Title: Expats
Author: Chris Pavone
Publisher: Crown (March 6, 2012)
Pages: 336
Rating: ★★★★
The bestselling, first novel by Chris Pavone wove past, present and future together in a way that unraveled a complex tale of deceit and personal histories. When Katherine Moore and her tech-savvy husband, Dexter, moved unexpectedly to Luxembourg for his job, Katherine assumed she was leaving her old life behind. Now going by Kate, this stay at home mom and expat was eager to make friends in the foreign country that she was living in. Little suspicion was aroused at first by another couple's (Julia and Bill) urgent attempt at friendship, they too were expats. Quickly, keeping the readers attention, Julia acted in an overly suspicious manner around Kate; enough to make anyone who had read the summary of this book think twice. As Dexter worked longer and longer hours and Kate grew tired of her repetitive days minding the children, she began to let her mind wander, and her former training as a CIA field agent took over. Once an agent, always an agent. In a game of deception and lies, Kate found ways to investigate the perfect couple that she knew was in turn, investigating her. It became clear that Julia and Bill were not quite the couple they claimed to be, but rather they were American FBI agents sent to tail her husband. In an anxiety inducing end to this thriller of marriage, loyalty and trust, we find out how far one woman would go to reveal the absolute truth and to protect her family.
With a clear four stars, this book was worthy of its title as a bestseller. It was predictable in all the right places, giving the reader a sense of accomplishment at catching on before the quick and capable Kate. The multi-dimensional take on time and place only helped to enhance the need-to-know factor, keeping the reader with their hand on the next page late into the night. The characters themselves could have had more depth and personality, but with so many well thought out twists and turns it can be forgiven. I look forward to reading about future novels by Chris Pavone.
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