Two Nights in Lisbon
By Chris Pavone

I love a story set in a city I am familiar with, so I was immediately drawn to this book by the title alone. I went into it fairly blind and I'm so glad I did. The book flap information gives just enough to set you up, but try not to dig around too much or you will do yourself out of the thrills of the various reveals. Do we really know the people we are close to? Can we trust the agencies that exist to defend and protect us?

The pace changes throughout the book, starting off with a comfortable medium pace, then it slows down for a few chapters, but the last 40% is sure to increase your heartrate and have you on the edge of your seat as you cope with rising dread and fear of trusting anyone.

I really like the writing, the sense of place and the character development. This book is impossible to put down.
Thank you #Netgalley and #HeadofZeus for the ARC

An unusually twisty thriller that weirdly reminded me of twisty movies like The Usual Suspects, "Two Nights in Lisbon" kicks off with an American woman waking in Lisbon to find her husband has vanished. When she frantically, and initially fruitlessly, tries to get local police and the U.S. embassy to help, she kicks off a marvelously orchestrated jigsaw puzzle of people involved in the pursuit. No spoilers but even a seasoned clue spotter like me had to scramble to make sense of it all. The author's seamless, rather quirky style immerses the reader in the woman's feverish mind, plus the subplots of more than a dozen other participants, in a way that surges toward the conclusion, one that works like a charm. For some reason I had never heard of Chris Pavone until Two Nights in Lisbon; now I shall hunt up his other four thrillers and devour them.

Two Nights In Lisbon is the fifth novel by best-selling American author, Chris Pavone. When Ariel Pryce wakes up alone in a Lisbon hotel on a July Monday morning, she expects to find her (ten years younger) husband of three months in the dining room having breakfast. She doesn’t. John Wright hasn’t been seen by the staff; everything but his phone is still there; the phone goes to voicemail.

When Ariel takes her concern to the local police, they are almost dismissive: he hasn’t been gone long enough for it to be a concern. But they do find her interesting enough to tail. From the smirks the smarmy fellow at the US Embassy gives her it’s clear he is equally indifferent, although he does take some intriguing information about the couple to the CIA Chief of Station down the corridor. An American journalist hanging around the embassy offers help, which Ariel politely declines. No sign of John at the hospitals she contacts.

The hotel’s CCTV shows him leaving early in the morning, not dressed for the client business meetings he has scheduled, and maybe getting into a car. The male cop is still sceptical: Ariel’s ignorance of her husband’s clients doesn’t help. But his female colleague is a little more willing to make an effort. What happens next changes the complexion of his absence, but much more can’t be said without spoilers.

The opening chapters are intriguing enough to draw the reader in, but it’s not until things hot up that Ariel’s steel is revealed. And how! With flashbacks to her recent past, and a bit of action with a tail, Ariel demonstrates just how self-sufficient she can be. And it’s those scenes where she is fending for herself that provide plenty of dark humour.

It’s soon clear that neither Ariel nor John is quite who they seem; nor do all those claiming to want to help find John have entirely benign intentions, but most of them definitely want to know what is behind Ariel’s apparent power over a certain influential figure.

The main narrative is carried by Ariel, but many of the minor characters contribute, and the narrative often switches between them, relying only on context to denote whose perspective is being given. Rather than adding confusion, this seems to give the story an immediacy that keeps the reader engrossed.

While there are hints at espionage and the influence of foreign powers, the apparent immunity to prosecution of privileged white males who indulges in sexual harassment of the worst kind (and who closely resembles a certain president), is central to the story.

Very little suspension of disbelief is required in this tightly plotted story which has plenty of red herrings and enough twists to possibly necessitate a chiropractic consult. Pavone’s latest is definitely a page-turner.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Farrar, Straus & Giroux Head of Zeus/Aries

A pacy thriller where the location, Lisbon, is almost a character. There’s a strong sense of place which anyone who knows the city will enjoy. A definite page turner, it kept me guessing as what initially seems straightforward proves much more complex and requires a dig into the protagonist’s past.

Ariel Price wakes up in Lisbon, alone. Her husband is gone—no warning, no note, not answering his phone. Something is wrong.

