Moving Day by Jonathan Stone - book review

Moving Day

Author:  Jonathan Stone

Published:  June 1/14

Publisher:  Thomas and Mercer

Pages:  284

Source:  A complimentary advance reader's copy was provided for the purpose of this review.  Receipt thereof bore no influence over this reviewers opinion nor this review.

Forty years’ accumulation of art, antiques, and family photographs are more than just objects for Stanley Peke—they are proof of a life fully lived. A life he could have easily lost long ago.

When a con man steals his houseful of possessions in a sophisticated moving-day scam, Peke wanders helplessly through his empty New England home, inevitably reminded of another helpless time: decades in Peke’s past, a cold and threadbare Stanislaw Shmuel Pecoskowitz eked out a desperate existence in the war-torn Polish countryside, subsisting on scraps, dodging Nazi soldiers. Now, the seventy-two-year-old Peke—who survived, came to America, and succeeded—must summon his original grit and determination, to track down the thieves, retrieve his things, and restore the life he made for himself.

Peke and his wife, Rose, trace the path of the thieves’ truck across America, to the wilds of Montana, and to an ultimate, chilling confrontation with not only the thieves, but with Peke’s brutal, unresolved past.

My thoughts:

It's all innocent enough to begin with.  Peke and his wife Rose have arranged for movers to transport their belongings, a wealth of 40 years of accumulation including some valuable art and antiques.  The children are grown so Peke and Rose no longer desire this big house, their first home purchase.  Already packed and ready to go, Peke is surprised when the movers arrive a day early.  He tells himself he forgot the date, assures his wife that yes, today is the day, and then watches as the crew cheerfully load all their earthly belongings into a semi. Peke notes their attitudes, their demeanour, who's in charge.  How nice to have cheerful friendly movers, right?

They spend the night on an old mattress, their last night spent just as their first when they had little money nor belongings.  The years have been kind to Peke and Rose and they have done very well financially.  Now they were retired and looking forward to it.

The next morning, however; movers show up to load their furnishings.  Stunned, Peke informs them that there must be a mistake; their crew arrived the day before.  No, not their crew.  The police are called in but it doesn't look promising.  There are over 240,000 semis on the highway on any given day.  The semi might as well be invisible.  Their belongings are gone, presumably forever.  It's sad and awful but at least no one was hurt.  

Peke and Rose aren't concerned about the financial loss. They are quite fit financially. Besides, insurance will reimburse them.  It's not even the value associated with the memories (the thieves took their photos as well!).  It's the fact that the "crew" chose them to defraud, two seniors who wouldn't put up a fight.  Little did those "movers" know, they made the biggest mistake ever when they stole from Peke and Rose!  

Moving Day is a bit wordy and descriptive and its pace was a bit slow.  Despite this, Moving Day is a fascinating piece of fiction with a rare plot and a feisty protagonist!  There have been a few feisty elderly protagonists of late, including The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window  and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson (2012), The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce (June 2013), and The Little Old Lady Who Broke All The Rules by Catherina Ingleman-Sundberg (Feb 2014).  If you enjoyed any of these titles, you're sure to find Moving Day to your liking.  Who says the years of wisdom, knowledge and hard work don't count for anything?  Certainly not Peke!

Purchase Links

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

Meet author Jonathan Stone:

Jonathan Stone writes his books on the commuter train from his home in Connecticut to his advertising job in midtown Manhattan. Honing his writing skills by creating smart and classic campaigns for high-level brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft, and Mitsubishi has paid off, as Stone’s first mystery-thriller series, the Julian Palmer books, won critical acclaim and was hailed as “stunning” and “risk-taking” in Publishers Weekly starred reviews. He earned glowing praise for his novel The Cold Truth from the New York Times, which called it “bone-chilling.” He’s the recipient of a Claymore Award for Best Unpublished Crime Novel and a graduate of Yale, where he was a Scholar of the House in fiction writing.

The Expats by Chris Pavone (a TLC book review)

The Expats

Author:  Chris Pavone

Publisher: Broadway

Published: January 22, 2013

Pages: 352

Category: Suspense/fiction

Edition:  Hard Cover

ISBN 9780307956354

Source:  A complimentary copy was provided by the publisher and TLC Book Tours in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

At first glance, Kate Moore is an ordinary American expat mom whose days are filled with coffee mornings and the mundane demands of childcare. But Kate is also guarding a secret: until recently she’d been leading a double life as a CIA agent, traveling the globe on increasingly dangerous covert missions. After her job drives her to commit an unforgivable act, Kate is ready for a less eventful life, and her husband Dexter’s new job as a financial systems security consultant in Luxembourg provides the perfect exit strategy. But still she remains unable to bring herself to reveal her secret to him.

