I want to love this audiobook. The plot is interesting to me, and the characters are compelling. Unfortunately, there is so much extra backstory that I was constantly getting lost in time and place. It could easily have been 25 percent shorter and been at a pace that held my attention. Ultimately, I gave up on the audio and will buy the text version so that I can skim through the parts that drag for me, but still find out what happens!

This grabs you from the beginning and just as quickly dropped me. Sadly, I lost interest and only wanted the book to end. I didn't like the characters. I didn't like how law enforcement officers were spoken to by the main character who was in their country. The dialogue was repetitive. This felt and read like possibly a story shooting for young adult classification. There was a lot of potential.

I had the audiobook and would look for other work by January LaVoy.

I would give 2.5 stars but wouldn't round up.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio or the opportunity to read and review Two Nights in Lisbon.

Immediately pulled into the mysterious disappearance of Ariel's husband, the fog of memory and confusion and pressure. The tension is set from the beginning with the pacing and then the unfolding of layers and layers of identities and untruths. With the local police not believing a woman, it feels like you might know where the story is headed and then it takes a turn and then another. You'll be holding on until the end.

A twisty kidnapping/ransom story with so much more going on than you first suspect! I loved how this book started off strong and kept revealing more and more layers as the story progressed. Recommended if you like reading #metoo stories and stories about rich men behaving badly and getting what they deserve!! Excellent on audio narrated by January LaVoy. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my ALC!

CW: rape, kidnapping, ransom, gaslighting

People are not who they seem to be on the surface.

Ariel Price wakes up in Lisbon, alone. Her husband, John, brought her along on a business trip, but he left the hotel without leaving a note. She is worried and takes readers along as she looks for him. Everywhere she turns she is met with condescending indifference, patronizing sympathy, and overwhelming unresponsiveness; no one wants to help. “Officials” do not care about something that is probably just a little marital dispute. Ariel owns a bookstore and reads tons of mysteries, so she knows a little about investigations, but she is not prepared to find her missing husband in a foreign country where few people speak English. And, she is being followed.


Ariel quickly becomes frantic, and readers wonder how far she will have to go to find her husband. She and her husband both have complex pasts filled with secrets. It is hard to live a lie, and those past secrets come storming back to complicate the present. There are convenient day and time references as the intricate maze of human relationships unfolds over two days filled with deception.

I listened to “Two Nights in Lisbon” as an audiobook narrated by January LaVoy. LaVoy has a multidimensional voice that at various times is melodic, matter of fact, cautionary, unsettling, and alarming. There is urgency in the narration as well as a tone of hope and a dread of what is to come. I received a review audio copy of “Two Nights in Lisbon” from by Chris Pavone, January LaVoy, and Macmillan Audio.

A thrilling suspense novel that will have you following the characters' actions late into the night. Characters are well-developed and the story winds through a maze of mystery. I couldn't stop once I started the story. You're pulled in instantly with a missing person whom you aren't sure whether to trust or not as you continue down the path the author lays out for you. Story is so complex that I found myself wishing I'd taken notes to serve as an Ariadne's thread to help me unravel this mystery.

Two Night in Lisbon is a very timely mystery. A woman wakes up to find her husband missing in a foreign country. No one wants to take her seriously until the first phone calls come. Soon she had the Lisbon police, US embassy, and the CIA trying to figure out what is going on and if she can even be trusted. The reader is wondering right along with them. The author tread the line between keeping the reader enthralled and just dragging the reader along and stayed on the right side of it. Every new revelation added to our understanding of who is really behind everything that happens and how these events all go back to one horrible yet powerful man.

I see people who get tired of what they call the #metoo movement. This is not a new movement. This is people finally just listening to the stories that have always been out there AND deciding to take assault seriously.. I read a review that complained that it was unrealistic that one woman would have so many instances of sexual assault. I am envious of that reviewer. It would be nice to be so naive and believe in a world in which this is unusual.

Every turn this took, I was there for it.

Wow, this one caught me off guard. I am really surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Usually international/spy/CIA/government thrillers don't peek my interest, but I was awarded an advanced copy read (Thank you NetGalley and Chris Pavone) and thought I would give it a whirl.
Do your self a favor, the narrator January LaVoy is very talented and I hope to listen to more of her narrations.
Anyway, the plot seems pretty straight forward at first glance, Ariel goes to sleep one night in Lisbon and wakes up to her husband John missing. As the investigation starts to unfold you cant help but feel like there is something else going on, but you can't quite put your finger on it. The police have a similar feeling but just can pin point what exactly smells....fishy.
Pavone gives the reader snapshots into Ariel's past to how she ended up where she is today, married to John whom she has known less than a year. Some scandalous relationships in the past.....how is it all connected?

