Review: The Expats by Chris Pavone

The Expats: A Novel by Chris Pavone
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was hesitant to read this novel initially because although I'd heard good things (Michael from the Books on the Nightstand, specifically) and the description sounded amazing, the reviews on Goodreads were not particularly strong. Given how many books I want to read, I didn't really want to spend a lot of time reading a book that everyone seemed to not like. However, the premise of the story drew me in so I decided to go for it!

And I'm so glad that I did! Although not a perfect book, it's definitely an interesting concept that intrigued me from page one! I'm not telling you much about it because part of what I enjoyed most was seeing the story come together as I was reading. Knowing too much would take away some of the very thing that I liked about the novel.

The first part of the novel was a bit slow but it did pick up and then sped up, racing to the end. I thought the story was compelling - the idea behind the novel unique. The characters weren't outstanding but they were pretty good. I don't think that took away from my enjoyment of the book. For me, this one was about story and mystery. I overlooked a lot because I thought the story and the mystery central to the novel were so well done.

I will say that I felt the story could have used a bit more depth and texture. There were times when it felt a bit stale and bland. Yet, other times it felt fully realized with a lot of depth. I guess it was uneven in that way, for me. But, I easily overlooked that because I loved so much of the novel.

I thought this was a good literary mystery (hard to characterize this one, in my opinion) and I would recommend it to others. But, know that many on Goodreads didn't care for it as much as I did!

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