The Accident

Chris Pavone

As dawn approaches in New York, literary agent Isabel Reed is turning the final pages of a mysterious, anonymous manuscript, racing through the explosive revelations about powerful people, as well as long-hidden secrets about her own past. In Copenhagen, veteran CIA operative Hayden Gray, determined that this sweeping story be buried, is suddenly staring down the barrel of an unexpected gun. And in Zurich, the author himself is hiding in a shadowy expat life, trying to atone for a lifetime’s worth of lies and betrayals with publication of The Accident, while always looking over his shoulder.

Over the course of one long, desperate, increasingly perilous day, these lives collide as the book begins its dangerous march toward publication, toward saving or ruining careers and companies, placing everything at risk—and everyone in mortal peril. The rich cast of characters—in publishing and film, politics and espionage—are all forced to confront the consequences of their ambitions, the schisms between their ideal selves and the people they actually became.

The action rockets around Europe and across America, with an intricate web of duplicities stretching back a quarter-century to a dark winding road in upstate New York, where the shocking truth about the accident itself is buried. (from Netgalley)

My Thoughts

A book has been written about a powerful media mogul. It is loaded with incriminating stories about the mogul’s past. The manuscript has been given to a literary agent to see if she can get it published. All of the people who want to get it published are driven by a personal need to succeed. Most, for one reason or another, are at the end of their literary careers and want one last blow out of a book. All of the people who don’t want it published have millions of dollars to try and get it stopped. The chase is on!

Holy smokes! This really was the equivalent of a roller coaster ride. The story unfolds slowly as we get to meet all the players and get to understand their roles (or so we think). Eventually the pace starts to pick up and before you know it, there are twists and turns, peaks and valleys, scary gut clenching moments of terror and excitement. By the end, I was breathless.

Mr. Pavone has quite the way with words. His writing is very nuanced and because of the plot twist, the reader really needs to pay attention.

Hold on to your seats. You are in for quite a ride!

Many thanks to Crown Publishing, via Netgalley, for allowing me to read this in exchange for an unbiased review.