This is my first Chris Pavone novel and well I enjoyed my time with the book. I try not to read too much of the synopsis so I don't get spoiled. I just knew this was a mystery thriller that took place over two nights in Lisbon. Really, that was all I needed. Pavone's writing is enjoyable but at times can be repetitive. The story was fast paced and had multiple POVs which comes across more like a movie unfolding. There are flashbacks and at times they are not that noticeable. I wish there was a little more division between the current story and the past. With a full cast of characters, I felt each one was relatable and well developed. You really get to know the main protagonist which adds to the story and makes it interesting. I had many theories and came to the conclusion early on; however, the read was enjoyable because of the journey to get there. It didn't seem so straight forward to me, which I liked Pavone's creativity. I would recommend this for those who are into fast-paced, movie like thrillers and who enjoy escaping or traveling abroad. The story has some content warnings, so I definitely recommend checking those out before reading. They don't come out of no where so you can prepare.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for a digital readers copy in exchange for a honest review.

REceived this ARC and loved the story. Thank you NetG. Well written and fast moving. I have read this author before and I always enjoy this plots and stories

I had just returned from a trip to Lisbon when I began reading this book so I was excited to make comparisons and see if I recognized any of the city I saw in the story. The answer to that was mostly no, but it did help me have very completely imagined settings in my mind as I read.

We meet Ariel as she awakens in a hotel room in Lisbon to find her husband gone. She and John have only been married a year, and both the hotel staff, then the police, don't accept that she is immediately so sure something bad has happened to her husband John, whom she has only been married to for one year. Soon Ariel's worst fears are proven correct when a demand for ransom, far more money than Ariel has access to, is made.

It is at this point that we start peeling back multiple layers in the story. We begin to learn more about our main characters who have some secrets of their own. Eventually there were so many plotlines and balls being juggled in the air, I mentally pictured the writer plotting this book with little sticky notes completly covering a huge wall. Each new lead or reveal sends the story careening in a new direction. I'm not going to try to summarize this, as part of the fun is having it unfold before you. I was impressed, however, with the author's ability to come up with such a complex plot and keep it all straight.

My only negatives, which a couple of other reviewers have noted more clearly than I can: the book is maybe slightly long. And although the feminist plot line is very relevant, it occasionally struck me as a little heavy handed like the point was being hammered home. These are small quibbles, however. I found the read immensely satisfying and enjoyed every minute. I give it 4.5 stars, and I'm rounding up.

This is my first Chris Pavone novel and perhaps I should have started with his more widely read novel, The Expats. But alas, here we are. Two Nights in Lisbon is a mystery/thriller that centers on a newly married couple traveling to Lisbon, him for work and her as a tag-a-long tourist. The story starts quickly, with our narrator Ariel waking up to find her husband missing, but soon it starts to drag on. The story alternates timelines, providing a precise Lisbon timetable (“Chapter 4: Day 1. 10:44 A.M.”) and flashbacks of Ariel’s life. These flashbacks were filled with so much irrelevant information that they become tedious and created excessive pages of extraneous material. The only thing that kept me reading was knowing there was a “twist” at the end of it all - which ultimately did not make the effort worthwhile. Additionally, I would be remiss if I did not mention my biggest grievance with this novel. It is difficult as a female reader to read a female first-person point of view, written by a cis male. Especially when there is a “me too” theme, sexual assault, and so many interactions that he simply could never experience. There’s one thing to be an ally and promote literature from a first hand perspective and another thinking you can create that perspective yourself.

You’re in another country and your husband gets kidnapped…. What do you do?

Well, you figure out how to get him back…. You essentially blackmail someone from your past to get the money… And all the while you are also working with the police, CIA, and the Embassy… man, you’re good.

Thankfully, this is fiction because it is quite the tale. It was pretty good… even got to know who did what and why… I felt like it started off in the thick of things, but then kind of dragged. Last third was pretty eventful. 3.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy.

This was not the book for me. I listened to the audiobook for this one and while the narration was great, the actual storyline frustrated me.

