A totally satisfying and fun read!

I kind of ‘fell into’ reading this book straight off the back of a Lee Child short stories that my brother bought me for my birthday. And wow am I glad I did! I’ve read Tess’ books before but I don’t think I’ve had Martini Club book.

Everything about this book was brilliant. Well paced, structured and with lots of mystery and puzzles to solve. I enjoyed the banter between the Martini Club members and the hostility of the family involved.

An excellent read! I thoroughly recommend it to anyone who loves a good mind boggle. And I cannot wait to read more from this series.

Thanks you to NetGalley for my advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Just as good if not better than The Spy Coast Tess Gerritsen’s secondMartini Club book is a total delight. It is a beautifully written artful thriller with twists turns and red herrings all the way through.

Maggie Bird and her friends interact seamlessly and help their new friend, acting police chief Jo solve a young girl’s disappearance.

Of course it’s not as simple as that but the reader is drawn in by the strength of the plot and characters and the descriptions of life in Maine where tensions exit between year round residents and newbies visiting for the summer.

I can’t wait for the next one!

The Summer Guests” is the second novel in The Martini Club and I enjoyed it as much as the first, I liked the characters and found the storyline intriguing and full of twists and turns.

First of all.. WHAT

This book has so many clues, sub plots, red herrings and history in, my mind was in over drive working out what I thought had happened (I was so wrong). I love Tess Gerritsen and I am so so happy she is doing some cozy crime.

I saw a review that said "The Thursday Murder Club on Steriods" and I cannot agree more. They drink tea and this is The Martini Club so that says it all!

I thoroughly enjoyed this and I hope there is more to follow. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK for the ARC.

Having read the first book in the Martini Club series I was excited to see that a second book was available enabling me to catch up with the characters.
A group of former CIA agents have retired to Maine and enjoy meeting up, supposedly for a Martini book club but really to solve crimes.
In this episode, a teenage girl, Zoe, daughter of a “Summer Guest” disappears. She is part of the extended Conover family, recently adopted step daughter of, author, Ethan and step granddaughter of matriarch, Elizabeth.
There are many suspects and police detective, Jo Thibodeau has her hands full particularly with another Detective breathing down her neck. Maggie, Declan and the rest of the crew resolve to help, particularly when Maggie’s neighbour is accused of her abduction and Maggie knows that he can’t possibly be guilty.
When there are further discoveries and secrets start to come to the surface the Martini club are in a race against time to find Zoe alive.
I liked the way the chapters were to.d from different viewpoints including Susan, Zoe’s mother, strange neighbour, Reuben who has a grudge against the Conovers, Detective Jo and of course Maggie and her friends. This helps to ratchet up the tension.
This is an exciting follow up to the first book which introduced the reader to all the characters who are in this story. Although it is easy to read “The Summer Guests” as a stand alone I highly recommend reading “The Spy Coast” too as it is a great book.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my advance copy.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK, and of course Tess Gerritson for this advanced copy in exchange for a review.

This was the first book that I’ve read from Tess and when I applied for an advanced copy I want aware that this book was part of a series. I hadn’t read the first in the ‘Martini Club’ series but soon found myself lost in this book and enjoying every moment of it. I didn’t find I lost out on having not read the previous story, and there were nods and mentions to previous events that made me feel like I wasn’t necessarily missing anything but I definitely want to go back read the first one now. It was a good mystery, set in a usually sleepy town where the number of residents increases during the summer and no one trusts anyone. There is the family dynamics mixed with the ‘Martini Club’ watching from the sidelines and desperate to use their former CIA training to solve the crime. I enjoyed the writing and would love to read more.

I am grateful to netgalley and Random House for the opportunity to read this ahead of publication.
I hadn’t read Tess Gerritson before. This is a run of the mill murder case with lots of clues and red herrings. It is well written and flows well although some of the characters are rather two dimensional.
The story includes the ‘Martini Club’ - apparently a group of retired CIA operatives who ‘assist’ the local police when a body is found. They appear to have been in an earlier book and this book depended a little too much on that foreknowledge.
There is plenty here for conspiracy theorists.

I absolutely loved the idea of this book and thought the author handled both concept and execution very well. The portrait of a woman trapped with chilly in laws was also very well drawn. However I felt the tension sagged a little in the middle and the plot would have needed a few more twists and turns to keep me enthralled.

I thought this was great. I really enjoyed the first book in the series and was eagerly looking forward to this book. I think the characters are really interesting and fun I would love to have a martini with them ! The story kept me guessing and not being able to work out what was going on ,very clever writing as you would expect from this author and was superb .Highly recommend this book.

I enjoyed the first novel in the Martini Club.series and this second outing featuring a group of retired CIA agents and the local police chief in a small Maine town is a compelling, fast paced read. The characters and plot were well written and tight. I have been a fan of Tess Gerritsen for years and I look forward to the next book in the series.

