Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
“I try to write the book that is unexpected…” says Chris Pavone in an interview post the release of this book .. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkicMd_coRw
And the book lives upto it.
Ariel Pryce wakes up in Lisbon alone. Her husband has disappeared.
In her frantic search for her husband, she contacts Portugal police and American embassy to help her. They are sceptical and later get involved when intrigue sets in. And then when she receives a ransom demand and all seems lost, she turns to the only source she knows who can help her, but the one she wants to avoid at all costs.
It is a taut, twist and turn tale of Ariel Pryce in search for her husband.
Secrets. Mystery. Lies. Evasion.
The heroine of the novel is the one who has changed her name, run away from her past life and begun another in a small, nondescript town. Her husband is John Wright whom she has met a year ago only. And on questioning by police and embassy, we come to know that she is not fully conversant with his history.
Each step in her frantic search throws up and reveals newer angles. When you feel you have predicted what is to happen, some unexpected new twist throws the readers assumption in a tizzy.
The book spins a web on each character and Ariel Pryce too. What is interesting is the way Ariel Pryce has been portrayed. Her character has been sketched in a way wherein we are not aroused by sympathy for her predicament. Just like the police and embassy staff, the reader too is waiting and watching her…not convinced, and yet wanting to unearth and help her out.
The book also weaves in the point of sexual abuse -how victims are always looked upon sceptically and have to be the ‘victim’ always.
Overall, the book is superbly crafted and is an edge-of-the-seat thriller.
Preeta Chag 