Spies never really leave

By Ande Jacobson

Tess Gerritsen’s Martini Club series continues with the third book, The Shadow Friends. The main story takes place in Purity, Maine, a quaint little rural town with some big secrets. Maggie Bird, Declan Rose, Ben Diamond, and Ingrid and Lloyd Slocum form The Martini Club, a tight knit group of former CIA folks enjoying their retirement but their past lives keep cropping up in unexpected and dangerous ways. Maggie, Declan, Ben, and Ingrid were operatives, while Lloyd was an analyst, and their skills still come in handy more often than one might think they should now that they are retired and living out what was supposed to be a comfortable, quiet life with friends and family.

This installment starts with a punch from an old assignment that continues to haunt Ingrid. It’s the biggest mission failure of her career, and the details are horrific. In the present, Ingrid is overseeing the annual Stone Coast Conference at the Cod Cove Resort bringing together former intelligence professionals who want to stay in the know on world events. This year’s conference is focused on biological warfare and the threats that face the world in the current climate. On the opening night of the conference, Rodrigo Estrada shows up, an operative from Ingrid’s past who is linked to the failed mission that opens the story. There’s more there than just that they used to be colleagues, something that adds a new wrinkle to Ingrid’s mysterious past. Rodrigo, while also older than he was like all of them, is still rather dashing and energetic. This immediately plays on Lloyd’s insecurities which are explored throughout the story. Unbeknownst to the rest of the club (at least at first), Rodrigo tempts Ingrid with an opportunity that would draw her back into the shadows, though not directly for her former employer. Before she can give him an answer the conference is hit by a disaster. One of the speakers dies a gruesome death initially thought to be Ebola, but it turns out that it’s much worse.

Dr. Mikhail Maslov had defected from his homeland decades earlier, and as a world expert on biological weapons, he’s one that his previous masters want silenced. It turns out that they do exactly that in typical fashion. The ensuing investigation uncovers that he doesn’t die from Ebola but is instead poisoned with Polonium-210, something that only one nation uses today.

While it appears there are multiple investigations of different events running concurrently, they are all twisted together. Unfortunately, there is also some collateral damage. The story doesn’t stay in Purity either. There’s a wild European jaunt while Maggie and Lloyd follow the trail to find Ingrid when she disappears suddenly only to find themselves embroiled in the middle of a dangerous operation.

Wherever one of the Martini Club gets drawn into something surfacing from their past they all pitch in as a team, so when Ingrid goes off the grid early on, they are confused why she doesn’t bring them in on the details or even tell them that she’s leaving. Still, the dangers this time start and end in Purity.

Over time the club has ushered Purity Police Chief Jo Thibodeau loosely into the fold. While not quite a full member of the club, Jo’s relationship with them has grown closer. It started out very antagonistic when she first encounters the quintet with Jo resenting their butting into her cases. Over the course of the series, she has come to respect their capabilities and rely on them when things go astray, especially when it’s clear that a case is connected to their former line of work and is beyond what the local police could handle. The case Jo is working on this time is clearly in that realm, and she and the club mutually seek each other’s help with the ensuing investigation. Jo has the authority needed for access to the details of the crime, and the club has the contacts to fill in the gaps.

The story moves quickly, and at various points, it’s questionable who can be trusted. The Martini Club is tight, and they still work together as though the years have not gone by, but there are other agencies involved as well, and that’s where it gets complicated.

Readers get more backstory on Ingrid and Lloyd in this one as well, including how they first got together many years ago. They do seem to be an unlikely pair, yet they are devoted to one another. Lloyd also gets initiated into field work after having spent his entire career safely ensconced at headquarters as an accomplished analyst. He was good at what he did, but he was never trained as a field agent. Despite his lack of training, he shows himself to be ready to step into the fray and do what must be done when Ingrid is in danger despite significant personal danger. He’s dangerous from a distance when armed with a computer, but he doesn’t pose much of a physical threat. His heart is in it, but his physique isn’t quite up to snuff. And he resents Rodrigo’s history with Ingrid making him willing to take some risks that he really shouldn’t.

Readers also learn much more about the team dynamics between the members of the Martini Club as a whole. They all understand the need for secrecy at times even from each other. They all have missions in their pasts that they can never share with anyone, and they are comfortable with that for the most part, except when they aren’t.

Gerritsen includes some medical details along the way that are pertinent to the story in keeping with her past life as a practicing physician. Readers get a real treat with this series, especially given the first book was initially going to be a standalone story rather than the beginning of a thrilling series. There is now talk of a fourth book in the works although the title and release date are not yet known. How many more Martini Club books will follow is yet another mystery, but hopefully the series will continue for many more in the future.

References:

The Shadow Friends, by Tess Gerritsen

The Summer Guests, by Tess Gerritsen

https://agoodreedreview.com/2023/12/08/book-the-spy-coast/

https://www.tessgerritsen.com/