It took way too long to clue the reader in to what was happening. I like being left in the dark for Thrillers to unfold the story around the reader. But sometimes it is just overkill and I felt that in the case of this story.

By the time I got to the reveal, to the end, I just didn't like the story from being frustrated for too long.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC; this is my voluntary review.

I just finished the audio version of this book and wow! Great characters, compelling story-line, timeliness with current events. Lots of twists and turns and misdirection all combined to make the plot believable and the read a page-turner. Although I suspected the twist, it wasn't exactly like I thought, and I was pleasantly surprised and satisfied.

I highly recommend.

I did love the mystery of this book and the setting was fantastic and although I did find this book enjoyable I struggled as well it was very long and a little wordy at times with characters that were a bit hard to connect with hence the 3 stars but still an okay read

Much thanks to #netgalley and #FarrarStraus&Giroux. For allowing me this ARC to read and review all thoughts and opinions are strictly my own

This is a very long book and a slow start, so I put it off longer than I should have. After a couple of weeks of out-0f-it sick, I was behind on all of my reading commitments. But I have to tell you this is a keeper, offering a growing intensity peopled with folks you understand. It is a novel I am happy to refer to friends and family. Chris Pavone is an author I will follow, with a backlist of novels I will soon discover.

Ariel Pryce wakes up alone at about 9 AM at a hotel in Lisbon on what was to be a simple two-day business trip. Her husband of just months is gone, no note, no previously planned absence. The police basically laugh at her, explaining slowly that she can't report him missing after just two or three hours. Go back to the hotel, they tell her, and he will show up. She goes to the American Embassy and receives the same advice. Walking back to her hotel she is accosted by a masked guy on a motorbike who forces into her hand a cell phone which immediately rings, with a $3,000.000.00 demand for the ransom of her husband John, whom they have nabbed on his customary early morning run. Don't go to the police, they say. Or the embassy.

This was an excellent who-done-it without a wasted word. Loved the surprise ending, one I never even considered. An especially compelling read.

I received a complimentary electronic Advanced Readers Copy of this mystery novel from Netgalley, Chris Pavone, and the publisher, Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

This was a blast to read. Great unreliable narrator story. Loved it. This was such a wonderful distraction for me while on a long business trip! 100% Recommend this.

This page-turner centers around Ariel, a newlywed who has accompanied her husband to Lisbon on a business trip. The action begins right away when her husband disappears from their hotel, and turns out to have been kidnapped for a 3 million dollar ransom. We follow Ariel's desperate efforts to get help from local police and the US Embassy, and along the way we learn that there are secrets in her past that continue to haunt her. It becomes apparent that her husband also harbored secrets, and all is not as it seems. I found the twists and turns thoroughly engaging and satisfying right up to the end, and did not mind a plot that could have seemed manipulative and unbelievable if it weren't so much fun to read.

Despite reading since childhood and the sheer volume of books I read, I still struggle with dnf’ing. But this one has me feeling like that is my only option.

At 30% in I do not care at all why the husband is missing. I am not connecting with any of the characters and therefor it is making me not want to continue. Not every book is for very person and, unfortunately, this one is not for me.

I even tried to listen to the audio with my absolute favorite narrator, January Lavoy. Even that didn’t have me caring about continuing.

Thank you to Netgalley, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, and the author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus, and Giroux for providing an advanced copy to read and review.

This was an interesting and twisty mystery/thriller. The crime and the perpetrator were easy to spot, but the remaining story details kept me guessing. Looping together International and various intelligence agencies was a nice touch, added to the complexity.

Newlywed couple time and a business trip to vibrant, picturesque Lisbon—at least that was what Ariel Pryce has been promised. When she wakes the next morning to find her husband gone, she waits a bit at the hotel, going to the restaurant downstairs to order coffee and wait for him. The minutes pass by, and then hours. Ariel is now panicked, she has frantically been texting and calling John’s cell phone to no avail. She first asks the employees present if any have seen him, then hotel security. She then goes to the police station, where she is met by disbelief that her husband is actually missing. She knows him, she says, and he does not just walk off without notice. When she gets frustrated with the police, her next stop is the American Embassy in Lisbon. After asking questions about his business associates in the city, why her husband wanted her to come along, who might want him hurt, etc., they find that Ariel and John have only known each for a year, and married merely three months. They then inquire how well she really knows her husband. Frustrated, she leaves the embassy, only to be is given a cell phone by someone speeding toward her on a motorcycle, dressed completely in black. The caller wants three million euros, cash, in forty-eight hours, or John will be killed.

