The Travelers by Chris Pavone

Published by Crown on March 8, 2016

Will Rhodes writes for a travel magazine called Travelers, having been hired by a newly promoted editor after the former editor mysteriously disappeared. Will’s job is to travel to interesting places, eat good food, and stay up late drinking with strangers. Nice work if you can get it, but he’s burdened with debt, his wife is cranky about his unavailability, and his fidelity is tested by a gorgeous Australian he meets on a trip to France.

While in France, Will stumbles across someone who doesn’t want to be found, setting the plot in motion. We also see glimpses of a nondescript office full of nondescript employees who monitor the movements of designated individuals, Will among them. And we see Will’s boss disappearing into a secret room, so we know he’s something more than a travel editor.

In fact, every key character is living with secrets. Even Will, eventually. The fact that so many interrelated characters are not who they appear to be is improbable, but I was willing to suspend my disbelief because the improbable lives all contribute to the story’s entertainment value. Guessing the exact nature of those secrets, and whether various characters are working at cross-purposes, is part of the fun. Distinguishing good guys from bad guys is no easy task, thanks to a well-designed plot that manages to be intricate without becoming convoluted.

Originality is the story’s strongest asset. I can’t recall reading another spy novel that has a plot quite like this one. Will’s personality is developed with reasonable care, and while there is less fullness to the other characters, they at least come across as real people. Chris Pavone’s prose is better-than-average, the story moves with a good pace, and the atmosphere in the story’s various settings is convincing.

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