Well those questions are what kept me going despite the nearly 15 hour listen that this book was. Yes it could have potentially been a little shorter, and I could have done without some of Pavone's strong opinions about cellphones (he has some serious hostility about cell phones, social media.....ha) and sexual assault. But despite these times he took the opportunity to get on his soap box I was thoroughly entertained.

Can I just say that my favorite character is Fletcher the Goat???

I think this would be a great movie/mini series.

I will check out more Chris Pavone and has maybe changed my opinion on international/cia/government thrillers?? We shall see.....

I Highly suggest you check this book out.

Thank you again Netgally and Chris Pavone for this advanced copy. I was not paid or influenced for this review

Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone is a fast paced mystery. Ariel Price goes on a business trip with her new husband and she wakes up to find him gone. When she can’t get ahold of him, she goes to the authorities for help and finds herself caught up in a web of kidnapping and deceit. As the story begins to unravel, no one is who they say they are and things aren’t what they seem.

Audiobooks are always a bit of a struggle for me—I’m more visual so sometimes I lose details—but I want to listen to more books. The narrator was good and I liked how she was able to do accents for the Portuguese characters. I enjoyed the story—good twists throughout the story and interesting ending..

This was an enjoyable read.

Ariel wakes up in her hotel room in Lisbon, Portugal, to find her husband (in the city on a business trip) missing. She reports this to the hotel security and then the police, all of whom do not take her very seriously. She starts to panic, frantic to find him. She has no idea why he would have gone, or who would want to hurt him.

When a call comes in asking for a ransom, She is stunned - how will she raise such a huge sum of money? Neither Ariel nor her husband are rich and the kidnapping has taken place over the 4th of July holiday, when the banks are closed back in their native USA.

.The book was a fast paced and thrilling ride, full of twists and turns I didn't see coming at all. The author did a wonderful job of keeping up the pace and the secrets and revealing them only as needed.

I will read more by this author.

For fans of mysteries and thrillers, you will enjoy this book. Revenge, deceit and love how far would you go? I listened to the audiobook version and the narration was really good too.

Thank you #NetGalley, #MacmillanAudio, #ChrisPavone and #JanuaryLaVoy for the advance audio copy for my honest review.

I always find it difficult to review mysteries, because I honestly do not want to reveal anything. Half the fun is watching a good mystery come together. Because of this I will keep this review short. This is my first book by Chris Pavone, but it came highly recommended by several trusted sources, so I thought I would give this a try. So glad I did, because this was a quite a page turner through the epilogue.

Ariel and John have been married just three months, when the go to Lisbon for a business trip. Early on John leaves to grab breakfast and never returns, only for Ariel to be contacted to provide a ransom for her husband.

Quickly this turns into an international political thriller that takes on some of today’s biggest threats. You have police, politicians, reporters all trying to figure out why this man was even targeted.

This was such a fun ride, that had such a satisfying ending for me. I went into this blindly and I think it was all the better for that. This is so fast paced, you will not want to put this one down….trust me.

Thank you NetGalley, Farrar Straus and Giroux and Macmillan Audio for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was approved for both the audio and electronic copy of Two Nights in Lisbon. I obtained the audio version first and that was the version completed.

Years ago I read The Travelers by Chris Pavone. Someone recommended another book with the same name and I obtained it via the library; listened to The Travelers (published in 2016) and thought it was pretty good (evidently before I kept track via Goodreads).

So when Two Nights in Lisbon was available as an advance read via NetGalley, I recognized the author and requested this book in exchange for an honest review.

Lots of twists and turns. Very enjoyable.

A recently married couple goes to Lisbon for a business meeting and the husband disappears.

Thank you to NetGalley, Chris Pavone (author) and Macmillan Audio (publisher) for the opportunity to listen to the advance read/listen copy.

Two Nights in Lisbon is a twists and turns suspense novel that keeps you guessing as you traverse the events that happen to Ariel Price and her husband's kidnapping in Lisbon, while they are away on a business trip. The entire book takes place in a 6 day period, although it feels like a lot longer. The kidnapping is so bizarre that it eventually involves the local Lisbon police, the CIA, FBI, US State Department and local (and later international) media. Although narrated in the third person, the reader (or in my case, listener) comes to think they understand Ariel's psyche, but even this eventually becomes untrue.

