Title: The Travelers

Author: Chris Pavone

Publisher: Crown

Pub. Date: March 8, 2016

Genre: Thriller, Espionage

 

I found myself telling people to pick up this book for their weekend travel read, despite my feelings that it was only 3.5 star worthy. Why? Because the reasons that brought down the rating are also the reasons it is a perfect travel read, and I was definitely entertained.

The best parts:

The premise: A nice change of background for an international thriller. Will Rhodes is a travel writer for the same magazine his wife works at, and things are not as they seem. A truth he unravels quite painfully after a series of bad to worse decisions on his part.

The setting: A series of interesting international destinations and colorful characters.

The pacing: When it is good it is very good and travels (ha) along at a nice engaging clip.

 

The worst parts (which make it great for travel):

It is easy not to engage very deeply with the characters or the plot, both of which are drawn a little shallow. But the writing is good, so you find yourself still enjoying it even if you suddenly don’t know why the thing that is happening is happening, or who it is happening to until you do. No worries about interrupting the story to get off the plane or dress for dinner, just pick it up when you get back and keep enjoying it to the end.

A light read, but a decent one. Chris Pavone is a mature talent, but I think this one was not his best.

I received a review copy from the publisher through Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.