In Claire Cook’s newest novel, “Bonus Time,” three life-long friends head south to the beautiful St. Simon’s Island in Georgia to discover what the rest of their lives might unfold. Like her novel-turned-movie “Must Love Dogs,” this novel includes plenty of humor marching side-by-side with Cook’s perceptive life lessons and a plot that will keep you turning the pages.

Glenda Gardner is the first person narrator, and it’s through her eyes that we get to know her two best friends, Harmony and Jan. Cook provides flashbacks that seamlessly link the past to the present as we learn about the marriages and children of the ladies. Now they are retired and ready to live in their side-by-side townhomes on the almost-tropical island of St. Simons, where the sunrises and sunsets are magical. There’s also plenty of singing, as these women are out to enjoy life to the best of their ability, singing when the mood comes over them, and even creating their own “Bonus Time” song.

One of Cook’s real talents is in creating women characters with whom we can relate, and Glenda is certainly someone we come to admire. She’s witty, charming, and funny. But from the very beginning, there’s an unspoken undercurrent of sadness and maybe even bitterness in her words and behaviors. We see that subtle contradiction before we even learn about her life story.

The other two women, Harmony and Jan, also combine humor with the life tragedies that all people face over the course of their long lives. But the dialogue and the wittiness in the dialogue and the narrative almost jump off the page to make us smile and laugh. The careful crafting of the plot with the “now” and the “then” really works well as we are fascinated by the women now, and through the “then,” we get to know how they became the women we meet today.

And everyone will laugh at the perfect villain Cook creates. He’s such a perfect parody of everything that might be wrong with a clueless, misogynistic, arrogant, venal male that all one can do is roll one’s eyes at his moves. And then cheer at the perfect ending to his gross, Giuliani-like actions.

This novel is like a sequel to the classic movie “Nine to Five,” and a prequel to the brilliant TV show, “Golden Girls.” The adventures at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) are hysterical, but also genuinely fascinating. Cook loves to provide information that her readers will find new and instructive, and it is wonderful to learn how agents from a slew of federal acronyms are trained. Those organizations include TSA, NIH, CDC, CIA, NSA, ICE, and too many others to list. Along the way, there are also helpful hints for women of a certain age about facial creams, healthy eating, and healthy living. Cook, as always, demonstrates here that aging is absolutely no excuse to stop living your best life, and that making the world a better place, day by day, is something important to live for and love.

Reviewed by Jack and Pamela Kramer.

Please note: This review was first posted on Bookreporter.com.