The Spy Coast
The Spy Coast (The Martini Club #1)
By: Tess Gerritsen
[Fulfilled ‘Book with snow’ for Shelf Reflection’s 2023 Reading Challenge]
“It’s the story of my life. Leave the bodies behind and move on.”
Tess Gerritsen is known for her Rizzoli and Isles series, of which I’ve read a couple. This is apparently her first swing at an espionage thriller.
I thought it was a really good book with some good characters! I wouldn’t say there was a huge shocking reveal or anything, but it had some nice twists/ mysteries that I didn’t have completely figured out. I think it’s a series I would continue to read.
The basic premise is this:
Retired CIA agent, Maggie Bird, has settled down in a small rural Maine town called Purity. Until a woman comes knocking with news that a former colleague (Diana) has disappeared from Paris. Maggie and Diana parted on less than ideal terms and Maggie has no desire to help out.
“Diana lit the tinder that destroyed my career. My life.”
But when her visitor’s body turns up tortured and dead in her driveway, Maggie has no choice but to get involved.
Her last operation was chaos and someone is back for revenge. If Maggie hopes to return to her idyllic retired life, she must put this to rest.
“When you live in a world of mirrors, the truth is always distorted.”
With the help of her other retired CIA agent friends in town, Maggie crosses the world to Bangkok and Milan and back investigating who has come back to hunt her down.
“Here we are, five old spies with five lifetimes’ worth of experience. Retired does not mean useless. Everyone here has brought their individual tricks of the trade.”
Gerritsen reveals in her author’s note at the end that the idea for this story came from her actual life. She lives in a small town in Maine (Camden, not Purity) and when her doctor husband started seeing patients there they discovered that many of her neighbors were retired CIA agents.
With only a population of 5000 people, she wondered what would lead so many retirees to their little town. Though she could never track down an answer to that question, it inspired The Spy Coast:
“Unassuming retirees with secret past lives make fascinating characters to explore, and that’s how The Spy Coast was born. I wanted to write about spies who don’t look like James Bond but instead are like my neighbors, quietly living as utterly ordinary retirees… until the past comes back to haunt them, and they’re forced to call on old skills they thought they’d never use again.”
I agree that this older cast of spies makes for a unique thriller!
Forms of this have been done in books and movies before though I feel like it’s usually with a humorous bent. But Gerritsen creates her characters to be taken seriously. Sure they have their joint pain and need naps in the afternoons, but they’re still very capable, observant, and intelligent people who can go on real missions.
Is that possible at the ages of 60 and 70+? I don’t know. I haven’t achieved those milestones yet. But Gerritsen didn’t have them literally chasing criminals down the street or fighting in hand-to-hand combat, so she did a good job of getting them in the field in an appropriate but still significant way.
The one character I have mixed feelings about is Jo, the acting police chief in Purity. She’s in her thirties and is trying to do her job in investigating the events surrounding Maggie. But she finds that Maggie and her ‘Martini Club’, as they call themselves, is always one or two steps ahead of her.
Her two catch phrases in the book seemed to be, ‘What the heck is going on?’ and ‘Who are you people?’
I think we’re supposed to like her and admire Jo’s doggedness in doing her job. We’re told she is good at her job and works hard for her community. But at the same time, she looks foolish when she can’t keep up and that these other people are figuring everything out before her. From beginning to end it works this way.
I think I would have liked it more if the Martini Club actually needed Jo’s knowledge or expertise at least once in this book. That there could be some sort of camaraderie. There is no animosity or hostility, but without actually working together, Jo looks the fool.
Perhaps in future books the tables will turn a bit.
I look forward to future books in this series to see what other skills the group has, to see more of the background of their friendships, and to see if the perpetrator at the end comes back into the picture.
I think this is a great book that most people will enjoy. It’s an easy to read spy thriller with unique and likable characters, suspense and danger, and a dash of humor.
Definitely a book I would recommend!
[Content Advisory: a couple handfuls of f- and s- words; a few sentences of sexual content but nothing extended]
**Received a copy of this book from MB Communications in exchange for an honest review**
This book just released November 1, 2023. You can order a copy of this book using my affiliate link below.
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