Just Okay!

I’ve been a fan and regular reader of Chris Pavone’s books and was looking forward to reading his latest, Two Nights In Lisbon. After having now finished it my bottom line opinion of it is that it’s not a bad but it’s not one I’d recommend you rush out to read. On the positive side, in typical Pavone fashion, he does a very good job in creating believable, multi-dimensional characters as well as creating a strong sense of time and place. However, these positives were offset for me by Pavone’s dragging out the plot to to such a large extent that by the time the action and excitement picked up it became a case of “too little too late.” Despite Two Nights In Lisbon being my least favorite of Pavone’s books, I’m optimistic that his next book will be more satisfactory to me.

#Two Nights In Lisbon #Net Galley

Happy Publication Day!

Ariel Price wakes up from a blissful nights sleep alone in Lisbon, her husband nowhere to be found. She immediately goes to the police, the American embassy, anyone who will listen to her to start the search for him. After dissecting some suspicious security footage, she is contacted by his kidnappers; three million euros in 48 hours which Ariel doesn’t have. Will she have to face her hellacious past in order to save her husband and is he really the man she thought he was?

I have about 20 pages left and I’m about to curl up with a glass of Pinot Grigio and finish the last few nail biting pages! I have loved every second of this book, I think have the ending figured out but that hasn’t stopped me from turning the pages relentlessly. Ariel is such an incredibly brave and complex character and I have enjoyed witnessing how she acts under pressure. I definitely recommend picking up a copy at your favorite book spot!

Special thanks to Net Galley for the ARC!

Two Nights in Lisbon is a cross between an international thriller, and a book for the metoo era. Ariel tags along with her husband on a business trip to Portugal. While there, her husband is kidnapped and a large ransom is demanded. The US embassy and local police get involved, and they find out there is more to Ariel's background and to her husband John than meets the eye. We learn more about Ariel's history through the book, she is not just a mom and bookstore owner, she has a lot of secrets in her past.

I'd thought this book seemed a little long, but that may have just been the formatting, because it read really quickly. It was definitely an exciting one that I couldn't put down. There were a couple of aspects that don't quite make sense to me after reading it, but I did like the characters and the parts where the narrator switched to someone else besides Ariel put a different perspective on the activities.

I've liked Chris Pavone's breakneck style combining deep mystery and elements of espionage-in-plain-sight since I first read "The Expats" a few years ago. His new novel "Two Nights in Lisbon" starts off a little slow, but so do most great spy novels. By the middle, all of the traditional elements are in play, and Pavone puts each detail in its place from there. The story is current and relevant, the twist is a reasonable stand-in for justice, and the story of vengeance is overall highly satisfying with very little out of place. Well done!

In Chris Pavone's newest novel, "Two Nights in Lisbon," Ariel Pryce wakes up in her hotel room in Lisbon to find her husband is missing. After showering and dressing she goes to the breakfast room in the hotel hoping to see her husband at their favorite table. When she doesn't see him, she also confirms with the waiter that he also hasn't seen her husband that morning. Ariel is married to John for less than a year and "...doesn't want to be a woman who's wondering where her husband is, such an archetype of insecurity."

Despite her initial intention of staying calm, Ariel enlists the aid of the hotel staff, police and eventually the American Embassy. As events escalate, the CIA and an over-enthusiastic reporter become involved much to Ariel's chagrin. They uncover snippets of information unbeknownst to Ariel, most notably that John changed his last name and he has made other business trips to Lisbon. As events start to unravel and a ransom is demanded for the safe return of her husband, Ariel questions whether she truly knew John, after a very hasty courtship.

This book is a wild and ambitious journey of international intrigue replete with stunning descriptive scenery which succeeds under the masterful hand of Chris Pavone. He expertly weaves present day events with Ariel's very complicated past to create this juggernaut of a story. Of course the clues are all there, hidden in plain sight. "Something that looks at first like nothing much, just a hiccup, but then you're choking to death..."

