Ariel Pryce runs a bookshop in a quiet rural town. Her previous life was as the socialite wife of a wealthy husband in New York, but a sexual assault by a richer, more powerful man destroyed that. She fled and changed her name. Now, she’s newly married to John Wright, who takes her on a business trip to Portugal.
Waking from a jetlagged sleep, she discovers John isn’t in their room. When he fails to return, Ariel reports him missing to the police, then to the American Embassy. Neither is keen to investigate John’s disappearance until she receives a ransom demand for three million Euros – money neither she nor her husband could access.
The identity of the kidnappers is a mystery. Police detectives, CIA agents from the Embassy and a local American journalist run their own investigations, each uncovering different leads.
Suspicion falls on John himself: he’s also changed his name and is ex-CIA. But why would he plan the kidnapping knowing his wife couldn’t pay? In desperation Ariel contacts her abuser, demanding he pay the ransom. She knows he has the money and that exposing his past actions would threaten his ascent in US politics. He finds the money.
With John released and the kidnappers evading the police, the focus turns to the man paying the ransom. The CIA wants to keep the politician’s name secret; the journalist wants to expose him. Ariel signs a nondisclosure agreement, keeping the abuser’s identity secret, but crumbs are left to follow.
Ultimately, this is as much about Ariel’s abuse as it is about John’s kidnapping. There are multiple levels of intrigue and complex plotting – handled expertly – making this an enthralling read.
Reviewed by Bob Moore
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chris Pavone is author of five international thrillers, beginning with The Expats in 2012 and most recently the instant bestseller Two Nights in Lisbon. His novels have appeared on the bestseller lists of the New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and IndieNext; have won both the Edgar and Anthony awards, and have been shortlisted for the Strand, Macavity, and Los Angeles Times Book Prize; are in development for film and television; and have been translated into two dozen languages.
Chris grew up in Brooklyn, graduated from Midwood High School and Cornell University, and worked in publishing for nearly two decades at Dell Magazines, Doubleday, the Lyons Press, Regan/HarperCollins, Clarkson Potter, and Artisan/Workman, in positions ranging from copy editor and managing editor to executive editor and deputy publisher; he also wrote a (mostly blank) book about wine, and ghost-wrote a couple of nonfiction books. Then his wife got a job in Luxembourg, and the family moved abroad, where Chris raised their twin boys and started writing The Expats.
They now live again in New York City and on the North Fork of Long Island with an Australian Labradoodle named Wally.
0 Comments