The Summer Guests

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence, mental illness, substance use, emotional abuse, physical abuse, child abuse, and death.

“He did not feel Sam reach for his holster—the holster he’d already unsnapped. Suddenly there it was, staring at him: the barrel of his own gun. ‘Don’t,’ he said. ‘Sam, don’t.’ But it was not Sam Tarkin looking back at him.”

This dramatic scene sets up a key element of the intrigue that animates the rest of the plot. The key phrase is Officer Pelletier’s impression that “it was not Sam Tarkin looking back at him” in the middle of their scuffle. This prompts the reader to wonder what happened to Sam to make him act so out of character, foreshadowing the ultimate reveal that Sam was under the influence of psychotropic drugs.

“She had no idea how a writer’s mind worked, but she imagined it was like a dozen different voices shouting in your head, demanding you tell their story their way. It seemed like a form of madness.”

This metafictional touch comments on the writerly process, hinting at the personal perspective of author Tess Gerritsen and how she might feel when she is working on a novel. The association of writing with potential “madness” also foreshadows Susan’s unease when she sees Ethan is writing about a missing woman, though it turns out that this has nothing to do with Zoe’s disappearance.

“The wealthy often liked to masquerade as common folk, and Maine was where they came to indulge that fantasy.”

Reuben’s resentment toward those who own vacation homes around Maiden Pond develops the theme of Tensions Between Upper and Lower Classes. He judges these “summer people” and those like them for the way they “masquerade” as lower-income people like himself when they come to Maine, suggesting that they are playacting a rustic life that they do not truly understand and would not appreciate if they did.