As Kate struggles to adapt to her new expat existence, always wondering when her past will catch up with her, her spook instincts take over and she grows suspicious of those around her. There’s an overly friendly American couple, Bill and Julia, who clearly are not who they say they are, and who Kate suspects may be assassins; and Dexter has become withdrawn, evasive, and unhealthily absorbed in his work, which mysteriously leads him to come home with mud-stained shoes. When Kate breaks her vow to never investigate her own husband and begins to dig for the truth, her world quickly unravels as she discovers that Dexter has been harboring an explosive secret of his own—and that he may be involved in a dangerous scheme involving shell corporations, unforgiven war crimes, and the brazen theft of 50 million euros.

Transporting readers from the cobblestoned streets of Luxembourg to the snow-capped peaks of the Alps to an unforgettably climactic scene in Paris, THE EXPATS is an international thriller in the tradition of established masters such as John Le Carré, Ken Follett, and Frederick Forsyth. At the same time, it is a skillfully drawn, character-driven exploration of marital deception that breaks the bounds of the espionage genre and will appeal broadly to fans of psychological suspense.

“Sly…Pavone strengthens this book with a string of head-spinning revelations in its last pages…The tireless scheming of all four principals truly exceeds all sane expectations.”—New York Times 

“Smartly executed…Pavone is full of sharp insights into the parallels between political espionage and marital duplicity…Thoroughly captivating.” —New York Times Book Review 

“Bombshell-a-minute…Pavone creates a fascinating, complicated hero.” –Entertainment Weekly 

“Amazing…Impossible to put down…Pavone invokes memories of the great writers of spy fiction of the past, and he has the chops to be mentioned with the best of them.”—Associated Press

“I often thought I was again reading the early works of Ken Follett, Frederick Forsyth, and Robert Ludlum. Smart, clever suspense, skillfully plotted.” —John Grisham

“Bristling with suspense and elegantly crafted, The Expats introduces a compelling and powerful female protagonist you won’t soon forget. Well done!” —Patricia Cornwell

My Review:

Masterfully planned and executed, much like the feats of his own characters in The Expats; Chris Pavone's debut novel is a thrilling and enthralling read that is sure to hit the bestseller lists!!

I've read some amazing books in the last year, but thrillers like The Expats don't often come my way, which is rather sad, really.  I love a book that hooks you in the first few lines, has you in its grasp and doesn't let go until the end.  Plot twists and reveals offer up new unexpected surprises in this novel that keep you turning pages, in anticipation of what the author has devised next.

Kate's and Dexter's characters are well developed, especially Kate's.  Kate is a strong protagonist, with a multi-faceted personality.  Motherhood brought out the nurturer in her but her past lives on as an ever present entity.  We see it in her thoughts, her awareness, her actions and her suspicions.  And, like her, as the story reveals itself, we are made aware that her husband, Dexter, may not be so cut and dried.  There are layers within this man that slowly become revealed and yet, perhaps even he has been fooled! 

As we pass from the past tense to "today", we catch glimpses of a background of clues that slowly compile, eventually meeting up with the present day, making this suspense a whole.  At first it was a bit confusing, the passing between tenses, but as The Expats reaches its climax, the international intrigue becomes more and more complex. We know the tenses have to meet, and when they do, wow! I love that in a book and the ability to do the slow reveal in an author!!

Bonus for me, John Grisham endorsed this novel!!!  (I love John Grisham's legal thrillers!)

***Thanks to the publisher and TLC Book Tours, I have one copy of The Expats to give away to a lucky commenter!!!  To enter, all you have to do is leave a meaningful comment below with your email address.  I will choose a winner from the commenters on  February 9 (because that's my anniversary!!)  A winner will be contacted within 24 hours of draw date and will have 72 hours to respond.  Good luck!***

*Sensitive reader warning:  contains a few profanities and some sexual content.

Meet the author:

Chris Pavone, a book editor for nearly two decades, recently returned to New York City after a sojourn to Luxembourg. The Expats is his first novel.

Visit the author’s website at www.chrispavone.com.