Requesting this book I did not realise it was the second in a series featuring the 'Martini Club' - a group of older friends with a 'spy based' past living in Maine. I gather there was probably a lot more background in the first novel explaining exactly what they did in their former working lives but here we get more hints and veiled conversations about it. That didn't spoil the book for me in any way - just made me wonder about the detail a bit.
The book starts with an early '70s prologue which set me up for expectations of a more brutal book than the story that followed: a bloody incident on the streets of Purity, Maine. We then jump forward to present day and a missing girl - disappeared from the lake side home her mother and step father are visiting extended family. Acting Police Chief Jo Thibodeau is stuck and the Martini Club members led by Maggie Bird cannot ignore a mystery...
For the most part (aside from the prologue and a couple of F bombs) this reads more like a cosy crime - albeit a very well written one (the two should not be considered exclusive of course, but often are) - and while the (apparently) amateur sleuths being dismissed by the local authority as 'meddling' (Murder She Wrote is even invoked at one point), this does have more substance: Thibodeau is more receptive and appreciative (if occasionally exasperated) by the help, and the plot is more complex, with more turns, than a typical 'cosy' (again - I must stress not ALL cosies)
Despite jumping in after the start I enjoyed this one a lot and will go back to read book one as a result.

The Summer Guests is a new mystery story from Tess Gerritsen. It's a captivating tale about the search for a teenager who goes missing in a small seaside town, and the ensuing investigation which sets into motion a surprising exploration of the past which threatens to dredge up more than a few secrets that certain people would rather stay hidden.

The Martini Club is central to the story, a tight-knit group of retired spies who enjoy putting the skills from their previous occupations to good use. Given their determination and their habit of turning up precisely at the right moment, the police chief doesn't have much choice but to accept their assistance as they work together to uncover the truth behind the disappearance.

The story itself was engaging, different mysteries woven together to keep the reader guessing at the final outcome. However, it's the characters of that really shine in this book, not only do the Martini Club bring a humourous angle but the struggles and insights of the supporting characters create a valued authenticity.

I look forward to reading a new adventure of the Martini Club in the future!

I had read and enjoyed all the Rizzoli and Isles books and wasn't disappointed by this stand-alone book.
Some of the characters were a little sterotypical, but it was easy to empathise with most. I enjoyed the relationship between the police chief and the 'martini club' - it added another dimension to the plot, setting it apart from the standard crime tale.
The twists and turns kept it interesting.

The second in the Martini Club series and just as brilliant as the first one. A wonderful tightly controlled plot with so many twists and surprises. Best of all are the characters who are so engaging. Tess Gerritsen is one of my favourite writers, she never fails to entertain. Highly recommended.

Fantastic character development in this tale teased out over time. Chock full of red herrings, twists and turns and, dark family secrets. Gerritsen delivers once again. You can't help but love the Martini Club. A family holiday that turns disastrous when the past comes back to haunt a killer.

Top-class writing from an author at the very top of their game.

I had liked - but not loved - the first book in this series, The Spy Coast, and felt the characters had a lot of promise. So I was very glad to find that this second outing for retired spy Maggie and her ex-CIA friends and smalltown Maine police chief Jo Thibodeau takes everything that I liked about book number one and adds to it.

The plot - centring around a teenage girl, Zoe, who goes missing from one of the lakefront second homes - is propulsive and pacy without losing the human touch through a focus on Zoe's mother. The secondary characters, especially the horrific WASP-y in-laws, are superbly drawn and there is a nice balance of levity (particularly as the self-described Martini Club inveigle their way into Jo's investigation) and tension.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5: a highly recommended thriller that will go down well with fans of, yes, Richard Osman but also readers who enjoy Lisa Gardner, Karin Slaughter and their ilk, while the Maine setting and some plot elements will hold appeal for John Connolly readers, too.

Loved this. I was so glad when I saw the second book in this series was out and it certainly didn't disappoint.
Welcome to Purity, where martinis flow, spies retire, and secrets simmer under the summer sun. The Summer Guests delivers a thrilling cocktail of suspense and wit, making it the perfect read.
Maggie Bird and her band of ex-spies, collectively known as The Martini Club, trade in their covert ops for covert book club meetings. Their idyllic life gets a jolt when a missing teenager case washes up, threatening to expose old secrets and test new alliances.

Acting Police Chief Jo Thibodeau has her hands full with tourist season chaos when the case lands in her lap, but she didn't count on the "help" of Maggie's meddlesome crew. With clever banter and unexpected twists, this unlikely team-up unearths a scandal that rocks their quaint town to its core.

The characters are wonderfully crafted, each bringing their own quirks and charms to the story, making every page turn effortlessly fast. Fans of "The Thursday Murder Club" will feel right at home—if that home is armed with spy gadgets and drenched in intrigue. The Summer Guests is a delightful blend of humour, mystery, and the unexpected, proving that retirement doesn’t mean the end of adventure.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Summer Guests - Tess Gerritsen

I ADORE this series - and what a follow up to The Spy Coast!

Like a ‘Thursday Murder Club’ on steroids - this was a hugely entertaining read and kept me guessing all the way to the end!

Let’s hope this series runs and runs - as I for one will be soaking them up!

Thanks to Tess and NetGalley for my ARC.

Second book in this series featuring an elderly group of ex agents Full of unexpected twists,suspects and a surprising murderer.

The Summer Guests by Tess Gerritsen

Maggie Bird’s ‘book group’ is an unusual one – a group of retired spies living an anonymous life in the seaside town of Purity. And this summer they plan little more than ‘reading’ (whilst sipping martinis), and some gentle birdwatching.

Another outing for this series , and again the author has come up with an excellent book.
Lots of twists , heaps of intrigue to keep you turning the page . Really enjoyed it.