“Two Nights in Lisbon” is a stunning thriller, full of lyrical prose, extraordinary descriptions, characters who are multi-dimensional, twists, and a mind-blowing ending. It exposes the rich and powerful, taking what they want when they want it, highlighting the ways many women suffer in silence through payoffs and NDAs. I raced through the book, engrossed from the first page to the last. I could not wait to keep reading through, thoroughly engrossed in this taut, compelling novel. It is my first book by author Chris Pavone, but I’m now an ardent admirer, and I highly recommend this exceptional book.

I’d like to thank NetGalley, Chris Pavone, and MCD Farrar, Straus, and Giroux for the ability to read and review this ARC.

Thank you to the publishers for sending me this ARC through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review!

Two Nights in Lisbon is about a woman named Ariel Pryce that goes on trip with her new husband, John, and wakes up one morning to find that he has vanished.

This book did not work for me. We learn so little about John that the stakes for finding him are nonexistent. Through the majority of the novel, the reader is spectating Ariel as she runs around Lisbon looking for evidence and talking to cops that do not trust her. It sounds more interesting than it is.

The plot twist at the end explains many of the choices featured earlier in the novel, but it unfortunately did not redeem the bland nature of the story.

I listened to the audiobook courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. I really enjoyed the story and the performance was very good.

This ended up being more of a political thriller but I was totally okay with that because the ending was *so* satisfying. I did end up guessing what was happening but the big reveal was still so worth it! I’m still thinking about it!!

In this suspenseful thriller, Ariel travels to Lisbon with her husband John, who has to go to the city on a business trip. Meant to be a relatively quick trip, Ariel's life becomes a nightmare when she wakes up one morning to find John missing. But not everything is as it seems as Ariel races to find John and pay his ransom before she loses him forever.
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Even when I thought I had the plot figured out, another twist kept me turning the pages. I was very satisfied with the ending and overall really enjoyed this book.
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Thank you to the author, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and NetGalley for a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review. #TwoNightsInLisbon #NetGalley

What a thrill! I LOVED the pacing of Two Nights in Lisbon. It's a very tricky ride to pull off, and Pavone nailed it on almost every page. Punchy dialogue and a rotating cast of characters kept the plot from growing stagnant.

Ariel, a mother and recently married woman in her 40s, wakes up in Portugal to find her husband has gone missing - and later, she realizes he has been kidnapped, From there, we discover the double lives that both she - and her husband! - have been living, all coinciding and colliding in Portugal over two days. There are many flashbacks, a slow unwrapping of past secrets, and a steady revealing of despicable characters for you to cheer Ariel on against.

I think my favorite aspect of the book was its unreliable narrator - I love a tricky protagonist. Compared to his other works, Two Nights has a very streamlined message throughout. It's clear that Pavone has an agenda in writing this book - if you aren't about the character's inciting incident, you won't enjoy the book (period). BUT, if you empathize with her and enjoy the way Pavone threads multiple stories experiencing a similar phenomenon together into one kidnapping caper, you'll enjoy this. (I don't want to spoil it!)

Female characterization is difficult for a male author to pull off convincingly, but I enjoyed Ariel. She's pushy, she's scrappy, she's anxious, she's antagonistic. Both she and the other (many) female characters in the book are dimensional and believable

A perfect plane/beach read where you have the time to devour this in one or two sittings. It's crafted to be digested quickly from one plot twist to the next!

I thought it started slowly but really picks up steam. Main character is alone and sympathetic. Just when I figured it out the plot turned. What fun. Didn’t see the conclusion of this one. Good read.