The Expats, by Chris Pavone is a thriller about an expatriate family living in Luxembourg. The country has a population of about 650,000, about half of whom are expats. This creates a tension between old-timers and new arrivals, people who have moved to stay and people who are just rotating through, and the spouse with the glamourous new international posting and the trailing spouse trying to figure out playground politics, how to work appliances, and where to buy clothes that fit. (Okay, this is me, taller than the average woman in Asia or South America.) In this environment, Pavone places a married couple, a husband, Dexter, who does something in finance and a wife, Kate, who does all the work of setting up a household and creating a life.
But, of course, things are not as they seem, and this book is now the first in a series about expatriate adventures. Kate and Dexter not only learn how to work the washing machine, they also discover that each has been lying to the other. And that a lot of people in Luxembourg are lying about who they are and what they do. Pavone moved to Luxembourg as a trailing spouse, and a country where no one is really from is an ideal place to set a novel about deceptive identities and new beginnings.
The book is fun. It is perfect to take on an airplane or to the beach, or any time you need something with a strong plot and interesting characters.
