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.
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