Many thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first read by Chris Pavone. It did not disappoint. I am a huge thriller fan and will definitely be checking out more of his books. He does a great job of building suspense and keeping you guessing. I definitely didn't expect the events to unfold in the way that they did. I love when I am wrong because predictability can be boring. I do like that everything is explained and tied together in the end. I don't like it when I am left hanging!
Ariel , the main character is a very likable character and you can't help but feel bad for her when everyone is thinking she is over-reacting when she can't find her husband. Pavone creates a backstory that really explains the type of person Ariel is and why she is used to people brushing her off.
Highly recommend!

This novel is a wonderful international thriller! What do you do when the person you love suddenly disappears? Ariel accompanies her husband John on a business trip to Lisbon. He disappears and starting with the hotel staff, no one seems to take her seriously. Not getting much help and being seen as an emotional female, Ariel, tries to solve what happened to her husband and what does she not know about him. Under a time crunch, Ariel uses her skills to try to find her husband. A lot of turns, twists and turns again lead to a surprising ending. I love Ariel’s strong character and inability to give up! I really enjoyed this novel and recommend it! I received this novel as a ARC. All opinions are entirely my own.

Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone is the story of Ariel and her husband John. Ariel accompanies John on a business trip to Lisbon and on her first morning there discovers that John has disappeared. Pavone crafts a masterful plot that centers on Ariel's enlisting local help in searching for John. The tension mounts for both Ariel and the reader. Pavone creates this unease by constantly shifting the story from Ariel's present to the glamorous former life she abandoned. Two Night in Lisbon proves once again that Pavone is a master of suspense writing. Set aside two nights anywhere to read this exceptional page turner.

Not my favorite of Mr. Pavone’s novels but I did like the time stamps to assist the reader in understanding how the time line unfolds. How quickly things can go wrong.

In the end, I wasn’t that invested in what happened to Ariel’s husband and much as I was more worried about her.

What a great international thriller. You can tell the author loves Lisbon and I do, too. It was a lot of fun watching the local police and the CIA race to find out what was really going on. Who was going to get there first? The story contains some good twists. I had my suspicions and was partially right.

Another thriller by the author of the Expats that is a wonderful suspenseful ride. Ariel wakes up in her hotel room.in Lisbon to find her husband missing. A taut immersive thriller not to be missed!

Ariel Price accompanies her newly wed husband on a business trip to Lisbon. When John fails to return from an early morning walk, Ariel is sure something is wrong. The Lisbon police and the US Embassy staff offer little help, only asking more questions about her husband that she can answer. When Ariel gets a phone call demanding $3 million Euros for John’s release, Ariel is forced to seek help from someone in her past. As the police, CIA, and FBI begin to dig into her husband’s past, Ariel realizes she might not really know her husband. Just like he might not know her.

This was a fun cat and mouse game of kidnapping with many long buried secrets. I particularly enjoyed the sun splashed Lisbon setting because it was a bit different. The twists and turns didn’t surprise me, but that didn’t hamper my enjoyment. I like author Chris Pavone’s writing style. At first I thought he made Ariel a little too paranoid, always thinking everyone was watching her (especially men). So it took me a little while to warm up to her character. Overall, I found this to be an enjoyable thriller that’s perfect to read on the beach or poolside this summer.

When Ariel awakes alone in a hotel room in Lisbon, she finds her husband missing. She feels uncomfortable with the situation immediately. It’s just not like him. Where has he gone? As the hours progress she becomes frantic. Where oh where is John? Once again Pavone takes us on a wild ride with his newest book. A thrilling story of international intrigue and one that will surely have you on the edge of your seat.

I don't read thrillers too often but the description was too enticing to pass up! Chris Pavone is a gifted author that is excellent at building intrigue and tension. The story revolves around Ariel, who is visiting Lisbon, Portugal, with her new husband. Soon after arriving, her husband goes missing with no word. It's up to Ariel to figure out what has happened to him and how to help the situation. I found Ariel to be a fascinating, strong, multidimensional character. I didn't always understand her motivation, but that made her more intriguing. In the story we learn there is a lot more to her character than we initially realize. The story starts out a little slow, but then picks up speed. I like that it's told over the course of two days with flashbacks to the past. I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated by January LaVoy. She always brings such depth to the books she narrates.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for providing this ebook / audiobook ARC. All thoughts are my own.

