Summary

This guide is based on The Expats by Chris Pavone, a paperback published in 2012 by Broadway Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. This book also includes a prologue and introduction to the author’s next book, The Travelers. The Expats is told from a third person limited point of view from Kathryn/Kate’s viewpoint. The story alternates between present and past tense narration.

The section called “The Prelude: Today, 10:52 a.m. Paris,” is told in present tense. Kate runs into a woman in Paris after dropping her sons off at school. She recognizes the voice, but cannot recognize the woman because of the sunglasses she wears. As soon as the glasses are removed, Kate does not reveal who the woman is, but instantly worries about the safety of her children, and her thoughts turn to a lock box that...