ARC review: The Summer Guests by Tess Gerritsen

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.

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.

Complicating matters here are long-held small-town grievances… not to mention bones discovered in the lake where Zoe was last seen.

But Jo’s on the case and discouraging the Martini Club’s involvement, at the same time knowing she can’t stop them or discount the help they’re providing as they’re uniquely qualified and absurdly talented at digging up information not accessible to most.

I hadn’t really remembered the club members and their respective strengths and Gerritsen doesn’t really spend (or perhaps waste?) time reminding us who is who, or at least giving us much backstory. I appreciated that as it means the pacing of the novel is uninterrupted, but I did perhaps not feel as connected to them as I recall feeling first time out. Though I assume after a few books they’ll stick in my mind – which is the case with other series I enjoy. (On that note) I noticed Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series is being adapted for the small screen and this would also be an exceptionally good series with quirky characters who just don’t take no for an answer, but who do so with guileless determination rather than arrogance.

Gerritsen throws us some red herrings here and goes down the conspiracy route again (long-buried government secrets to which the former CIA agents are privy) but, as I’m not a huge fan of white-collar-crime, I appreciated the direction this takes.

I really enjoyed this and found it hard to put down both evenings I picked it up. There’s something warm and familiar about the characters, though it’s not quite a ‘comfort read’. Here for example the baddie’s treatment of Zoe is astoundingly callous it morphs from a cosy(ish) read into something more evil and quite shocking even to this reader-of-books-regularly-featuring-sociopaths-and-psychopaths.

The Summer Guests by Tess Gerritsen will be published in March 2025 by Thomas & Mercer which seems an inordinately long time off. Worse still when you think how long we will have to wait for the third in this series. **drums fingers impatiently**

I received an electronic advance reader copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.