This one just wasn’t for me. I love thrillers and can appreciate a slow burn but Two Nights in Lisbon felt more like an eternity. It was extremely slow, highly misogynistic, there was too much fluff in the middle that just didn’t contribute to the story other than to drag it out more, I didn’t like any of the characters and the constant bouncing back and forth between a good amount of characters, as well as timelines, just got too tiresome for me. If you like slow-burn whodunits, this one might be for you but it just fell a little too flat for me. *Trigger warnings for sexual assault.* Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my eARC.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC on this new Chris Pavone tour of international mystery and hidden agendas.
I'm far from the world's biggest Chris Pavone fan.......I can still remember "The Expats" trying my patience to the breaking point. But I had a much better time and far more enjoyable, entertaining read with this one, even though it's lengthy and reveals its many secrets at a slow deliberate pace.
And as this strange collision of domestic thriller and global politics comes together, I got a kick out the author's right-on-the-money observations about the state of where we are today.....in the new age of relentless social media, toxic political divisions and the new increased efforts to hold the power elite accountable for.....well, let's just say a host of sins.
The plot seems to begin with a straightforward disappearance of a wealthy American businessman in Lisbon - and his wife's increasingly desperate efforts to find out what became of him.
But as you might imagine in a story like this, there's way, way more here than meets the eye, much to the confusion and growing suspicions of the Lisbon police and the CIA contingent stationed in the city.
The American wife, Ariel Pryce has a twisty backstory that unravels in bits and pieces and her missing husband John, seems to hold an equal amount of mystery swirling around him as to the how, where, and why of his dropping out of sight.. And before long, the plight of this odd couple manages to somehow escalate into very current events, with potentially monumental repercussions back at the halls of power in the U.S.
Along the way to the book's big reveals and final twists, I felt Chris Pavone, took some amount of devilish fun depicting a few of his fictional political figures as uncomfortably close to reality, But every reader should decide on their own who they think's on the receiving end of the jabs here.
The book does finally uncork a conclusion both timely and satisfying which more than justified sticking with it to the end......and made it a solid 4 star read for me.

Newlywed Ariel Pryce has accompanied her husband, John, on a business trip to Lisbon. She wakes up early the day of his meeting--to find him gone. She has considerable difficulty convincing the local police and US embassy that his disappearance is cause for concern, until she receives a ransom request for 3 million euros.

Trouble is, it's the Fourth of July weekend, and coming up with the cash is difficult even for those who might have it, and she doesn't. Her only option is to extort it from a wealthy former acquaintance who caused her unspeakable harm 14 years ago. With a journalist, the embassy, and investigators eager to discover the truth now, Ariel is fighting for her husband's life as well as for her son's reputation.

A well-executed page-turning thriller that will keep you guessing. #TwoNightsinLisbon #NetGalley

What’s it about (in a nutshell):
Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone is a thriller about the disappearance of Ariel Price’s husband and everything that follows, including different investigations and a complicatedly twisted plot for justice.

Initial Expectations (before beginning the book):
Looking at the book cover, I think of old James Bond movies because it has a 70s look. But the blurb is a whole different kind of description. It talks about a husband disappearing from the hotel the couple stayed at while in Lisbon on business – which would be more of a domestic thriller. Two Nights in Lisbon is quite a lengthy book for the genre, so it seems like it may be a complicated tale.


Actual Reading Experience:
I love the writing style the author used in telling this thriller. It’s in third-person narration but switches perspectives in small scenes within each chapter. You learn about Ariel’s past and present, how she works to save her missing husband through her eyes, and the investigation through a reporter, the local police, and the CIA, who are all three doing independent research and discovery. The way the story is written helped take a pretty lengthy tome and make it read relatively quickly.

