Book Review

By Marilyn Brown

Two Nights in Lisbon

By Chris Pavone

Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2022

A novel, 437 pages

The police in Lisbon do not mean to be rude to the intense American woman in front of them, but how could it possibly be an emergency when her husband has been missing for only a few hours? Ariel Pryce was not too keen to accompany her husband on a business trip from New York to Portugal, but their first night in the Ambassador’s Suite was romantic and satisfying. The police suggest John could be out for a walk, or heading for the business meeting early, or whatever. Ariel doesn’t agree. Although they haven’t been married long, she knows he would not just abscond, leaving his cell phone and her behind.

She fleetingly begins to doubt her own perceptions. She has been wrong before, for example, her first marriage into a wealthy and powerful family. Ariel’s last ten years have been about raising her son, living authentically on her own small acreage, driving a rusty old pickup truck, far from her previous life. In Lisbon, an exorbitant ransom for John is demanded. Ariel contacts the American Embassy. From there, things get complicated.