Book review: The Travelers by Chris Pavone - Simply delightful!

I’ve not read anything by Chris Pavone before and was curious about both the title and summary of the book.  It sounded quite intriguing, so I thought it was worth a try.

Will Rhodes works as a correspondent for The Travelers magazine – an established publication that tells the well heeled traveller all about the exotic destinations they should visit.  Will’s job is to travel to these places stay in the swankiest hotels, dine in fine restaurants and see the sights.  It’s just about the ideal job – a permanent holiday, where the only work he has to do is write up his holiday in an entertaining way for the magazine’s readers.  

On one trip he meets Elle, a vivacious and attractive writer who obviously likes (ehem!) him. Temptation is terrible thing and putting his wife Chloe to the back of this mind he sleeps with Elle.  After all “what goes on abroad stays abroad” doesn’t it? WRONG!  Will is blackmailed by Elle into a double life, of writer and spy, gathering intelligence for the CIA on targets identified by Elle and reporting back to her.  If that was all then I suppose it could be quite straightforward and beneficial – after all the extra money really does come in handy.  However Will finds that his missions are becoming more and more dangerous and starts to wonder who he really is working for.  One thing is for sure, he knows it can’t carry on like this.

So what did I think?  I really enjoyed the book – It simply zips along effortlessly, as the plot develops Pavone deftly increases the tension whilst leaving you simply intrigued about what is going on.  I read a comment by Peter James who describes Pavone’s writing as “smart and elegant” – it certainly is.  I also really liked Will’s character – he’s genuinely likeable with a touch on naiveté but with enough astuteness to make his character perfect for the story, which has both the reader and Will scratching their heads quite often, wondering “what on earth is going on here?” 

Final Verdict – Superb writing, good characters, excellent plot, and a really clever idea at the heart of the novel.  I unhesitatingly recommend this book.

Romancrimeblogger