The story tackles a few social injustices, predominantly how women are not listened to, especially when they try to alert people about sexual assault and rape. The story also talks about media, power differentials, and politics. There are a few soapbox moments, but I only mildly took note of them as they had the capability of pulling me a bit out of the story.

I loved the twists and turns the story took. It was quite dizzying at times as the story changed quickly, and the plot doubled back on itself. I was very right about it being a complicated tale. There are so many layers, and fortunately, all my questions found answers by the end, which satisfied me. I only wish the story had been a bit more streamlined, as I didn’t believe the length felt justified. I thought that large parts reiterated what had been told, and character histories rambled slightly.

Characters:
Ariel is the main character and the only one I got to know. She’s a bit elusive, very private, and has many anxieties/fears. Yet, she is strong and independent, never tolerating injustices or feeling happy to sweep things under the rug. She preferred to stand up for herself and others.

To Read or Not to Read:
Two Nights in Lisbon will bring you to a world full of thrills and twists and give you an international thriller encompassing many social issues and investigative bodies.

ARC book review 📚 This book comes out tomorrow!

Ariel Pryce wakes up in Lisbon, alone. Her husband is gone with no warning, no note, not answering his phone. Something is wrong.

She starts with hotel security, then the police, then the American embassy, at each confronting questions she can’t fully answer. She's only been married to him for a few months and only known him for around a year. She doesn't exactly know what his business in Lisbon is and who would want to hurt him. She shortly finds out he has been kidnapped.

The clock is ticking. Ariel is increasingly frustrated and desperate, running out of time, and the one person in the world who can help is the one person she least wants to ask, her past abuser.

This book was a bit tough for me. I expected it to be about a missing husband. It has so much more than that. This book was far too slow. It's also too long. It could have lost at least a 100 pages and been better paced. I would say I wasn't really into the story until around 40%. Once it started picking up it was SO intriguing and I couldn't put it down. This book hits more on serious subjects like rape culture vs. being about a kidnapped husband. I did overall enjoy the story. I loved Ariel. She is the perfect strong female lead. I recommend this book!

**Check the triggers as there are a few**

Thank you to NetGalley, Chris Pavone, and the publishers Farrar, Straus and Giroux, MCD for the gifted copy! ❤️

When Ariel Pryce awakens on her first day in Lisbon her husband John is gone. It is an opening scene in Chris Pavone’s latest suspenseful story that begins with a search of the hotel and eventually involves the American embassy and the CIA. After checking with reception, Ariel goes to the police. It has only been a few hours and they are reluctant to become involved. She has only been married for a few months and when they start asking questions she is unsure of her answers. This was a business trip but she does not know the name of his contact. They have been married for three months but she only met him a few months prior to that. There is a lot that she does not know about John, but she does know that she loves him and something is wrong. Frustrated by the police response to her pleas she heads to the embassy, where she receives a similar response. Once hotel security tapes show John being forced into a car and Ariel receives a ransom demand the story takes off. The demand is for three million euros in only two days.

Prior to her marriage to John Ariel lived in a quiet town. She owned the local bookshop and had a small farm where she lived with her son George. Growing up she received little support from her parents. Her first marriage to a wealthy businessman ended when she was assaulted and he offered little support as well. In a settlement with her attacker, she signed a non-disclosure agreement but kept evidence of his guilt. Now she reluctantly contacts him again, threatening to release her evidence if he does not help with the ransom.

Pavone allows you to feel Ariel’s desperation as the deadline approaches. Her attacker is now a powerful politician, bringing the CIA into the investigation when it raises the question of national security. Ariel is unaware of John’s true background. As she learns more about her husband, his involvement in his own kidnapping comes into question. When the press and social media becomes aware of the events in Lisbon the questions begin to pile up and the direction of the investigation changes from the kidnapping to Ariel’s own history. It is not until the final pages that Pavone reveals the surprise truth behind the events. From the very beginning, this story progresses at a pace that will have you reluctant to put the book down. I would like to thank NetGalley and MCD - Farrah Strauss and Giroux for providing this book for my review.