I loved the plot of the book, but I had a hard time getting into it and felt there were some holes in the plot. Plus— as someone who lives in Lisbon— there were some aspects that felt a little off to me. I really wanted to love this one, but it wasn't my favorite.

What do you do when you wake up alone in a strange hotel room, your husband gone without a trace, in a foreign city, and no one seems to understand the urgency of the situation?

I was really excited by the premise and really wanted to love this one, but unfortunately it fell flat. I didn't connect with the characters and the story had a really hard time holding my attention, despite being super cute.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Two Nights in Lisbon was my first novel by Chris Pavone. This was a twisty and fast paced thriller. Spy thrillers aren’t usually my favorite, but I enjoyed this one. I definitely did not see the twist at the end coming! I look forward to reading more from this author.

Two Nights in Lisbon is a fantastic, fast-paced adventure with an element of mystery. The writing was excellent and I was immersed from the first page. Ariel is with her husband in Lisbon when she wakes up one morning and he's gone. I loved Ariel's character--she's smart, brave, logical, and persistent. The narrative was woven in a way that made it impossible for me to put it down. I had to keep turning the pages. The ending was so satisfying! I think this is perfect for fans of action movies and would be a great Father's Day gift!

3.75 stars

Ariel Pryce accompanies her new-ish husband John Wright on his business trip to Lisbon, Portugal. While there, he goes missing one morning and she immediately panics and the story takes off from there. This is all I knew going into the novel and I recommend the same to get the most enjoyment out of this intriguing thriller.. The story unravels chapter by chapter, alternating from several character’s point of view throughout, and the various timelines back and forth from the past to the present keep the story moving. There are secrets and lies, the Lisbon police and American Embassy are investigating and interrogating, and a hotshot Portuguese reporter is also on the case. I really enjoyed this novel which is smartly written, deftly plotted, and has some great twists.

I will definitely read any future novels written by Chris Pavone.

Thank you to Farrar, Straus and Giroux, MCD and NetGalley for the electronic advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

2.5 stars

A woman suffering trauma from a lifetime of sexual abuse suspects her husband has been abducted during a business trip in Lisbon. Lots of complications & flashbacks lead to an improbable conclusion. I was not a fan of the writing style, the characters, or being immersed for the whole book in the MC’s trauma; the latter was unexpected & anxiety inducing for me.

[What I liked:]

•I’ve read few novels set in Lisbon, so that was interesting.

•The reactions of the hotel staff, local police, etc. to the MC’s seemingly disproportionate panic were nuanced & believable.

•It starts out slow, but the pace finally picks up around 35% in. From there it falters sometimes due to the constant switch between flashbacks & the present, but doesn’t drag too much.

[What I didn’t like as much:]

•Would the CIA *really* get involved in an unconfirmed missing persons report of an American on a business trip in a friendly European country less than 24 hours after he was last seen? That seems improbable.

•There is lots of information dumping at the beginning, as well as at regular intervals throughout the rest of the book. Also, the MC’s constant anxiety & rumination is tedious & made it a bit hard to follow the plot. (I know that’s not empathetic of me, but is was hard to read for the whole length of a book, & started to make me feel anxious 😬)

•There is no mention of the MC’s long & tragic history of repeated sexual abuse & harassment in the synopsis, or any indication that this would be featured so prominently in the book. It was marketed as a kidnapping thriller, with no hints of the significant focus on abuse & trauma.

•The ending isn’t terrible, but it’s improbable. It feels a little out of left field because there were no hints of it in the MC’s endless litany of thoughts about the current situation.

CW: abusive relationships, sexual harassment, mental health issues (anxiety, trauma), under-age sexual assault, a disgusting amount of victim blaming, r*pe

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

After reading the synopsis of this book, I wanted to like it so bad, but no matter how many times I picked it up, I just could not get into it. I don't even know why, but it just didn't draw me in - maybe it was the jumping around from perspectives but just not the book for me.

Newlywed couple Ariel and John head to Lisbon for John’s business trip but after their first night, Ariel wakes to find John is missing. Ariel desperately tries to find him, involving the local police immediately. Through many twists and turns that keep you interested, the story unfolds and things aren’t as they first seemed with details of their pasts emerging. I really liked this book, the themes were powerful and the setting was descriptive enough that I could imagine the exact locations in a city I love.

Two Nights in Lisbon is a perfect book for the beach or your flight. It mixes international intrigue with well defined characters and locations you want to visit. A couple travels to Lisbon for business, and when she wakes up he is missing. Chris Pavone does a masterful job of weaving a plot that keeps the reader involved.

Love this book. Kept me looking for more. Would highly recommend. Looking forward to reading more from this author!!!!

Two Nights? Gimme MORE!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

⏰ 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫: Ariel Pryce’s husband John has been kidnapped in Lisbon. Poof. Gone. To get him back, Ariel has to delve into her past to cover the ransom. But it’s a past fraught with trauma and mystery and Ariel is flung back into the spotlight.

💡𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬: Ooooh Lisbon! Sign me up for this trip (minus the kidnapping!), but what a backdrop for this well-fashioned, tautly-told tale that reads like an action movie with a twist of mystery. Ariel is a likeable protagonist - sharp, smart, and smooth despite being a “country girl.” But oooh there are secrets there…

This is a perfectly done plot - in unfolds one piece at a time, layers upon layers of “what?”, “OMG!”, and “No!” Revealing a little at a time makes the reader wonder (and KEEP wondering) while bringing to light what I call a “travel mystery” - a foreign location, bad dudes around, sketchy happenings, all with a setting to die for. Love it.

𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆𝗠𝗮𝗴𝘀.𝗰𝗼𝗺 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

📚𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Mystery/Thriller

😍𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨: Oh this is a great one for all. Not too gritty or gruesome but not cutesy or cloying.

