hour her sleep cycle is passing into its deepest, most unarousable phase. 
她明天一早得起床去花店上班，這時她的睡眠周期已經進入沉睡最深的時段，最不容易被吵醒。

She doesn’t hear the scratch of your putty knife as you pry open the screen.
她沒聽見你用刮鏟撬開紗窗時地刮擦聲。

（中譯：尤傳莉）

The imagery-evoking narrative combining with perfect translation of medical science to lay readers is probably the reason why Gerritsen’s novels are so addictive.

充滿畫面感的敘事風格、醫學化做一般讀者所能理解的故事，兩相結合，或許正是格里森的小說如此令人上癮的原因。

The Surgeon 德文版封面
(photo credit: Wiki) 

文/ Nikki Lu

本文收錄於英語島English Island 2018年9月號
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