The Expats: A Novel - Tapa dura

"Sly. . . . Pavone strengthens this book with a string of head-spinning revelations in its last pages. . . . The tireless scheming of all four principals truly exceeds all sane expectations." --The New York Times

"Bombshell-a-minute. . . . Pavone creates a fascinating, complicated hero." --Entertainment Weekly

"A gripping spy drama and an artful study of the sometimes cat-and-mouse game of marriage." --Family Circle

"Smartly executed. . . . Pavone is full of sharp insights into the parallels between political espionage and marital duplicity. . . . Thoroughly captivating." --The New York Times Book Review

"Superb. . . . [Pavone] expertly draws readers along with well-timed clues and surprises. . . . An engineering marvel." --Richmond Times-Dispatch

"Expertly and intricately plotted, with a story spiraling into disaster and a satisfyingly huge amount of double-crossing, The Expats certainly doesn't feel like a first novel. This is an impressively assured entry to the thriller scene." --The Guardian (London)

"Refreshingly original. . . . Part Ludlum in the pacing, part Le Carré in the complexity of story and character, but mostly Chris Pavone. . . . A thriller so good that you wonder what other ideas [Pavone] has up his cloak, right alongside the obligatory dagger." --The Star-Ledger

"Amazing. . . . Impossible to put down. . . . Pavone invokes memories of the great writers of spy fiction of the past, and he has the chops to be mentioned with the best of them." --Associated Press

"A blast. . . . Pavone is spinning a fantastic tale with action that spans the globe." --Dallas Morning News

"Highly entertaining." --Mystery Scene

"Thoroughly enjoyable." --Suspense Magazine

"Hard to put down." --San Francisco Bay Guardian

"Stunningly assured. . . . An intricate, suspenseful plot that is only resolved in the final pages." --Booklist (starred review)

"Brilliant, insanely clever, and delectably readable." --Library Journal (starred review)

"Meticulously plotted, psychologically complex. . . . The sheer amount of bombshell plot twists are nothing short of extraordinary, but it's Pavone's portrayal of Kate and her quest to find meaning in her charade of an existence that makes this book such a powerful read." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Impressive. . . . With almost more double-crosses than a body can stand." --Kirkus (starred review)

"Bristling with suspense and elegantly crafted, The Expats introduces a compelling and powerful female protagonist you won't soon forget. Well done!" --Patricia Cornwell

"I often thought I was again reading the early works of Ken Follett, Frederick Forsyth, and Robert Ludlum. Smart, clever suspense, skillfully plotted, and a lot of fun to read." --John Grisham

"One of the best-written spy thrillers I've ever read. . . . A riveting story of great-game deceptions wrapped inside the smaller deceptions of marriage. At moments horrifying, hilarious, and very wise, The Expats has given Chris Pavone a permanent place on my short list of must-read authors." --Olen Steinhauer

"A gem. Clever, suspenseful with a jet fueled story that rockets from one corner of the globe to another, it is never less than a thrill a minute. . . . An absolute winner!" --Christopher Reich

"Spy stories need to budge over to make space for Kate Moore--mother, wife, expat and far more than she appears. I loved her." --Rosamund Lupton

"Riveting. One of the most accomplished debuts of recent years: not just a worthy addition to the literature of espionage and betrayal, but a fine portrait of a marriage disintegrating under the pressure of secrets and lies." --John Connolly

The international thriller that Patricia Cornwell says is “bristling with suspense” about an American abroad who finds herself in complex web of intrigue.

Can We Ever Escape Our Secrets?

Kate Moore is a working mother, struggling to make ends meet, to raise children, to keep a spark in her marriage . . . and to maintain an increasingly unbearable life-defining secret. So when her husband is offered a lucrative job in Luxembourg, she jumps at the chance to leave behind her double-life, to start anew.
She begins to reinvent herself as an expat, finding her way in a language she doesn’t speak, doing the housewifely things she’s never before done—playdates and coffee mornings, daily cooking and never-ending laundry. Meanwhile, her husband works incessantly, at a job Kate has never understood, for a banking client she’s not allowed to know. He’s becoming distant and evasive; she’s getting lonely and bored.
Then another American couple arrives. Kate soon becomes suspicious that these people are not who they say they are, and she’s terrified that her own past is catching up to her. So Kate begins to dig, to peel back the layers of deception that surround her. She discovers fake offices and shell corporations and a hidden gun, a mysterious farmhouse and numbered accounts with bewildering sums of money, and finally unravels the mind-boggling long-play con that threatens her family, her marriage, and her life.
Stylish and sophisticated, fiercely intelligent and expertly crafted, The Expats proves Chris Pavone to be a writer of tremendous talent.