I started reading this book while in Lisbon! The imagery of the places that the author wrote about were very fresh and vivid in my mind. Ariel Pryce’s husband disappears one morning and she goes off on a somewhat convoluted search to find him. Parts of the actions that she takes don’t make sense until the end … and even so, they were a bit contrived. Other than that, it was a well written and very quick read!

This review was also posted on Goodreads.

Starts fast, lulls a little, winds up tight, springs to a sharp, smart, and cunning finish.
She wakes in a foreign country, realizes her husband is missing, and the race begins. There’s a deep seated motive underlying Ariel’s actions that she is carefully constructing a new life to put an old life behind her.
There is a plot hidden in here, only revealed later by layer to get to the truth, to the socially relevant core.
This is the first novel I’ve read by Chris Pavone, but won’t be the last.
Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillian Audio, and the author for an advanced copy. This review is my own opinion.

After reading this I'm keen to go back to Pavone's earlier novel Expats. Two Nights in Lisbon ticked all the boxes of a good thriller. It hit the ground running with a dramatic first chapter; it kept up the pace with clever plotting and cinematic prose and it had a great plot twist I didn't see coming. This would be an easy book to recommend to readers of contemporary thrillers.
Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I would say this was a solid 3.5 stars for me. I wish we had gotten a little more background on Ariel and I felt like I could have used less about her son. I thought I knew where the book was going until the last few chapters. I liked the twist because it wasn't what I had predicted at all. Overall a great thriller. Would recommend to fellow thriller lovers.

The story begins well and Ariel’s frustration and desperation to find her missing husband is well portrayed. As we get to know more about her, you cannot help sympathize with what she has gone through in the past. The increasing interest and involvement of the police, Consular Services and CIA is left mostly unexplained in the first half of the novel so much so that it seems unrealistic. The “political” element of the thriller is introduced in the latter half of the story and adds significantly to the suspense and overall atmosphere of the novel

Thanks to NetGalley and. Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the advance reader copy. I had thought i reviewed this book before because I remember seeing it twice in my shelf. I looked for the review and I didn't see it on Goodreads or anywhere else. I am not sure what happened but I want to send my review now. The book was fast paced but a bit too long for a thriller. It was very twisted and quite an "edge of your seat" read. Imagine being away and your husband goes missing. Where do you go? What do you do? Read this book and see what his wife did. Good read.

I’m not sure how I ended up with this book twice in my netgalley shelf but I’ve reviewed this previous & really enjoyed it lol.

It took me over 100 pages to truly get into this book, and if I didn't LOVE one of the author's previous novels (The Expats), I would have given up at some point within those pages for sure. But I pressed on, and I'm glad I did, although Two Nights in Lisbon ended up only okay for me. I had two main issues with the book - the main character and the pace of of the novel. The main character, April, was not interesting to me at all. She had a strange attitude that I couldn't put my finger on - not superior exactly, not aggressive, maybe hostile? As the book goes on and we learn more about April's past, her personality makes more sense but for me, by that time, I was already on the path to not liking her. The other thing that I thought was strange was the pacing of the book - it felt very slow to me. It felt way too long, things took forever to happen, and it felt repetitive. For a thriller, none of these things are great to see. I will say that although I had a feeling about the ending, I was still surprised by it and I liked how Pavone wrapped things up. Overall I enjoyed the book but it was not anywhere near as thrilling and impressive as The Expats.

Compelling suspense with an unexpected ending. I felt that it got bogged down in the last third and I was anxious for it to wrap up. Still, a sold enjoyable read.

Similar to other reviewers, I loved this ride...but it felt long. The concept of an American woman waking up in a foreign country with her husband missing was gripping from the jump, with lots of twists along the way to keep you guessing. Overall, solid read!

This book was mostly a thrilling roller coaster ride. My only complaint is that it was on the long side at 448 pages. I loved the European settings, it makes me want to travel to Portugal, although I don’t want to get tangled up with the police there.

I enjoyed the setting of this psychological thriller and found the pace to be good but it felt too long. The length caused the story to drag in parts but overall it was a good story with surprises along the way

What a ride this book was. Pacy, twisty, and exceptionally well-written with a raft of interesting characters. Pavone's writing style really impressed me, it was subtly smart and seemed to nail descriptions of people, places and emotions! I am already recommending it to my friends.

A number of years ago when I was writing screenplays with Stephen Marro, a director and producer in New York, he often would ask me, “Maryann. Where’s the beef?”

What he meant was, where’s the meat of the story – the drama and suspense? How can we surprise the audience with something totally shocking and unexpected?

Stephen taught me a lot about how to add more beef to the writing, as well as how to recognize it when reading, and believe me when I say that there’s plenty of meat in this novel by Chris Pavone.