Starts off a bit slow but then picks up. Ariel's husband John asks her to accompany him on a business trip to Lisbon, normally Ariel stays at home when John travels. They have only been married a little over a year and Ariel is older than her husband. They arrive and the next morning John has gone missing, he has been kidnapped and 3 million dollars is required to get him back safely..

Wow what a girl Ariel is, if I needed someone in my corner it would be her. Straight away she contacts the authorities and is very underwhelmed by their approach to her missing husband. Ariel comes out swinging until they listen to her and uses her own contacts to come up with the ransom money. But the money is not easy to get and there is someone in her past that she must contact, the only person who can generate this vast amount of money in such a short time, but who is he? The CIA is also involved and concerned about national security and this makes things even more mysterious.

The books keeps you turning the pages as fast as you can, trying to find out what is really behind this. Ariel is a very strong character and it is this that makes the book so exciting, I loved her character. I highly recommend this to others, a five star read. Thank you to Netgalley the author and publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review.

A really enjoyable fast paced thriller.
This was my first book by this author and I am definitely impressed so thank you for allowing me to read your book.
This one flew by with me and had such good compelling twists and turns.
I eagerly devoured each chapter wanting to know what happens next.
The more I read the more questions I had everytime.
If there’s one thing I love about a thriller is that it keeps me guessing so this really hit the nail on the head for me.

Truly original. This thriller genuinely keeps you guessing throughout. Oh the surface a standard kidnap plot but you quickly realise that nothing is what it seems. All of Chris’s books have gripped me and Two nights in Lisbon doesn’t disappoint.

4 ⭐️

Reading a foreign book set in Lisbon, my home city, has been an incredible experience, and I want to say thank you to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for the digital review copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

This was my first Chris Pavone book, so I went into it with no expectations, not knowing his writing style or preferred tropes, I was pleasantly surprised by what I got in return. This book was full of misdirections that left you constantly trying to figure out what was really going on - and I did not, for the life of me, figure it out almost all the way until the end. Being in a foreign country where you don't speak the language, and suddenly having your husband go missing has to be incredibly frightening. And we have no idea how we would react in that situation, so we're just as stressed as Ariel trying to figure out what she could do next.

We're taken on an insane journey around Lisbon with flashbacks to Ariel's life before this trip, before this marriage, slowly giving us background on what could have led to all of this. Unfortunately I do think this had way to many pages, and there were so many parts involved, and police from different agencies that until I could remember who was who it was slightly confusing keeping track of everyone. But the story-line definitely made up for it, keeping me interested - especially when we got to the half way point and you start to create theories, and the pace picks up and you really just HAVE to know what's going on.

I think Ariel was incredible, you could feel her desperation, that she would do anything at all to get John back, or would she, is that the motivation, is John who he says he is, is Ariel who she says she is, honestly with this book you never really know and that was what kept the pages turning. I think that if certain parts were edited out we could have a much faster paced thriller with an incredible story and plot twists. Moments we think are mistakes on the characters part turn out to be exactly what needed to happen, and you only get the full picture of everything fitting into place by the end, and it is magical to see.

A personal note on how great it was to read a book and know exactly on what street they were, exactly what they were looking at, etc. The only note in that regard that I have is that two of the portuguese names used in the book are missing accents - as in, João needs the ~ on top of the "a" to be properly written in portuguese, and Tomás also has an ´ on top of the "a" to be correct. But anyone not familiar with portuguese wouldn't be familiar with that specific writing difference. But I loved the references to places around me, Elevador de Santa Justa, Ascensor da Bica, Time Out Market, I loved it all.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book, I would definitely recommend it - keep in mind that the first half takes a while to get through but it is so worth it in the end.

The storyline kept me glued to my Kindle through the whole book! I definitely recommend reading this book! Its well worth reading! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

A crime mystery that looks pretty straightforward at the beginning but it eventually picks up the pace as it turns into a maze of unexpected twists and turns. There were a few chapters regarding Ariel's past that felt unnecessary and could have been spared. I liked the ending that managed to balance the expected and unexpected.