Audiobook Review - The Spy Coast

Normally, I usually like a post up on here once a week. Otherwise, the blogger anxiety kicks in and I feel like I have failed as a book blogger (even though, compared to other cooler blogosphere [on booksagram, booktube or booktok and other places], my little corner of the Internet is tiny!) and I know I shouldn’t worry so much, but I do. I should practice what I preach over doing this your way and no one else. 

Anyway, no blog posts last week and two this week. One audiobook that I preordered and one physical that I treated self to after I did a job interview that I thought I did really well (I didn’t get the job so can’t of gone that well). Now, getting sidetracked so let me get the details of this preordered audiobook up and then we can have a chat. 

Title and Author: The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen

Publisher: Penguin

Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought

Buy From (Affiliate): uk.bookshop.org

The first in the Martini Club series, The Spy Coast follows Maggie Bird in Purity, Maine. She’s a nice neighbour, loves her chickens and is a good shot with a gun. She, also, doesn’t talk about her past. 

So, when an unidentified body is dumped on her drive while she was at “book club”, Maggie realises that the past is coming for her. 

She and her fellow book club members (former spies for US government) must find out what is going on and why quickly is Maggie wants to keep her new, peaceful life. But the past is a tricky thing and Maggie’s past might get her killed…

You probably know that Tess Gerritsen is one of the first crime/thriller authors I read when I was stepping into the genre and she’s one of the only first for those earlier days that I have stuck with, returning every now and again as most of her titles intrigue me and I always seem to have a good time with her plots and characters (even if the book doesn’t work for me - Shape of Night for example). 

So, when I first discovered she was writing a new series about former spies, I was very intrigued and excited. So much as, I preordered the audiobook and started listening to it within a few days of release, not sure what to expect. 

What surprised me was that this, while being more of a thriller, feels very cosy crime-like and reminded me strongly of The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (and yes, I do need to audiobook the latest instalment which I will do soon. Just not sure when). Can’t put my finger on why I made this connection as, while Richard Osman’s books are more on the side of cosy, The Martini Club seems to have an edge to it. Plus, the characters don’t stay in one place - we have a whistle stop tour of Malta, London, Bangkok, Italy and Istanbul. 

I like how Maggie and Purity’s head cop, Jo Thibodeau, felt flesh out and they were perfect foils for each other. The other members of the Martini Club did feel a tad flat, but as this is a series, I suspect that each book will focus on a different member, which should give them the chance to become more fleshed out. 

I listened to the audiobook and if you are going to do that, there is one thing I need to warn you about. The British accents. My goodness, the British accents in this audiobook were so bad! When I first heard it, I gagged on my drink and started laughing. You do get use to it and, at times when character’s voices sound similar, you knew which character spoke with that dodgy British accent. 

Barring minor niggles, I did have fun with this and I am going to preorder the second in the series, The Summer Guests, when I get my next Audible credit…