The Spy Coast Book Review

Title: The Spy Coast

Author: Tess Gerritsen

ISBN: 9781529925012

Publisher: Transworld Digital

Pages: 321

Source: Johnathan Ball

Maggie Bird is a lot of things. A chicken farmer. A courteous neighbor. And a seemingly average 60-year-old woman living a quiet life in bucolic Purity, Maine. She attends a weekly book club where she drinks martinis (stirred, not shaken) with her other retired friends. She’s a darned good rifle shot. And she never talks about her past.

When a mysterious woman turns up dead in Maggie’s driveway, she knows it’s a calling card from old times. It’s been fifteen years since she ran assets for the CIA and managed Operation Cyrano, which blew apart her life and cost her the man she loved.

Maggie and her “book club” swiftly revert to espionage mode. These old dogs hunt as only Langley alumni can, burning a trail from London to Bangkok to Milan to stay one step ahead of those who want former agent Bird dead. Maggie knows that some parts of the past refuse to stay buried. And that sometimes an old spy has to give up her ghosts.

Official Summary

05 February 2024

Maggie Bird, who was a former spy came to the seaside village of Purity, Maine, she’s living on her chicken farm, still dealing with the consequences of her last mission that forced her into early retirement.  You also follow Jo, the current acting police chief, who is trying to solve the same case.

This book is multiple points of view. I enjoyed getting into different people’s heads throughout the story I especially like the contrast between Maggie and Jo.

I will say this book is very much out of my comfort zone. This is not my typical genre and for once I am super happy that I branched out a bit and tried something new. Because I surprisingly enjoyed this book. The plot was really good and had me biting my nails to figure this mystery thriller out.

 I also loved the focus on friendship in this book and all the different dynamics we got throughout this book. I thought it was cute and wholesome at times, despite the circumstances.

Overall I enjoyed this book a lot and it was a solid four stars from me. I would recommend anyone who wants to branch into new genres to pick this book up as it was a quick and entertaining read.

Also by Tess Gerritsen

The Surgeon

He slips into homes at night and walks silently into bedrooms where women  lie sleeping, about to awaken to a living nightmare. The precision of his methods suggests that he is a deranged man of medicine, prompting the Boston newspapers to dub him “The Surgeon.”

Led by Detectives Thomas Moore and Jane Rizzoli, the cops must consult the victim of a nearly identical crime: Two years ago, Dr. Catherine Cordell fought back and filled an attacker before he could complete his assault. Now this new killer is re-creating, with chilling  accuracy, the details of Cordell’s ordeal. With every new murder he seems to be taunting her, cutting ever closer, from her hospital to her  home. And neither Moore nor Rizzoli can protect Cordell from a ruthless hunter who somehow understands—and savors—the secret fears of every woman he kills.

About The Author

Author Bio from the Author’s Site

Internationally bestselling author Tess Gerritsen took an unusual route to a writing career. A graduate of Stanford University, Tess went on to medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, where she was awarded her M.D.

While on maternity leave from her work as a physician, she began to write fiction and in 1987, her first novel, Call After Midnight, was published. It was just the first of 31 suspense novels that she’s written over a 36-year writing career.  She also wrote a screenplay, “Adrift,” which aired as a 1993 CBS Movie of the Week starring Kate Jackson.

Tess’s first medical thriller, Harvest, was released in hardcover in 1996, and it marked her debut on the New York Times bestseller list. Her novels have hit bestseller lists ever since.  Among her titles are Gravity, The Surgeon, Vanish, The Bone Garden, and The Spy Coast. Her books have been translated into 40 languages, and more than 40 million copies have been sold around the world.

She has won both the Nero Wolfe Award (for Vanish) and the Rita Award (for The Surgeon). Critics around the world have praised her novels as “Pulse-pounding fun” (Philadelphia Inquirer), “Scary and brilliant” (Toronto Globe and Mail), and “Polished, riveting prose” (Chicago Tribune). Publishers Weekly has dubbed her the “medical suspense queen” and Time Magazine named her novel The Surgeon one of the best mystery/thriller novels ever written.

Her series of novels featuring homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles inspired the hit TNT television series “Rizzoli & Isles,” starring Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander. 

She is also a filmmaker.  She and her son Josh produced a feature-length documentary, “Magnificent Beast,” about the ancient origins of the pig taboo. It aired on PBS channels around the country. Their previous film, “Island Zero”, was a feature-length horror movie that was released in 2018.

She lives in Maine.

I would also like to thank Johnathan Ball for this review copy. Thank you for reading let me know what you think in the comment below.

See you guys soon.

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