The Expats - Book Review

I read Chris Pavone's second novel before reading his first, but it was actually his first book, The Expats, that had been recommended to me. When I saw the book available to review through the Blogging for Books program, I jumped on the chance to request a review copy.

In the book, Kate and her husband Dexter move to Luxembourg on account of Dexter's job in cyber security for banks. Kate must quite her job as a CIA agent, a little something she's never shared with Dexter in the 10 years they've been together.

Once abroad, the couple meets another American couple named Julia and Bill. But Kate's CIA "Spidey sense" starts tingling. Julia and Bill aren't who they seem. Neither is Dexter. Everyone has secrets.

I did like this book, although it was sometimes hard to keep track of the timeline. Some of the book takes place in the present, some of it takes place in the past, and then from the past there are further flashbacks. Sometimes in the present, you learn information that you haven't yet gotten to in the past. I was really unable to figure out what was going on. There was a lot of "He knew she knew that I knew." Who? What???

And then the big reveal came and it was not at all what I was expecting. I didn't quite buy it, to be honest. It was just weird. And it was all just talked out. I wanted more action! I definitely liked Pavone's second book, The Accident, much better than this one.

I received a free review copy of this book from Blogging for Books for this review. All opinions are my own.