I enjoyed the book and chose it because I'm traveling to Portugal next month, but the story is also, (in my opinion) too long and could have stood with another round of editing. Also, because it goes back and forth in time, from the present in Portugal to prior events of Ariel's life years before, it is somewhat disjointed and the transitions are hard to follow, especially if you are listening.

Trigger warningsfor sexual violence against women.

What a ride!! Lots of twists and turns in this story. I was never sure where the story was going. It was captivating until the very end. Great characters, excellent narration and a scary view into the life of the rich and powerful!

Lisbon provides the perfect backdrop for this international thriller. From the moment Ariel Pryce wakes alone in her hotel room, her husband gone without warning, the action throttles without cease. Author Chris Pavone uses well the winding streets of this hilly Portuguese city, with its yellow trams, its chugging tuktuk scooters, its elevators, and its hidden staircases to climb and descend. Ariel navigates this intriguing setting as she navigates the crisis that is her husband's kidnapping. And as with Lisbon, there are secrets around every turn in Ariel's path. This is a gripping thriller in which twists abound. January Lavoy, as always, succeeds beautifully in performing the audio version of this unputdownable book.

[Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advanced audio copy in exchange for my opinion.]

𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 🎧

Pub Date: Today!

Two Nights In Lisbon was really good on audio. This book starts with Ariel (the protagonist) waking up to find her newlywed husband missing. The storyline is intriguing and keeps you guessing - you want to know what’s going to unravel next in the quest to find her husband.

Overall, this was a fast paced thriller!

Thank you @netgalley & @macmillan.audio for the advanced audio in return for my honest review! #netgalley #macmillianaudio #twonightsinlisbon

Ariel wakes up one morning in Lisbon to find that her husband, John Wright is missing. She goes to the police and then to the American Embassy for help. Ariel and John only got married a couple of months prior to this trip. Ariel receives a ransom call and there is only one person who can provide that type of money. She reluctantly asks for it. No one seems to believe Ariel. Something is off. Ariel seems unreliable but for the first 2/3 I couldn’t put my finger on it. Told through present day and flashbacks, the story begins to be pieced together. I listened to the audiobook version of this and at times I was confused if it was present day or the past. There were plenty of twists and turns as Pavone tried to steer your mind in different directions as the reader tries to figure out what happened to John Wright. I enjoyed the writing and a lot of the character development that occurred in the flashbacks. It was a longer audiobook and probably could have been about 2 hours shorter. I thought this psychological thriller was well done.

It's very rare that I DNF (Do Not Finish) an audiobook and even rarer that I rate a book lowly. I gave this a solid try and made it through about 65% before finally calling it.

I thought the premise seemed super interesting. Woman with a past goes out of the country with her new husband and he mysteriously disappears! And in the gorgeous city of LISBON! The tiles, the pastries, the intrigue! However, the excitement quickly waned the deeper into the story it got. 

I found myself daydreaming during many of her flashbacks. It may have all connected at the end with a nice bow on it, but while reading, they felt completely unnecessary. 

Finally, what made me stop the book was when laws surrounding tax sheltered LLCs became a plot point. Mind you, I had just made it through the "oh no we can't find a notary" debacle that was made into way too big of a deal. Maybe it's because I've worked in the financial industry, but you cannot throw a stapler in most offices without accidentally hitting a notary. I can't even.

Maybe I should have pushed through, but if I'm over the halfway point and I'm still not feeling it, I just have to put it down.

Thank you Netgalley and MacMillan Audio for this advance listener copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book started off pretty slow, but ended up being a great story. However, I felt as though it was a bit long and there were almost too many characters. Especially for an audiobook. It was hard to keep everyone straight.

Ariel wakes up in a hotel room in Lisbon to find out that her new husband is missing. She knows something is wrong, but it seems as though no one believes her. What happens after this is a whirlwind of twist after twist until it reaches a very satisfying conclusion.

I liked a lot of the aspects of the book and all of the questions I had ended up being answered in the end, like the "why'. of it all. This was your typical thriller/mystery and moved very quickly. Like I said, there were just too many characters. You had the Portuguese police, the American police, the CIA, all of the supporting characters and several main characters. I just felt like I wasn't sure who people were. I liked Ariel as a main character. I could relate to her struggles and what happened to her

The narrator did good. She wasn't my favorite, but she was decent. Her male voices were so-so, but her Portuguese accent sounded pretty authentic. All in all, 3.75 stars.