I was so enthralled by The Spy Coast that I immediately checked out the 2nd book in the "Martini Club" series by Tess Gerritsen. It was equally engrossing--Publishers Weekly calls it a "lively sequel"-- to the point that I stayed up late to finish it. This is a story about a missing teenager, a body found in the bottom of the local lake, and a decades-old massacre that has scapegoated one of the resident families in Purity, Maine. As in the previous book, Maggie and her jolly band of ex-CIA spies are on the case and usually several steps ahead of the local police...but then they do have some special skills and special resources that even police chief Jo Thibodeau doesn't have. This story is absolutely loaded with red herrings and chapters told from various characters' points of view. None of this lessens the driving plot line, however.
Following a brief prologue, we jump to present day when "the Conovers, a family of longtime summer residents, are arriving back in town. Fifteen-year-old Zoe goes swimming in Maiden Pond with a newfound friend and mysteriously disappears later that day. She is an excellent swimmer and diver, so drowning seems unlikely. Perhaps she has been abducted, perhaps worse. She is not 'the sort of girl you’d think would get into trouble'" (Kirkus). Kirkus goes on to describe Maggie and friends as "a delightful group of five retired government spooks who just love a good puzzle to keep their aging brains in shape. They are merry meddlers who keep trying to help Thibodeau..." and concludes their review with "A complex mix of fright and fun."
Publishers Weekly concludes their favorable review by saying, "As in the first book, Gerritsen paints Maggie and her crew with a fine brush, and strikes a satisfying tone...These sexagenarian spies are hitting their stride."
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