I am not generally a thriller fan; every now and then I will pick one up, it will start intriguing, and then the writing and characters turn dull, and the plot seems obvious. Usually I don't finish. I almost quit on this one, for the obvious reasons, but I kept going and actually enjoyed the end. (I had guessed most, but not all of the plot.)

It's about a woman who is enjoying a stay in Lisbon with her new husband, when the husband disappears, she goes to the police and the consulate. There's a few twists in the plot, mostly around some "me-too" type issues. Some of the writing about sexual violence is pretty heavy-handed---the book would have benefited from sticking to the plot a bit more. Also, IMO, from more character development--but I think that about most thrillers. ( )

I just glanced at the first page of this book I ordered for my partner--and I was off and running. The story took off with authentic thriller components when Ariel wakes to find her husband missing from the Lisbon hotel room the morning after their arrival. It's all warp speed from then on with touches of Lisbon and several narrative threads covering the local police, the American Embassy, the CIA of course and a political nominee. Great escape. ( )

Ariel Pryce wakes up in Lisbon to find her husband gone from their hotel room. They are there for a business trip for her husband but she knows no details about the client he's there to see. There is no note left for her and after a few hours, she attempts to report him missing to the local police. They are less than helpful. She keeps pursuing until the police agree that he is missing, possibly kidnapped.

When a ransom note is received, events are put into place for Ariel to try to get her husband back. There are red herrings thrown in to keep you guessing.

Overall, a very good and entertaining book. ( )

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. ( )