The Spy Coast

“Everything she’d planned, everything she’d risked, was all now for nothing, but that was the way of the world. No matter how clever you think you are, there is always someone cleverer, and that was her mistake: not considering the possibility that she could be outsmarted.”

Diana is the shadowy presence in the novel that propels both the past storyline and the repercussions taking place in the present. Although she doesn’t have many point-of-view chapters, by positioning Diana’s point of view first, Gerritsen emphasizes her importance to the narrative. Diana illustrates The Dangers of Underestimating Powerful Women, but here, she realizes that her ego has been part of her downfall.

“Over the sixteen years since my retirement, I’ve slowly let down my guard. Now I’m so accustomed to being a small-town chicken farmer that I’ve started to believe that’s all I am. The way Ben’s just a retired salesman for hotel supplies, and Declan’s just a retired history professor. We know the truth, but we keep each other’s secrets, because we each have our own to guard. There’s safety in mutual blackmail.”

Sixteen years is the same amount of time that Diana mentioned, making an immediate connection between their two storylines. This reflection introduces the covers of Maggie and her friends, innocuous jobs that hide a complex history. This also points out the issue of trust that Maggie and her friends deal with. Although they have known each other for years, because of the nature of their work, they aren’t able to fully trust each other. This creates a tension that remains between Maggie and her friends throughout the novel and is characteristic of the spy thriller genre.

“When you live your whole life in one town, you know all the places where tragedy has occurred, because bad memories are as permanent as gravestones.”

Chapter 3 shifts to Jo’s point of view and introduces her character. Like Maggie and her friends, Jo’s personal history informs the way she sees the present.