THE SHADOW FRIENDS is the best installment in Tess Gerritsen’s Martini Club series thus far. Its heavy slice of international intrigue sets it apart from THE SPY COAST and THE SUMMER GUESTS.

The Martini Club --- a small band of retirees living in Purity, Maine, all of whom worked in the government spy game --- faces extreme danger in what should be the golden years of their retirement. The first chapter takes us back three decades to a dark moment in Ingrid Slocum’s career that is about to boomerang on her in the present in a most unexpected way.

Ingrid is hosting an event in Purity featuring a handful of experts in disease control that are presenting to the mostly elderly members of this small community. The main speaker is a Russian defector who suddenly takes ill and later succumbs to what the coroner describes as an act of poisoning.

"THE SHADOW FRIENDS is a cut above the previous two books in the series and feels like a first-rate international spy novel, giving readers a more accurate glimpse of the power players that the Martini Club members once were."

This is not the only casualty in Purity that weekend as a young waitress is found stuffed in the trunk of a car with a stiletto blade sticking out of one eye. The blade carries a symbol immediately recognizable to Ingrid as a Russian assassin mark, which makes her believe that something much larger is at play. 

Rodrigo Estrada, who once had a professional and personal relationship with Ingrid, shows up unexpectedly at the event. He identifies himself as the CEO of Argus, an organization that he claims works closely with the Feds. Not long after this announcement, Ingrid disappears. The local gossip ranges from her being another victim to her being a traitor and a Russian sympathizer. No one knows the immediate answer, including her husband, Lloyd, who has no idea where she is.

Lloyd and fellow Martini Club member Maggie Bird head out in search of Ingrid. It will take all of their spy instincts to determine that she may be in Amsterdam, so they catch a flight out there. They narrowly avoid being mistaken for “bad guys” and having their lives end right then and there. Eventually, their paths cross with Ingrid, who says that she had to leave immediately with Rodrigo. She is no traitor, but she also is not being completely forthright with them.

Ingrid lets Lloyd accompany her on the remainder of her mission, done in conjunction with Argus, to finally close the book on her past failure while also stopping a ruthless killer who tracked her all the way to Purity, leaving a body count in his wake. This is the Martini Club in full effect. But this time, they are on the highly treacherous global scale of international intrigue rather than assisting the often-bumbling residents of Purity. 

THE SHADOW FRIENDS is a cut above the previous two books in the series and feels like a first-rate international spy novel, giving readers a more accurate glimpse of the power players that the Martini Club members once were.