Title:	The Summer Guests
	Author:	Tess Gerritsen
	Published:	March 18, 2025, Thomas & Mercer
	No. of Pages:	$16.99 Hardcover, $12.78 Paperback, $4.99 Kindle

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Bestselling author, Tess Gerritsen, has released a new series, The Martini Club, where four retired CIA operatives have moved to a small town in Maine, and help the sheriff solve crimes. The second installment of this series is The Summer Guests.

As usual, Gerritsen lives up to her bestselling status in this spellbinding novel in which Ethan Conover and his wife of two years, Susan, travel to his family’s summer home in Maine to scatter his father’s ashes after a memorial service. Ethan is a writer, and has suffered from writer’s cramp drafting his second novel, and when arriving, finds himself writing feverishly due to what is happening there. His brother, Colin and his family are also there. The moneyed family has been going to * (the name of their estate there) for years, but this is the first time for Ethan, who has avoided the place for years, and his wife, and her daughter Zoe. While there, Zoe disappears, and some of the year round residents become suspects.

Gerritsen is an excellent storyteller, and it is evident in this novel. It is well organized and easy to follow. One of her strengths is her development of characters, and readers will find the characters viable and real. Susan, the protagonist, is especially well developed, and acts just like a loving mother whose daughter is missing. Elizabeth, the mother-in-law is typical of a snobby, rich woman, and Susan is afraid she is “good enough” to be a part of the Conover family. As the story unfolds, there are new sub-plots, and more supporting characters come out, making the story even more interesting, and keeping readers on the edge.

All told, this excellent novel is a good one for thriller aficionados to pick up. It is well written and fascinating.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.