What starts out as a plotline that appears to be a straightforward story about a kidnapping, ransom, and potential release of the kidnap victim, becomes more convoluted as the story progresses. The question of who is behind the kidnapping. The question of what, if any, role does the wife play in it? The husband? The question of how explosive will the fact of how she gets the ransom money be, or even will it.

As well as the ultimate question of who has the power in this story. The Lisbon police? The CIA? The U.S. government? The wife? The powerful man she blackmails?

It’s hard to say much more about the plot without revealing spoilers, so I just end with saying that finding the answers to all those questions will keep readers engaged in this riveting story from page one to the end. So far Two Nights in Lisbon is ranking as a number one read for me for this year.

I really enjoyed this book! I was hooked right from the beginning by the mystery, an American woman wakes up to find her husband missing while on vacation in Lisbon. The cast of characters is interesting and well developed and the twists kept me on the edge of my seat

Two Nights in Lisbon
⭐️⭐️⭐️.9
Genre: Thriller
Format: Physical Book
Date Published: 5/24/22
Author: Chris Pavone
Publisher: Farrah, Straus, and Giroux
Pages: 436
Goodreads Rating: 3.86

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Farrah, Straus, and Giroux and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: Ariel Pryce wakes up in Lisbon, alone. Her husband is gone—no warning, no note, not answering his phone. Something is wrong. She starts with hotel security, then the police, then the American embassy, at each confronting questions she can’t fully answer: What exactly is John doing in Lisbon? Why would he drag her along on his business trip? Who would want to harm him? And why does Ariel know so little about her new—much younger—husband?

My Thoughts: This is my oldest arc that I had not gotten to. I ended buying the physical book. I am glad that I did. From the first page, I was hooked. There are some slow parts but then there are some very fast parts. The only thing I would liked to have seen is that each chapter/section labeled a little more clearer as sometimes it took a few paragraphs to figure out who was who and the story. I loved the interweaves of Ariel, while you may not agree with some of her choices, you understood her choices. The characters were developed well with depth, secretive, mysterious, and brilliantly written. The author’s writing style was complex in layers, suspenseful, twisty, and keeps you engaged. The story starts with the kidnapping and then builds the backstories of the characters, then the plot is delivered in different twists, and then the ending is open. Maybe to write a follow up novel. This novel had the grades of a good thriller, its was suspenseful, twisty, fast paced, and page turning. I highly recommend picking up this book and/or adding to your TBR.

First and foremost, I'd like to thank NetGalley for the Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone. I was excited to be able to read and review this book, especially since I'm a fan of the author's writing.

Chris Pavone weaved an intriguing story in "Two Nights in Lisbon" that had twists and turns galore that left me guessing until the very end. I found myself rooting for the main character and loved the fact that all the loose ends were wrapped up so there were no cliffhangers. I enjoyed the fact that the storyline switched back and forth between the present and past . . . making this novel a bit of a slow burn.

The main reason I gave "Two Nights in Lisbon" four stars out of five is that I didn't enjoy the fact that the narrator was unreliable. Another reason is that it seemed choppy at times.

Two Nights In Lisbon by Chris. Pavo need

This was a thriller cosy. Wife really didn’t know what was going on with her husband’s business.

May twists and turns. Well-written. Good character base. Many of them looking for her husband.

Thanks to Net Galley for sending me an advanced reader’s copy for my review.

This is my first book by this author and it just was not for me. The writing is just a little too slow for my taste and was devoid of entertainment. I'm sorry but I I just couldn't finish it.

I struggled to concentrate on Two Nights in Lisbon because Ariel can't focus on one thing without several tangential thoughts taking precedence. We jump back in time, often with no clue as to when we are in the past or the present. It's taking ages to get to the end of a conversation, let alone to the end of the book.

"one of those opportunities for the alpha moms to bake Instagrammable cakes. For these sorts of events Ariel buys a box of supermarket cookies, plunks it down on the table in its commercial packaging. She doesn't have time to bake on a weekday, and she's not going to pretend otherwise. In fact she's proud of it.
Plus she would never social-share a cake."

Ariel takes being judgmental to the extreme. While she mostly directs this judgment at herself - or a previous/historical version of herself - it's a very transparent veil over her disgust for other women; women who take care of themselves, who care about their appearance, their job, their outward impression. Even women who bake cookies or use social media provoke her ire. Apparently, it's okay to 'lurk' but not to have your face out there. It's very toxic and so prevalent throughout the narrative that it's hard not to take away the message that this is how the author views and evaluates women.

Every new part is more unbelievable than the last. But the worst part is that Two Nights in Lisbon is a successful mystery/thriller because it lies to you from the beginning. I'm all for an unreliable narrator, but that requires the protagonist to believe the bullshit they're spreading.