Lee Child
New York Times-bestselling author of the Jack Reacher novels
Chris Pavone
New York Times-bestselling and award-winning thriller author
Chris Pavone talks about his bestseller “The Expats”
Photo credit: Nina Subin
Ex-book editor Chris Pavone is the New York Times-bestselling author of the international thrillers The Travelers, The Accident, and The Expats, which won the prestigious Edgar Award for Best First Novel. Chris brings unique insight to his talks about turning real life into award-winning fiction, peppered with anecdotes about living abroad and working in the New York publishing world.
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About Chris Pavone
Chris Pavone has worked in book publishing for three decades, as a copy editor, managing editor, acquisitions editor, deputy publisher, ghostwriter, and for the past decade as a novelist. He began writing his debut novel when his wife’s job took the family to Luxembourg, and he found himself the primary caregiver to twin schoolboys, living a completely unfamiliar life.
He turned this experience into The Expats, an international thriller that was an instant New York Times bestseller, winner of a 2013 Anthony Award as well as the Edgar (the Academy Award of mysteries and thrillers), published in more than twenty languages, and is being developed for film.
Chris’s second thriller—also an immediate bestseller—was The Accident, based on his intimate knowledge of the publishing business, which the New York Times called “unputdownable.” And his third novel, The Travelers, an Indie bestseller, was hailed by Janet Maslin of the Times: “The Travelers does confirm what Mr. Pavone’s first two books have established: that when it comes to quick-witted, breathless thrillers that trot the globe, his are top-tier.”
The Paris Diversion, to be published in May 2019, revisits the characters from The Expats, who are now living in Paris, where a massive terror attack turns out to be completely different from what it seems. According to Jeffrey Deaver, this is “thriller writing at its absolute best”; Megan Abbott calls it “a knockout.”
Chris has appeared on TV such as Face the Nation and radio such as All Things Considered, BBC-Scotland, RTE-Radio Ireland, and Pia Lindström Presents on Sirius. He has written for the New York Times Book Review and the newspaper, and has spoken at dozens of book festivals, conferences, bookstores, and libraries across America and Europe, combining a personal journey with humor for an entertaining and insightful presentation about the real-life inspirations for his critically acclaimed, bestselling novels.
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Speaking Topics
Turning the Ordinary of Life into the Extraordinary of Fiction
How Chris turned an everyday experience as a stay-at-home parent—laundry, cooking, parenting—into a bestselling novel of international espionage that includes laundry, cooking, and parenting as well as the CIA, a long-play con, and 50 million stolen euros. Plus a movie deal.
Behind the Publishing Scenes
Life from both sides of the publishing desk: as a nonfiction book editor and as an award-winning bestselling novelist (plus a few things in between), featuring breakfast with Pat Conroy, lunch with Giada de Laurentiis, dinner with Helena Bonham-Carter, and a cup of coffee spilled by Jackie Onassis.
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Praise for Chris Pavone
Praise for The Paris Diversion
I tore through The Paris Diversion, completely caught up in the thrilling story of one remarkable day in Paris. With its twisting, high-stakes plot, all-too-human characters, and unrelenting tension, I couldn’t read it fast enough! I absolutely loved it—highly recommended!
— Shari Lapena, New York Times-bestselling author of The Couple Next DoorThriller 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 EdgeSleek, 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 MeChris 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 trilogyMy head is still swimming after reading The Paris Diversion. Chris Pavone has constructed the perfect page-turner for our fraught times, a white-knuckle ride of international proportions where nothing is ever what it seems.”
—OLEN STEINHAUER, New York Times bestselling author of The Middle Man and All the Old Knives— Olen Steinhauer, New York Times-bestselling author of The Middle Man and All the Old KnivesThe Paris Diversion coils up with tension from the first page and propels the reader through a maze of intrigue and suspense. Fans of espionage thrillers will find nothing is what it seems in the Chris Pavone’s stealthy storytelling.
— Matthew Pearl, author of The Dante ChamberChris Pavone's 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 CobenPraise for The Travelers
A Hitchcockian thriller… [Pavone] brings on a full slate of characters, sharply etching their dress, their moves, their motives, all the while evoking the world they occupy.
— The Washington PostThe Travelers does confirm what Mr. Pavone’s first two books have established: that when it comes to quick-witted, breathless thrillers that trot the globe, his are top-tier.
— Janet Maslin, New York Times -
Books by Chris Pavone
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Featured Title
The Paris Diversion
“Since he exploded onto the scene with The Expats, Chris Pavone has quickly become one of the elite must-read can’t-miss thriller writers working today. Grab The Paris Diversion and hold on for the ride.”
— CJ Box, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of The Disappeared
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