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A Novel
by Chris Pavone
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Expats. Kate Moore is back in a pulse-pounding thriller to discover that a massive terror attack across Paris is not what it seems - and that it involves her family.
American expat Kate Moore drops her kids at the international school, makes her rounds of chores, and meets her husband Dexter at their regular café: a leisurely start to a normal day, St-Germain-des-Prés.
Across the Seine, tech CEO Hunter Forsyth stands on his balcony, wondering why his police escort just departed, and frustrated that his cell service has cut out; Hunter has important calls to make, not all of them technically legal.
And on the nearby rue de Rivoli, Mahmoud Khalid climbs out of an electrician's van and elbows his way into the crowded courtyard of the world's largest museum. He sets down his metal briefcase, and removes his windbreaker.
That's when people start to scream.
Everyone has big plans for the day. Dexter is going to make a small fortune, finally digging himself out of a deep financial hole, via an extremely risky investment. Hunter is going to make a huge fortune, with a major corporate acquisition that will send his company's stock soaring. Kate has less ambitious plans: preparations for tonight's dinner party—one of those homemaker obligations she still hasn't embraced, even after a half-decade of this life—and an uneventful workday at the Paris Substation, the clandestine cadre of operatives that she's been running, not entirely successfully, increasingly convinced that every day could be the last of her career. But every day is also a fresh chance to prove her own relevance, never more so than during today's momentous events.
And Mahmoud? He is planning to die today. And he won't be the only one.
Paperback reprint. First published in hardcover and e-book, May 2019
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Some of the recent comments posted about The Paris Diversion:
At their core, do you think Pavone's characters are more alike than they are different? Did you ever feel an increased sense of sympathy or understanding for any of them as you learned more about their histories?
I felt they were very much alike. All seemed self-centered, looking to make a buck at someone else's expense, willing to break the law and sacrifice others for their own ends. All lived double lives and felt the need to hide so much of themselves ... - Junebug
Author insights on goodreads
This breathless sentence and Pavone's note regarding it made me realize how well the author planted the seeds for further novels.
"After weeks of rain and gray and increasingly hostile chill, today was an autumnal jewel, a reprieve that everyone ... - ABeman
Can you identify one character in this book that seemed to have good intentions?
I agree with the comment about the sniper. He seemed to be the one person trying to keep things good, with little success. Everyone else was just in it for themselves. - SKB
Dexter's career involves stock market speculation, but Kate feels that it seems like a gamble. What is your view on the topic?
Stock market speculation is absolutely a gamble. With financial markets, higher rewards are related to higher risks. If you are told otherwise, you should beware and run in the other direction. Dexter was, to be honest, though, involved in what he ... - pnelson384
Do you agree with her assessment of how a police state happens? Once this cycle begins, do you think it can be broken, and if so, how?
The use of the police to control daily actions of citizens is a police state. While it is easier to slip into a police state if the military or police are armed and ever present it is not a given. The existence of a leader who fears the people or ... - paulagb
"[A] fast-paced thriller ... shelve alongside le Carré, Forsyth, and other masters of foreign intrigue." - Kirkus Reviews
"Deliciously twisty ... This involving work has been skillfully engineered for maximum reader enjoyment." - The Wall Street Journal
"The most clever plot twist of the year." - Washington Post
"I nominate Kate Moore, the protagonist of Chris Pavone's sizzling new thriller The Paris Diversion, for patron saint of working wives and mothers everywhere." - The New York Times Book Review
"The Paris Diversion is the best espionage novel I've read this year. Smart, sophisticated and suspenseful, this is Pavone's finest novel to date—and that's saying something." - Harlan Coben, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Fool Me Once
"Thriller writing at its absolute best. With echoes of Graham Greene and John le Carré, Pavone's novel accomplishes that rare feat of being both a nonstop adventure ride and a smart, stylish and compelling meditation on family, courage, responsibilities, and the relationships we create, for good and bad, throughout our lives. The Paris Diversion does far more than divert; it grips us from the very beginning and doesn't let go." - Jeffery Deaver, New York Times bestselling author of The Cutting Edge
"Sleek, cunning and breakneck, Chris Pavone's The Paris Diversion sweeps you into its frenetic rhythms from its first pages. With a sprawling cast of characters, with its scissoring plot twists, and especially with Kate—as rich and complicated a hero as you could hope for—it keeps you returning for more and more. A knockout." - Megan Abbott, author of Give Me Your Hand and You Will Know Me
"Chris Pavone is a master craftsman. A natural storyteller. Whether we're being driven around Paris in a car trunk or walking through the Luxembourg Gardens, his descriptions leap off the page. The Paris Diversion is a terrific read." - Jason Matthews, New York Times bestselling author of the Red Sparrow trilogy
"An ingenious, engrossing sequel to an ingenious, engrossing original. If only all follow-ups were this good." - John Connolly, New York Times bestselling author of the Charlie Parker thriller series
This information about The Paris Diversion was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Chris Pavone is author of five international thrillers: The Expats (2012), The Accident (2014), The Travelers (2016), The Paris Diversion (2019), and Two Nights in Lisbon (2022).
His novels have appeared on the bestseller lists of the New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and IndieNext; have won both the Edgar and Anthony awards, and have been shortlisted for the Strand, Macavity, and Los Angeles Times Book Prize; are in development for film and television; and have been translated into two dozen languages.
He has written for outlets including the New York Times Book Review and Magazine, the Telegraph, and Salon; has appeared on Face the Nation, Good Day New York, All Things Considered, and the BBC; and has been profiled on the arts' front ...
... Full Biography
Link to Chris Pavone's Website
Name Pronunciation
Chris Pavone: puh-vo-KNEE
Life is the garment we continually alter, but which never seems to fit.
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