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The Expats

by Chris Pavone
. 978-0-30795-635-4. Fiction
COPY ISBN
OrangeReviewStarKate is a young mom cozily wrapped up in her expat life in tiny Luxembourg—her two young sons and husband fill her days. What keeps her up at night glued to the Internet is the suspicion that a couple of casual buddies she met on the cocktail circuit are really assassins. Fueled by her 15 years as a covert CIA agent, Kate's obsession soon leads her to deeply hidden plots that involve 50 million euros, a suddenly flaky husband with curiously muddy shoes, and herrings—red and not—that rip her comfy world to tatters.
VERDICT Brilliant, insanely clever, and delectably readable, this debut thriller breaks the espionage genre bounds with its American-as-apple-pie heroine. Standing on the shoulders of such giants as Robert Littell, Gayle Lynds, Eric Ambler, Helen MacInnes, and Daniel Silva, Pavone displays the best characteristics of the form and will earn a faithful and yearning readership. [See Prepub Alert, 10/14/11; see the Q&A with Pavone on p. 98.]
Reviewed by Barbara Conaty, Falls Church, Va , Jan 01, 2012
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