The Expats by Chris Pavone

Kate and I listened to this on CD while driving from Washington to MN and it was the perfect book for passing the miles and hours.   We both enjoyed the book and even after that long of a drive, we sat in our driveway and listened to the last track of the last CD.

A criticism that comes to mind might be corrected in the book layout, but for an audible listener there were so many time and location shifts back and forth that we would find ourselves confused and have to pause while the one of us who figured out where we were helped the other get grounded.

We were fascinated by the authors plotting of dialogue and storyline as he took four principal characters and a few supporting roles and created a situation with as many twists as the old Saturday 5 cent serials (did I just date myself?).

Who is CIA, who is FBI, who is manipulating and who is manipulated.  Is the statement real or part of an alternative reality that is being pursued or plotted?

There are crooks, but there is no innocent person in the book.  Some seem better than others, but at times the heroine or the hero seem callous and frustrating.  The plot goes down the alleys of Luxembourg, Amsterdam, Paris, and Geneva, but the location is not nearly as important as the flow of information and the clues to the reality that slide in to obscure actions and conversations.

There is enough suspicion for everyone.  At one point we began to think the judgments of the wife Kate to her husband Dexter was dis-ingenuousness considering what we knew of her.  Who among the four would end up with the money?  Who would have remorse for the figures that died?

Was Dexter really pursuing a righteous cause or did he get caught up in greed.  Was Kate reacting to the unfolding story because she was alarmed or because she was fighting her own guilt.  Did Bill really work as an agent?  Was he really unaware before he began very aware and therefore dangerous.  Is Julia supporting Bill or is she less the dupe and more the mastermind?   You have to read to find out.

In many ways the credibility of the can only be accepted if you suspend a few realities.  Kate is bored, she moved to Luxembourg for her husband, but she was one ass kicking fem fatale in her career so boredom has to be expected and we see it in the drudgery of her day, the contents of conversations, and her frustration with suppressing her own talents and skills.

Dexter is boring.  A nerd - is he also an amazing international thief?  Only Bill is exciting as he is the man about town hulk with athletic and social skills to wow them all.

Put all these characters and their convoluted histories in an out of the way country where few readers have been or heard of (yes Kate and I have been there and liked it alot) and you find the writer used the readers ignorance to create an almost fabricated location in a real place.

Slick!