Published in 2012, The Expats is the debut spy novel of American thriller and suspense author Chris Pavone. Pavone is a book editor who began writing from his own experiences as an expatriate after he moved to Luxembourg for his wife’s work. The Expats was selected for the Edgar Award in 2013, as well as the Anthony Award for Best First Novel. Pavone revisited several characters from The Expats in his other novels, The Accident (2014) and The Paris Diversion (2019).

The novel centers around Kate Moore, a former field agent and analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency, who retires when her husband, Dexter, is offered a lucrative job in the European grand duchy of Luxembourg. Kate’s struggle to settle into domestic life is upended by the appearance of Julia and Bill Maclean, a new expatriate couple in town. When it becomes clear that Julia, Bill, and Dexter are involved in a recent cyber heist involving 50 million euros, Kate uses her espionage skills to uncover the truth about her husband, all while trying to protect secrets of her own. The novel explores The Search for a Post-Career Identity, The Emotional Costs of Secrecy in a Marriage, and The Gender Dynamics of Expatriate Families.

This study guide refers to the International Edition of the novel, published in 2012 by Crown Publishers.

Content Warning: The source material for this guide includes references to drug and alcohol abuse, as well as depictions of gore and violence. Occasionally, the novel also makes references to ableist language and imperialist attitudes.

Plot Summary

The novel is told across two parallel storylines, one of which occurs two years after the other.

The primary narrative begins when Kate Moore learns that her husband, Dexter, has been offered a lucrative new banking security role in the European duchy of Luxembourg. However, moving will require her to quit her job as an analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), a job that Dexter knows nothing about. Because Dexter’s client has promised to look after all of their expenses, Kate realizes that if her husband takes the job, then they will get to live a life of comfort in early retirement. They immediately move to Europe with their two young sons, Jake and Ben.

Dexter spends much of his time away from his family. He has always kept the nature of his work secret due to its sensitivity, but when he and Kate are summoned to the American embassy over his missing work permit, Kate is clued into the possibility that he is involved in something illicit. Kate soon meets another American expatriate in Luxembourg named Julia Maclean, whose husband, Bill, also works in finance. As Kate continues her quiet investigation of Dexter’s employment, she starts to feel suspicious of her new friends, especially after Bill and Julia appear to show romantic interest in other people. Kate recognizes the various details they have given about their backgrounds as part of a cover story.

After she visits Julia’s apartment and Bill’s office, Kate theorizes that the two are assassins who are planning to kill a high-value target. She reaches out to an old colleague named Hayden, whose contacts inform Kate that the Macleans are actually agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on loan to Interpol. Kate wonders if their investigation has anything to do with her or Dexter. Kate is especially guilty over her unsanctioned murder of a failed Mexican politician named Eduardo Torres, as well as the mother of his child. She asks Hayden for reassurance, and he directs her to meet with Kyle, his contact in Geneva.

Kate convinces Dexter to bring the family to Geneva to go skiing. Naturally, they are surprised to learn that Bill and Julia have the same holiday plans. This makes it difficult for Kate to meet with Kyle in secret, but she eventually learns from him that the Macleans are investigating Dexter over a suspected robbery of 50 million euros.

Kate locates the secret bank account where Dexter has stored 25 million euros, as well as the farmhouse that is registered as the account holder’s address. She learns that Dexter had registered his business a full year before moving to Luxembourg. Eventually, Bill and Julia confront her over Dexter, outlining the cybercrimes he is accused of committing. Kate denies their allegations but asks Dexter to explain himself.

Dexter reveals that he had stolen 25 million euros from a Serbian arms dealer called Colonel Petrovic, who had killed Dexter’s mercenary brother, Daniel, when Dexter was still in college. Dexter had successfully intercepted Petrovic’s funds during a bank transfer, interrupting the latter’s deal with a former Russian general and a Congolese revolutionary group. To avoid investigation and arrest, Dexter asked Kate to move to Luxembourg. Kate offers to stage an admission for Bill and Julia’s benefit, allowing them to drop the investigation against him. Although Dexter has no pretext to suspect that Kate was a former CIA agent, she also confesses the details of her previous employment. Once they are cleared of the investigation, the Moores decide to relocate from Luxembourg to Paris.

The second narrative picks up two years later when Julia runs into Kate in Paris. They promise to catch up, along with Bill and Dexter, over dinner, but before Julia leaves, she asks her to pass a message to Dexter: “[T]he Colonel is dead” (46). Kate calls Dexter and then goes home to pack their things so that they can flee to the farmhouse. However, she realizes that Julia’s real name—which had been given to her years earlier by Hayden’s contact—is familiar. She checks Dexter’s college yearbook and realizes that they knew each other as students.

Kate makes a deal with Hayden to deliver Bill, Julia, and the stolen money to the CIA. She asks for her old job back, as well as immunity for her and Dexter. Though Hayden cannot guarantee all of her conditions, he provides Kate with a transmitter to listen in on her meeting with the Macleans.

That night, Bill and Julia affirm what Dexter had previously revealed about Colonel Petrovic, adding that his partners had later killed him after the botched deal. Kate then exposes Julia, revealing that she had started manipulating Dexter long before Kate had met him. Julia ensured that Dexter would carry out the robbery by feeding him false information about Petrovic’s involvement in Daniel’s death. Julia had also manipulated Kate into believing that Dexter was acting alone, planting clues to suggest that Julia and Bill were carrying out a serious investigation on Dexter. Though Bill had not been aware of Julia’s manipulation at the time, he eventually realized the nature of her scheme and joined her after they both resigned from the FBI. They subsequently fell in love and are expecting a child. They want Dexter to give them the money so that they can live a life on the run. Kate denies them the money but offers them a chance to escape as a final act of kindness toward them. They accept the offer and disappear.