Quotes by Tess Gerritsen

Because I never plan anything out ahead of time, Im always in the process of learning about my characters. Without a biographical sketch to guide me, I discover things about my heroines as the stories unfold. Only in Body Double did I discover that Mauras mother was a serial killer.

I was a writer first, and knew Id be a storyteller at age seven. But since my parents are very practical, they urged me to go into a profession that would be far more secure, so I went to medical school.

My dad was Chinese-American and very conservative when it came to his familys futures. He said if I wanted to have a secure job, I should go into science. So I did what Dad said and went to medical school, but the writing bug never left me.

I met my husband, Jacob, in medical school. We married and went to live in Hawaii where his family lived. It was very beautiful, but I wasnt used to being on an island and needed wide open spaces. Eventually we moved to Maine, New England.

I think of myself as a fairly logical, scientific and somewhat reserved person. Maura Isles, the Boston medical examiner who appears in five of my books, is me. Almost everything I use in describing her, from her taste in wine to her biographical data, is taken from my own family. Except I dont have a serial killer as a mother!

I think what medical training does is it gives you the language, the tools to look up facts. I think medical training gives you a sense of how to approach a problem, how to look at symptoms and go down the list of what it might be.

Writing is very much an emotional process; it requires you to be very in touch with your feelings. That is the opposite of what youre taught as a medical doctor. Were supposed to be detached and logical. Maybe because I started off as a writer and then became a doctor, Im able to integrate those two.

My dads cooking was magic in the kitchen. But eventually over the years, his personality changed and his ability to remember recipes failed. He became paranoid and thought people were stealing from him, when often he was just misplacing things.

Because my dads Chinese-American, and theyre very concrete, he said, Theres no money to be made in literature. So he told me to go into the sciences. And I was a good girl. And I did what Daddy said. And thats how I ended up being a doctor. But you know, you just cant stamp out that desire to tell stories.

“The dead do not hurt you; only the living do.”

“With every year that I grow older, I also draw closer to (my loved ones) to the day when we will once again be together. So I march through the deepening shadows, serene and unafraid, because I know that at the end of my journey they will be waiting for me.”

“The heart makes its choices without weighing the consequences. It doesnt look ahead to the lonely nights that follow.”