Expats by Chris Pavone

     What is it with the popularity of so many authors who cut up the flow of the plot, going back and forth in time periods?  It’s like they wrote a book then chose multiple parts of the plot to cut and paste so that time periods and character’s activities are all mixed up.  It seems they tried to differentiate by switching fonts, but what a mess.  This begins with a “today” event, then goes back to give only a part of what led up to the here and now.  Then back to “today” and back to a different history that led to that part of today.  Over and over until I didn’t care.
    It’s a mystery, I guess.  It’s intrigue, I guess.  Mostly I guess I won’t recommend it.  The faithful wife who is secretly an under cover operator (Her husband never caught on about her absences?) and her husband who is secretly trying to hack into a computer system to steal millions of dollars, (She never insisted he tell her what was going on?).  They move to Europe for his “work” about which he is still lying.  She gives up her work, about which she still never told the truth that includes murder.  But she is suspicious of him and of the people they meet as friends.  So she reverts to her secretive investigations.  If this husband and wife ever had an honest conversation there would be no story.  Then mix it up with raising two sons who change schools all over Europe as often as I change newly discovered favorite authors.  Yeah.  Right.  This all comes together.  NOT.
    Not for me.  A 1 out of 10 rating.  Editors must have been on crack.