THE EXPATS

An impressive thriller by first-time novelist Pavone, with almost more double-crosses than a body can stand.

Dexter and Kate Moore move to Luxembourg with their two young children so Dexter can make a pile of money working as a security consultant for a bank. Unknown to him, Kate has been working for the CIA but has recently quit, disgusted by her role as an agent occasionally called on to terminate wayward enemies. In Luxembourg they meet Bill and Julia, an attractive couple with whom they begin to socialize, but, as in all good thrillers, nothing is as it seems. Bill and Julia are FBI agents hot on the trail of the seemingly innocuous and nerdy Dexter, whose knowledge of bank security—trying to find breaches in the system—also allows him to find cunning access points, and it seems he may have stolen €50 million. That her husband has a secret life he hasn’t been sharing surprises Kate...who, of course, also has a secret life she hasn’t been sharing. Kate pushes herself to try to find out whether Bill and Julia are right about Dexter or whether they’re trying to run a scam of their own, for it appears that Julia in particular is not to be trusted. The novel switches chronology from a series of flashbacks to how Kate and Dexter’s life unravels in Luxembourg and how Julia and Bill catch up with the Moores in Paris a year later. While Kate occasionally has to rely on former CIA contacts to help straighten out the mess she finds herself in, she shows herself quite capable of ruthlessness and venality.

A thoroughly competent and enjoyable thriller with unanticipated twists that will keep readers guessing till the end.