After setting his last thriller against the unlikely backdrop of the publishing industry, Chris Pavone (The Accident) moves on to another unexplored setting for espionage--the magazine business.
Will Rhodes has hit a brick wall in his great-on-paper life. He married Chloe, his ideal woman, only to find out that marriage is tough. Both spouses work for Travelers magazine, Will as a writer and Chloe as a contributing editor, yet they earn little besides fabulous trips and conflicting schedules. They nabbed a perfect late-1880s home with dreams of renovation, but insolvency has stalled the remodel at the charming boarded-up windows phase. Even their sex life is rocky after a luckless year of trying for a pregnancy.
In France, Will meets fellow journalist Elle--blonde, lithe, impossibly sexy--and narrowly avoids temptation. However, when he runs into Elle in Argentina a few weeks later, he succumbs. Moments after his transgression, Will learns he was duped. Their encounter was recorded. Elle says she works for the CIA, and they want to hire Will to identify persons of interest in foreign countries under the cover of Travelers. If Will agrees, he will earn $10,000 a month. If not, Chloe will see the sex tape. Bewildered and trapped, Will soon finds himself enmeshed in a life of hand-to-hand combat training, spy cameras and deception. His actions have implications abroad, where shadow agency and CIA operatives lurk, and at home, where his editor and friend Malcolm is already secretly using Travelers to work for an enemy of Will's recruiters. As he begins to glimpse more threads in the web, Will begins to wonder if he signed on with the wrong side and if his answers may lie within Travelers itself.
Making subtle commentary in the midst of a beautifully executed thriller and without sacrificing pace has become something of trademark for Pavone, and here he opens the door on the shrinking print journalism industry. In fact, Travelers becomes exposed as more than it seems by remaining solvent, and the exact source of its funding drives the mystery for readers as well as Will. Pavone constantly misdirects readers' suspicions until the bloody, adrenaline-soaked conclusion, and his smart maneuvering makes having the rug pulled from under a missed guess almost as fun as getting one right. Will's mistakes and confusion make him believable, but he also proves quite the capable hero overall, and his travels from Parisian chateaus to British castles to an opulent yacht in the Mediterranean inspire wanderlust even when they involve crime lords. The hard-earned resolution leaves plenty of openings for the sequel fans will surely demand. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads
Shelf Talker: In this sharp, fun thriller, a travel writer learns his magazine isn't what he thought when he's pressed into espionage service.