Brian Frisch asked Chris Pavone:

Are you ever concerned about the reader's "acceptance" of some of the implausible circumstances, situations, character background/ personalities when writing your novels? These make for fascinating stories but sometimes I find myself saying..."C'mon...really"? Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed The Expats and The Travelers and can't wait to read/ listen to The Paris Diversion as my next book.

Chris Pavone Definitely! I think one of the most important strategic decisions a novelist makes is where to live on the spectrum of realism: on one end is 100% realism of everyday characters in which almost nothing happens; on the other end is ludicrous cartoon-level action with superhero characters and a plot that's utterly implausible in the real world. There's vast space in between these extremes, and somewhere in there is the dividing line between what we call literary fiction on the more realistic end and commercial/genre/popular fiction on the more exaggerated end. I'm aiming for just on the far side of that line, with characters and atmosphere and dialogue that are realistic but plot and action that occasionally look much bigger and far more exciting than real life. Does all the action in my books seem 100% plausible? No, that's not where I'm aiming. But I hope it doesn't seem implausible either.

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