by Tess Gerritsen
SYNOPSIS
Maggie Bird is many things. A chicken farmer. A good neighbour. A seemingly average retiree living in the seaside town of Purity. She's also a darned good rifle shot. And she never talks about her past.
But when an unidentified body is left on Maggie's driveway, she knows it's a calling card from old times. It's been fifteen years since the failed mission that ended her career as a spy, and cost her far more than her job.
Step forward the 'Martini Club' - Maggie's silver-haired book group (to anyone who asks), and a cohort of former spies behind closed doors. With the help of her old friends - and always one step ahead of the persistent local cop - Maggie might still be able to save the life she's built.
The Spy Coast is the first novel in the Martini Club series.
REVIEW
Maggie Bird is enjoying her retirement in Purity - a small town in Maine where she and her friends can relax knowing that they have the security they need to keep their former lives a secret. It’s become a sanctuary for this group of ex-CIA agents and they have the peace of mind that nobody is likely to come looking for them there.
However, all it takes is a stranger turning up at Maggie’s house one day to shatter that security. This visit opens up old wounds for Maggie from a disastrous mission 16 years earlier which cost her much more than just her career.
The group quickly slip back into their old ways and without even trying, find themselves several steps ahead of the local police. The problem is that Maggie doesn't know who to trust and the stakes are incredibly high - somebody wants revenge and it's clear from the start that they are not the type of people to me messed with.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started reading this book. The author’s inspiration for the story is amazing - I just loved the idea of a group of older people all retiring to the same town and keeping their lives and former careers a secret from the other residents. What I didn’t know was if the tone of the book would be more ‘cosy crime’ or if it would have darker elements.
The relationship between Maggie, Ben, Declan, Lloyd and Ingrid is just brilliant. It takes what would otherwise be a more typical spy novel and changes it into something completely unique. It turns out that The Spy Coast is a fantastic blend of ruthless espionage and cosy crime, and honestly it was the most fun I’ve had reading a crime novel in a long time. There was just something special about it. I think because it had quite an ‘old-school’ crime/detective/corruption feel about it but at the same time, it had some really funny moments and exchanges. The humour from the characters was perfectly pitched and I just fell in love with each member of their unusual ’book club’.
The 'crime' part of the story was solid (which I would expect from the author) but it was also really interesting, really well written and just a joy to read!
Thanks to Random Things Tours - @RandomTTours, Tess Gerritsen and Transworld Books - @TransworldBooks for the opportunity to read and review.
Publisher: Bantam Press / Transworld Books Genre: Crime / Spy Thriller
ISBN: 978-0857505194
Pages: 368pp
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