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克里斯·帕弗恩的处女作《侨民》（The Expats）完全可以称得上是一部令人手不释卷的佳作。凯特·摩尔的丈夫戴克斯特是一个行事低调的电脑极客，他受雇给卢森堡大公国的一家银行开发安全系统。这份工作薪水丰厚，可以让凯特、戴克斯特和孩子们借故离开死气沉沉、毫无新鲜感的华盛顿，去全新的世界畅快旅行，完成他们平日里念念不忘的夙愿。 不过这样一来，凯特就必须辞工，这稍微有些麻烦。凯特一直有个秘密隐瞒着丈夫和孩子们，那就是她做了15年CIA特工。不过话又说回来，戴克斯特也有他不为人知的一面，连凯特也被蒙在鼓里。他们在卢森堡接触到的大多数侨民也都有各自的隐情。 这样的设定稍显牵强，但站得住脚。原因之一在于，帕弗恩对故事发生的所在地很熟。他老婆几年前曾在卢森堡工作，一家人对侨民的生活有切身的体会，帕弗恩在此期间也趁机云游四方，仔细考察了阿尔卑斯山、巴塞罗那、阿姆斯特丹、巴黎及其他在小说中起重要作用的欧洲城市。还有一个原因就是，帕弗恩在从事犯罪小说的创作之前，曾以编辑食谱为生，他显然知道如何将众多元素融会贯通，使故事的情节环环相扣，从而创作出一部扣人心弦的惊悚小说。 出版商在宣传《侨民》时经常使用“令人手不释卷”、“间谍惊悚小说”、“悬念迭出”这类字眼，它们都很贴切。小说一开头就交代了凯特是个CIA特工，但随着故事情节的发展，读者才会慢慢发现凯特其实是个训练有素的杀手，她有个不为人知的惊天秘密。戴克斯特由于工作的缘故经常在欧洲大陆各地奔忙，他也有自己神秘的一面。至于那些FBI特工到底在探查什么，这也是个难解之谜。 作者在有些地方稍显用力过度。故事的时间、地点跳跃很快，需要读者集中注意力；故事情节的发展常常出乎意料，令人唏嘘。但这样的代价是值得的，因为你读到的是一部绝佳之作，它具备优秀间谍小说所必需的一切惊悚元素，令人手不释卷。本·阿弗莱克或许正在紧锣密鼓地筹备《以夜为生》的翻拍，不过另有消息称，哥伦比亚电影公司（CBS Films）正打算不惜一切代价尽早将《侨民》搬上宽频荧幕。祝愿双方都能早日成功。 |
Chris Pavone's first novel The Expats is everything a page-turner should be. Kate Moore's husband Dexter, a low-key computer geek, has been hired to set up a security system for a bank in the grand duchy of Luxembourg. It's a high-paying position that would give Kate, Dexter and the boys an excuse to leave dull, old Washington, D.C. and travel and do all the things they've always talked about. It also means that Kate will have to give up her job, and that's a bit of a problem. Unbeknownst to Dexter and the kids, Kate has spent the last 15 years as a CIA operative. But hold on a minute. Dexter also has a secret life he doesn't share with most people, including Kate, and it turns out that most of the expats they hang with in Luxembourg aren't exactly what they seem to be either. A little contrived, sure, but it works. One reason: Pavone knows the territory, thanks to the fact that his wife took a job in Luxembourg a few years ago, providing the family with a real-time life as expats and giving Pavone the opportunity to travel and soak up the nuances of the Alps, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Paris, and other European locations that play key roles in the book. A second reason: Before he turned to a life of crime writing, Pavone edited cookbooks for a living, and he clearly learned how to blend disparate ingredients into the multilayers needed to make a suspenseful thriller. The PR campaign for The Expats relies heavily on phrases like "non-stop action," "espionage thriller" and "layers of deceit," all of which are on target. We know at the start that Kate's a CIA operative, but it takes a while before we discover she's a trained killer who has a mind-blowing secret she's never shared with anyone. Dexter, whose job takes him all over the Continent, has his own set of mysterious secrets, and what about those FBI agents who seem to be following anything but the straight and narrow? The Expats is a little over the top at points. It's filled with time and place changes that demand your attention and developments that require you to suspend belief every now and then, but that's the price you pay for a grabber of a spy novel that touches all the cloak-and-dagger bases and is exceptionally hard to put down. Ben Affleck may be hard at work on Live By Night, but word is that CBS Films is doing all it can to bring The Expats to the big screen ASAP. Good luck to both. |
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