Book Notices | The Expats by Chris Pavone

Chris Pavone, The Expats

Amazon   The story told in Chris Pavone's The Expats is an interesting one, and just the sort of thing I like: Kate Moore, a former CIA agent who is now retired with her husband and kids in Luxembourg, becomes suspicious of another expat couple and, ultimately, of her husband. It's a very cerebral story. Not much happens, really. There's just a lot of Kate figuring things out. That the book holds one's interest despite the lack of action is impressive. On the other hand, the author takes a very long time to tell the story. He throws in a lot of description at times when you wish he'd really just get on with it. It took me forever to read. The story is also confusing because there's a lot of jumping around in the timeline, and it's sometimes hard to follow. This may have to do with my reading the book on a Kindle, however: books in hard copy are better able to signal such leaps visually. So, in short, it's a very putdownable book, but not so putdownable that I didn't want to pick it up again. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll bother reading the book's sequel, which is a shame, because there's a lot to like here.