The Accident, by Chris Pavone (Faber March 2014)

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Neil

Chris Pavone published his first novel in 2012 called The Expats, which came with high recommendations, and did pretty well for a first novel in the espionage genre. I never quite got around to reading it, but if it's as good as his new novel, The Accident, it will be worth a look. The Accident is about a manuscript, submitted to a literary agent, written anonymously, but which, if published, would be hugely damaging to the world's most powerful media empire, as well as the CIA, and the American president. Certain very powerful people do not want this book to be published, and will stop at nothing. As the body count rises, and various copies made of the original manuscript are tracked down and destroyed, revelations about the author and the subject keep the plot racing along. This book is very hard to put down, tightly written, and more satisfying than the average thriller. Chris Pavone is definitely a writer to watch. I hugely enjoyed a thriller set in the publishing world as well, there aren't many of those!