The Travelers, by Chris Pavone, tells the complicated (and somewhat unbelievable) story of Will Rhodes: a travel writer who makes one bad decision while on assignment in Argentina, and subsequently becomes swept up in a web of international danger and espionage. His formally normal and even mundane life a thing of the past, Will struggles to do as he is told, solve the mystery of what is unfolding around him, and keep himself alive long enough to try to save his crumbling marriage.
I had decidedly mixed feelings about this book. Pavone is a great writer, and the plot is intriguing. Unfortunately, there are so many different elements and characters and locations that I found it very difficult to keep everything straight, especially in the beginning. The action jumps around from New York City to Argentina, to Falls Church, to Virginia, to Paris, to rural Iceland, and more. Add in pseudonyms, flashbacks, and assumed identities, and you have a very complicated and confusing story indeed.
Having said that, the pieces do eventually come together, and the last third of the book was like the final descent of a roller coaster. I couldn't put it down, and turned page after page to discover Will's fate. Despite being rather lost in the beginning, he had my full attention by the end.
It's entirely possible that I wasn't paying enough attention in the beginning, or that I just wasn't in the mood to read this type of book at the time. Still, the convolution I experienced for much of the book keeps me from giving it a higher rating. The story is a fun and exciting one, but it helps to go into it knowing that it is a complex story as well.
*I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review. All opinions are my own.*
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