Thomas & Mercer Archives

ARC review: The Shadow Friends by Tess Gerritsen

January 19, 20262 min read

I must confess I let The Shadow Friends by Tess Gerritsen leapfrog over all of the books in my reading list on its arrival, despite it not being published until August 2026 because I love this Martini Club series so much. I think in my first review I talked about it being akin to the ‘Thursday Murder Club on speed’. Thanks to the fact that all five members of this ‘club’ are ex-CIA, all with their own set of skills, which have only dulled a little in the decades since their retirement. I loved the first two books in this series. I probably didn’t enjoy this quite as much, although the bar is possibly set unfairly high. This is similar to the first book in the series, when the past of one of the members comes back to haunt them and pull the group back into the life they left.

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Book review: The Last Party by AR Torre

January 7, 20263 min read

Wow, what a head-spin The Last Party by AR Torre turned out to be. Much of the book seems frustratingly obvious. We’re given an incredibly unlikeable character who we learn, loves to lie, is jealous of her husband’s affection for their daughter and …. (wait for it), intends on killing her daughter and two friends to replicate a famous murder from over two decades earlier, casting doubt on that killer’s innocence, freeing him so he can be beholden to her. Or something. Yes… WTAF?! As a result much of the early part of the book annoyed me. I mean… our lead, Perla, is fucking mad and horrible. And did I mention fucking mad? As a character and narrator she’s incredibly unpalatable. But… Torre throws in some surprises that I certainly did not see coming and that are so incredibly clever, they blew me away.

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ARC review: The Summer Guests by Tess Gerritsen

November 21, 20242 min read

The Summer Guests by Tess Gerritsen is the second book in the Martini Club series. I very much enjoyed the first, The Spy Coast and this was – as much, if not even more – enjoyable. From memory the investigation in the first book centred around the former CIA (et al) club members’ old lives whereas this is more of a straight-forward whodunnit (and as importantly whydunnit). And I was rivetted. I adored catching up with the Martini Club members again though Maggie (again) was the standout and our lead character, along with Purity Police Chief Jo Thibodeau, who we met in the first outing.

We also spend a lot of time here with the likeable Susan, who’s holidaying with her in-laws for the first time at their palatial holiday home in Purity when her very trustworthy and sensible 15 year old daughter, Zoe disappears.

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Book review: Under the Palms by Kaira Rouda

April 25, 20242 min read

Under the Palms by Kaira Rouda is labelled The Kingsleys #2. I hadn’t realised it was the second in a series but I didn’t feel like I was missing any backstory or context. Although – given the secrets of #1 (Beneath the Surface) are revealed here – it does render going back and reading that kinda pointless (from the whodunnit and why perspective anyway).

I enjoyed the early parts of this novel though found almost all of the characters to be incredibly unlikeable. And in some ways they bordered on caricatures, they were soooo obvious. That being said, I appreciated the whodunnit and the game-playing that featured prominently.

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Book review: The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen

August 17, 20233 min read

Part-way through The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen I thought, ‘She’s done such a great job with these characters this will have to become a series.’ And sure enough, after I’d finished reading I went to add it to Goodreads and noticed it’s called The Martini Club #1.

It’s very reminiscent of Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series – though given our lead cast are all ex-CIA agents – they’re like the residents of the Coopers Chase Luxury Retirement Village, but on speed.

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Book review: Found Object by Anne Frasier

October 11, 20223 min read

US author Anne Frasier has several series under her belt, standalone books as well as romance novels under the pseudonym Theresa Weir. This (however) is my first book by Frasier and it features investigative journalist – the spectacularly named – Jupiter (Edwina Delilah) Bellarose. I suspect it’ll become the first in the series and though I found it a little overly-convoluted and ‘fantastique’ (in the end), I liked Jupiter and would happily spend more time with her.

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Book review: Somebody’s Home by Kaira Rouda

January 13, 20223 min read

Kaira Rouda’s Best Day Ever was one of my favourite books of 2017. I haven’t received any since for review but managed to read The Favourite Daughter just recently.

Rouda’s talent seems to lie in offering up flawed characters but luring us into their world, so we bond and feel sympathy or empathy before twisting things until we realise we’ve been duped. Often along with other characters we’re following on the journey.

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Book review: Nine Elms by Robert Bryndza

December 11, 20192 min read

This book opens with a murder. It’s one of a series by a killer known as the Nine Elms Cannibal. We meet Kate Marshall, a detective on the case, some of her colleagues including her boss Detective Chief Inspector Peter Conway. As I hadn’t really read the backcover blurb properly it came as a surprise then that the usual crisis / climax (ie. Kate’s life threatened by the baddie) happens just after the book kicks off. And the killer is found. Huh?

Of course we then leap forward 15 years to meet Kate in the (not quite) present day. I’ve not read any of Bryndza’s books before so did wonder briefly if Kate had been referenced in another series as the information we receive about the preceding decade and a half is pretty scant, though more is eventually shared.

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