The Expats

With his debut novel, Chris Pavone enters the spy thriller genre alongside writers such as Ian Fleming, John le Carré, and Tom Clancy. Which aspects of The Expats allow Pavone to subvert the genre or approach it in an unconventional way? What common thriller tropes, if any, emerge in his work?

Discuss the politics of The Expats by examining Kate’s role as a state agent. How do her actions interfere with the self-determined agenda of the Latin American nations to which she has been assigned? What does this say about the agenda of the US as a regional power?

The novel argues that keeping secrets is natural to the human experience. At what point does it become necessary for someone to disclose their secrets? Discuss your answer in the context of the novel’s central characters and their actions.