The Expats by Chris Pavone

The Expats by Chris Pavone is a spy mystery/ thriller featuring Kate Moore, former CIA operative and current wife and mother.  What happens to a CIA operative who decides to leave the business to lead an ordinary live?  Can someone accustom to secrets and deception in a clandestine occupation suddenly become a wife and mother totally open to her family with no ghosts lurking in the shadows?

Katherine Moore is recruited by the CIA directly out of college and works her way up in the organization.  She is assigned to Latin America where she runs assets for the company and supports U.S. friendly candidates in elections.  More than once she has had to assassinate enemies of state.  Kate has no close living family and carefully chooses her husband, Dexter.  Dexter works in banking security and Kate tells him she writes position papers for the State Department.  Mutually in high security jobs neither is suspicious when work issues are never discussed.   They have two boys together and Kate juggles her two lives with ever increasing stress.  Dexter is not a mover and shaker in his job so financially, they never seem to get ahead.  Then one day, Dexter announces he has a lucrative job offer in Luxembourg that would allow Kate to stay at home and raise their family.  Kate jumps at this chance of normality and immediately quits her job.

Settling into their new life in Luxembourg, the couple befriends another expat couple, Bill and Julia.  As time goes on, Dexter remains very private about his work, not even willing to reveal the name of his employer to Kate but the money rolls in as promised.  She becomes increasingly suspicious of Bill and Julia when they show up in unexpected places and ask probing questions about their personal lives.  Kate becomes convinced either she or Dexter is being investigated…but why and by whom?  Because she can’t reveal the sins from her former life to Dexter, she feels she can’t ask him to do the same.  Instead she decides to use her training to investigate Dexter as well as Bill and Julia.  She learns that no one is who they appear to be.  Evidence suggests that Dexter is a clever cyber thief and is at risk of being caught by a dangerous arms dealer as well as multiple law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and Europe.  Now Kate must use her professional skill set to save her family.

The author uses a series of flashbacks from three different settings to create intrigue and build suspense, gradually revealing the truth to the reader.  This can be confusing at times but serves to clue in the reader on the secrets and deceptions within each of the character’s careers, their marriage and their private lives at the most opportune time.  This is Pavone’s first effort and I thought a reasonably good one.  He’s not yet in my power rotation but worth a second look.