Quick Review: THE SUMMER GUESTS by Tess Gerritsen (Thomas & Mercer/Penguin)

GerritsenT-MC2-SummerGuestsUSHCThe excellent second novel in the Martini Club series

When former spy Maggie Bird retired to the seaside hamlet of Purity, Maine, she settled in for a quiet life with breathtaking views. But enemies from her past soon threatened to destroy everything.

Maggie survived, thanks to her wits and the collective intelligence of the Martini Club, the circle of ex-CIA friends in her cocktail-sipping book club. Their handiwork, however, caught the attention of young police chief Jo Thibodeau. Now Jo and her neighborhood ex-spies have an uneasy alliance.

After a teenager vanishes ― and Maggie’s neighbor becomes the prime suspect ― she joins the investigation, determined to prove her friend’s innocence. But the girl’s wealthy family pushes for an arrest. And when authorities discover a long-dead corpse in a nearby pond, the case becomes doubly complicated, with unthinkable ties to long-buried secrets.

As Jo grapples with two unexplained mysteries, the Martini Club races to uncover the truth behind shadowy secrets… before more lives are lost.

The Spy Coast, Gerritsen’s first novel featuring the Martini Club, was the first of the author’s novels that I read and it quickly hooked me, and ever since finishing it I’ve been eagerly anticipating the sequel. While it isn’t published until March 2025, I was lucky to receive a DRC of The Summer Guests, which I started right away, and blitzed through — I’m very happy to report that it’s an excellent continuation of the series! Continue reading

New Books (August-September)

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Featuring: Rachel Aaron, Tess Gerritsen, Daryl Gregory, Peter Heller, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Matthew Reilly, James Rollins, Brian Slagel & Mark Eglinton, Catherine Steadman, Duane Swierczynski, Bill Zehme & Mike Thomas

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Upcoming: THE SUMMER GUESTS by Tess Gerritsen (Penguin/Thomas & Mercer)

GerritsenT-MC2-SummerGuestsUKHCIn March 2025, readers will be able to get their hands on The Summer Guests, the second novel in Tess Gerritsen‘s Martini Club series. The Spy Coast was, somewhat surprisingly, the first of Gerritsen’s novels that I read, and it left me very keen to read more. As I finished it, the sequel had already been announced by Thomas & Mercer (North American publisher), and yesterday I noticed that the cover artwork had been unveiled for both the UK and North American editions. One of my most-anticipated reads of next year, here’s the synopsis:

The chilling follow-up to The Spy Coast, plunging the Martini Club into the search for a missing teen — with a startling connection to their own pasts.

When former spy Maggie Bird retired to the seaside hamlet of Purity, Maine, she settled in for a quiet life with breathtaking views. But enemies from her past soon threatened to destroy everything.

Maggie survived, thanks to her wits and the collective intelligence of the Martini Club, the circle of ex-CIA friends in her cocktail-sipping book club. Their handiwork, however, caught the attention of young police chief Jo Thibodeau. Now Jo and her neighborhood ex-spies have an uneasy alliance.

GerritsenT-MC2-SummerGuestsUSHCAfter a teenager vanishes — and Maggie’s neighbor becomes the prime suspect — she joins the investigation, determined to prove her friend’s innocence. But the girl’s wealthy family pushes for an arrest. And when authorities discover a long-dead corpse in a nearby pond, the case becomes doubly complicated, with unthinkable ties to long-buried secrets.

As Jo grapples with two unexplained mysteries, the Martini Club races to uncover the truth behind shadowy secrets… before more lives are lost.

Tess Gerritsen’s The Summer Guests is due to be published by Bantam Books in the UK (March 27th, 2025) and Thomas & Mercer in North America (March).

Also on CR: Review of The Spy Coast

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, Twitter

Quick Review: THE SPY COAST by Tess Gerritsen (Thomas & Mercer/Bantam)

GerritsenT-SpyCoastUSHCIntroducing Maggie Bird and the Martini Club…

A retired CIA operative in small-town Maine tackles the ghosts of her past…

Former spy Maggie Bird came to the seaside village of Purity, Maine, eager to put the past behind her after a mission went tragically wrong. These days, she’s living quietly on her chicken farm, still wary of blowback from the events that forced her early retirement.

But when a body turns up in Maggie’s driveway, she knows it’s a message from former foes who haven’t forgotten her. Maggie turns to her local circle of old friends — all retirees from the CIA — to help uncover the truth about who is trying to kill her, and why. This “Martini Club” of former spies may be retired, but they still have a few useful skills that they’re eager to use again, if only to spice up their rather sedate new lives.

Complicating their efforts is Purity’s acting police chief, Jo Thibodeau. More accustomed to dealing with rowdy tourists than homicide, Jo is puzzled by Maggie’s reluctance to share information — and by her odd circle of friends, who seem to be a step ahead of her at every turn.

As Jo’s investigation collides with the Martini Club’s maneuvers, Maggie’s hunt for answers will force her to revisit a clandestine career that spanned the globe, from Bangkok to Istanbul, from London to Malta. The ghosts of her past have returned, but with the help of her friends — and the reluctant Jo Thibodeau — Maggie might just be able to save the life she’s built.

This is the first novel in Tess Gerritsen’s new series, the Martini Club. It is also, somehow, the first of Gerritsen’s novels that I’ve ever read — not entirely sure how this happened, given that the Rizzoli & Isles series looks like it should definitely appeal. (I also enjoyed the first season of the TV adaptation). Anyway, I digress: The Spy Coast is a really good start to a series, which I really enjoyed, and it will definitely not be my last Gerritsen read. Continue reading

New Books (November-December)

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Featuring: Guy Adams, Alex Bell, Peter V. Brett, Brenda Cooper, Kate Ellis, Tess Gerritsen, Alex Gordon, Eric Kaplan, Sarah Pinborough, Daniel Polansky, Gareth L. Powell, Michael Robotham, Peter Swanson, Peter Terrin, Fred Venturini Continue reading