🙅‍♀️ 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨: There is mention of assault so if anything in that realm disturbs you, avoid.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley and Farrar , Straus, & Giroux Books for my advanced copy in exchange for my always-honest review and for new passion for “travel mysteries.”

I liked the setup, but the execution went on far too long. It would've helped if the narrator had been more likeable. Also would've helped if the heavy-handed 'clues' were either a) spelled out in enough detail to indicate their relevance to the plot or, b) eliminated for greater surprise at the climax.

This book was a miss for me. I think there is certainly an audience for it, just not me. The author is incredibly descriptive and at almost 450 pages, some of the descriptions could have been cut to shorten the text. Because I kept getting lost in descriptions, it was hard for me to become invested in the characters or their stories. For readers used to longer, more sense books, this would be a perfect fit.

“Two Nights in Lisbon” is Chris Pavone’s fifth novel. While I’ve not read his work before, the first four novels have already been reviewed us at MRB. They have raved about his writing, and now I see why. I’m excited to know there are four more books that I’ll have to consume. Unfortunately, it’s been too many weeks between writing this review and reading the book. I was also intrigued by the title since I’ve been planning to make a trip to Portugal, so he introduced me to parts of Lisbon that I now need to see, including the Praca do Comerico which had once been “the beating heart of Portugal.”

The protagonist is Ariel, an American woman, and she has come to Portugal with her husband of three months, John Wright. He’s on a business trip and he asked her to come along, although he gave her a false reason for her presence, saying his business partners were eager to meet her, when that was actually not true. Once in Lisbon, John disappeared without any explanation. After a short period of time, she learns that he has been kidnapped and the kidnappers have demanded a ransom of $3,000,000, which Ariel and John do not have. She was warned against contacting the police.

Ariel made a call to un unwanted but possible source of the money, Charlie Wolfe, who is about to be named the Vice President by the next American presidential candidate. In a mysterious call to Charlie, Ariel presented an extortion scheme to him, saying that if he did not come across with $3,000,000 immediately, that she would reveal a secret about him, something that would severely damage his political career. She knew the call to him would be ugly, and it was. But money was provided to her, which was in turn given to the kidnappers. However, when the transfer happened, there was a glitch which Ariel seemed not to understand. By this time, the Portuguese police detectives were involved. Ariel was detained under suspicion that the kidnapping had been faked. But finally, her husband was released unharmed.

This was only the midpoint of the story, lots of well-written plot twists were yet to occur. If I go farther, then I will spoil your reading of this very clever novel. It was a most satisfying read. If my reading queue was not so long, I would jump directly to Pavone’s first novel, The Accident, but I will immediately get a copy of it so I can read it soon.

I could not finish this book as I did not enjoy it. The characters are 2d and the story is not cohesive. I liked the descriptions of Lisbon

“Justice is truth in action” in this taut and sexy thriller from spy novel
veteran Pavone. The Disraeli epigraph may initially puzzle; readers, keep turning those
pages and all will become clear. Ariel Pryce wakes up on her honeymoon in a Lisbon hotel
room to find her husband missing. Fearing the worst and increasingly frantic, Ariel turns
to the Portuguese police and American embassy where her concern is met with skepticism:
he’s a grown man and it’s only been a few hours. When they discover the couple both
changed their names ten years ago, their skepticism balloons into outright disbelief—even
though his kidnappers have surfaced and demanded an outrageous ransom. With the
clock ticking and no help from authorities, Ariel seeks help from those she’d long since left
behind in her old life—and then things get really interesting. Team member Shannan still
loves The Expats most but I say this is Pavone’s best yet. Content warnings apply.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

If John Grisham and Harlan Cohen collaborated on a novel, Two Nights in Lisbon might be it. Newlyweds Ariel and John are in Lisbon for John’s business trip when he goes missing from their hotel room early one morning. Ariel begins a frantic attempt to find, ransom and rescue John. Only things aren’t truly as they appear, and while the fallout from an incident from Ariel’s past might help, it also might hurt both of them. Tightly written, fast-paced, sophisticated and timely, this novel had me trying to keep my eyes open at 1 am for just one more chapter. Five stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was immediately drawn in to this action filled mystery . a woman's husband goes missing in Lisbon and she tries to find him with some kick ass traipsing around. this was a bit far fetched at times but it was still a fun read that threw me for a loop. a strong lead female character makes it a good read.

copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley

This book was not what I thought it would be. A thriller that was full of so many twists and turns. Just when you thought the story would be coming to a close a new wrinkle would be introduced.

Two Nights in Lisbon is a fabulous read and definitely one of my favorite novels so far this year. A smart, fast-paced suspense novel with a unique premise and subtle surprises in store for the reader, it starts with a newly-married couple on a short business trip to Portugal but quickly turns into a kidnaping story, complete with false identities, ransom demands, a frantic out-of-her-depth wife, and less-than-helpful police officials. As the hours tick by, we’re increasingly aware that we don’t know the whole story behind this adventure which means we’re frantically flipping pages to learn what’s actually going on. How far will Ariel go to save the man she loves? And who will believe her and step in to help? When the police fail to treat her seriously, she pulls in all her contacts, both at the US Embassy and back home in America to get someone, anyone, to help her locate her missing spouse. The author took his time to spool out the plot and I for one enjoyed that pace as it gave me time to muse about what I would do in the same situation and provided me with several evenings of reading enjoyment as opposed to other thriller/suspense novels which practically race through the narrative at breakneck speed. If you’re looking for a political thriller with subtle clues and a surprising denouement, this is one I’d highly recommend. Plus I loved that this was set in Portugal, a setting I rarely see used in novels.

My thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy.