The Martini Club—that collection of aging, retired spies who now secretly reside in Purity, Maine—is back with another unforgettable case in The Shadow Friends, the third book in Tess Gerritsen’s latest series. Unlike the first two books in the series, The Shadow Friends finds Maggie Bird playing a secondary role to one of the other Martini Club members, Ingrid Slocum.
The Shadow Friends begins at a Global Affairs conference partly organized by Ingrid Slocum. All her friends—and fellow former spooks—are in attendance to support her, including her husband, Lloyd. The second day of the high-profile event gets off to a rocky start when one of the scheduled speakers—a renowned disease expert and Russian defector—is found dead in his hotel room, cause of death undetermined, before quickly the risk of an Ebola outbreak becomes the major concern.
Meanwhile that same morning, local cop (and frenemy of The Martini Club), Jo Tribodeau is investigating the disappearance of one of the hotel’s housekeepers. Could the two events be connected and if so, does this mean there’s a larger conspiracy at play in Purity, Maine?
Tess Gerritsen has always made sure this book series feels like a true ensemble piece, so it was a wise decision to shift the focus away from Maggie for this latest outing. Like Tana French did with her Dublin Murder Squad books, it seems like maybe readers will witness each member of The Martini Club taking centerstage. Another inspired creative decision in The Shadow Friends was the choice to finally allow The Martini Club members to truly become more open and honest with Jo Tribodeau, thereby facilitating a more complex working relationship among the group.
A prologue set twenty-eight years prior, when Ingrid was on an assignment in France, clues readers into the origins of this case. When her old partner (and former lover) Rodrigo arrives on the scene, complications arise. Before too long. Lloyd and Maggie will find themselves hot on the heels of a globally-galivanting Ingrid and Rodrigo, but with all the vital clues back in Purity, the exciting culmination of this thriller once again takes place in small-town America.
The Shadow Friends will easily delight existing fans of the series, but Tess Gerritsen skillfully brings new readers up-to-speed without boring info dumps. The pacing here vacillates between thriller-lite (where new *interesting* developments are revealed to propel the plot forward) and thriller-max (where the reader is rapidly flipping pages as players are placed in life-or-death situations.) Both styles help to make Tess Gerritsen’s The Shadow Friends one of the most gripping summer reads on offer this season.
BUY LINKS: The Shadow Friends by Tess Gerritsen
Disclaimer: An e-galley copy of this title were provided to BOLO Books by the publisher. No promotion was promised and the above is an unbiased review of the novel.
