Really well done thriller! Bravo to Chris Pavone. Will look for other books by this author. ( )

This would have been a good book if the author had written a straight kidnapping mystery without so much pontificating and backtracking. I was listening to the audio version and couldn't simply skip all the opinionated digressions, so I gritted my teeth because I was curious about the outcome. Not all that satisfying as it turned out. ( )

3.5⭐️

Ariel Pryce, a newly married woman in her mid-forties, wakes up in her hotel room in Lisbon only to find her husband, John Wright missing with no note or clue as to where he might have gone. John was on a work trip to Lisbon and Ariel had accompanied him with plans to spend some quality time together. They’ve known each other for barely a year and we assume that this is their first trip together. Ariel approaches the hotel staff who have no information on her husband’s whereabouts. When she contacts local law enforcement they are skeptical since her husband has been missing for a only a few hours, which isn't long enough to warrant police intervention. Frustrated by the lack of interest shown by the police, Ariel approaches the US Embassy who are not of much help either. As the story progresses, we see the police and the Embassy getting involved in the investigation with an ambitious reporter and the CIA also entering the mix. It appears to everyone that either Ariel truly does not know much about her husband’s work, background or the details of his trip to Lisbon or that she is hiding something and knows more than she is letting on. When Ariel receives a ransom demand for an exorbitant sum of money, she is compelled to turn to a person from her past - a person who is powerful and potentially dangerous.

Ariel, for her part, is not without secrets of her own. In flashbacks, we get to know Ariel’s backstory – the events leading to her divorcing her ex-husband and leaving behind a glamorous and affluent lifestyle in New York City only to move to a farm in a quiet part of the state with her son. Is John’s disappearance somehow linked to Ariel’s past? Is there more to John than meets the eye? Who can Ariel trust to help her in her efforts to bring her husband back safe and sound? Should Ariel fear for her life?

The story begins well and Ariel’s frustration and desperation to find her missing husband is well portrayed. As we get to know more about her, you cannot help sympathize with what she has gone through in the past. The increasing interest and involvement of the police, Consular Services and CIA is left mostly unexplained in the first half of the novel so much so that it seems unrealistic. The “political” element of the thriller is introduced in the latter half of the story and adds significantly to the suspense and overall atmosphere of the novel.

Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone is stretched over 400 pages. While I enjoyed the plot and structure of the novel, the sheer length of the book tested my patience. The pace slows down considerably after an amazing start and I found myself losing interest long before the story finally picks up again. I struggled to push through. This is a well-written thriller that has enough twists and turns to keep you engaged and guessing till the end but only if you don’t give up before the first half. While I eventually did enjoy the story and was surprised by the ending, I feel it should have been more compact and less repetitive.

Thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the digital review copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. ( )

Chris Pavone has a reputation for producing sinuously-plotted thrillers, and this book is a worthy addition to his oeuvre.

An American tourist wakes up in her Lisbon hotel room after a heavy night to find that her husband is absent. She initially assumes that he has just gone for a walk, perhaps exploring the city ahead of the business meetings that he has scheduled for later in the day. With the passage of time, however, when he fails to answer his phone, she becomes more concerned, eventually deciding to contact the local police. Perhaps predictably, they are reluctant to interevent to find a grown man who has, after all, only been missing for a few hours. In frustration, she visits the American Embassy too, receiving a similar response.

However, as the story progresses, we realise that things are not quite as they seem. When the business associates whom the husband was due to meet are finally identified and confronted, their account differs from that offered by the woman. We then realise that the woman has secrets of her own, with long shadows cast from complicated incidents in her past. And then there are other startling revelations about the husband.

As stated above, the plot is complex, with numerous twists and unexpected revelations, but these are dextrously managed by the author. I feel reluctant to say too much more about it for fear of letting slip inadvertent spoilers.

The story is certainly robust, although I felt that some of the characterisations were a little formulaic. Still, it was a highly entertaining book. ( )

A woman accompanies her husband of 3 months to Lisbon on a business trip. Then he gets kidnapped. She has tons of trust issues for various reasons, so can she believe that the local police and/or the CIA will help her when they don't seem to believe her story? And can she trust her new husband?

I read this one on the glowing recommendation of a patron, who claims it's the best book he's read in a long time. It was...okay. For me it wasn't the page-turner that it was for my patron, but it was still enjoyable, I suppose. My issues with it: the main character spills over into annoyingly paranoid fairly quickly. I also had the twist sussed out more quickly than was fun, which may be why I didn't turn the pages as urgently as the recommender. So, for me, an average thriller. ( )