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"The Expats" (Crown), by Chris Pavone: Chris Pavone channels spy-fiction superstars Robert Ludlum and John le Carre in his amazing first novel, "The Expats."

Kate Moore leaves her double life as a wife and mother and a covert operative in the CIA when her husband, Dexter, gets a new job in Luxembourg. She tries to be a stay-at-home mom (her husband had no idea of her job working for the CIA), and though her former bosses aren't concerned, she's worried that her past will come back to haunt her.

Soon her new life as an expat begins to unravel.

Kate meets a friendly pair from America, and the two couples start spending time together. Dexter practically lives at the office and becomes increasingly obsessed with work. Bored and a bit concerned Kate's old instincts kick in, and she begins to investigate her husband and their new friends. It doesn't take long for her to discover that Dexter's job isn't what she thought it is, and that he might be responsible for the theft of a huge sum of money. Kate also discovers evidence that the American couple are assassins and that she and Dexter are their next targets.

"The Expats" is a skilful and atmospheric descent into paranoia. Kate's journey as her life falls apart is compelling, and the novel is 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.

___

Online:

http://www.chrispavone.com/

Here is the original post:
Review: 'The Expats' by Chris Pavone is skilful and atmospheric descent into paranoia

"The Expats" (Crown), by Chris Pavone: Chris Pavone channels spy-fiction superstars Robert Ludlum and John le Carre in his amazing first novel, "The Expats."

Kate Moore leaves her double life as a wife and mother and a covert operative in the CIA when her husband, Dexter, gets a new job in Luxembourg. She tries to be a stay-at-home mom (her husband had no idea of her job working for the CIA), and though her former bosses aren't concerned, she's worried that her past will come back to haunt her.

Soon her new life as an expat begins to unravel.

Kate meets a friendly pair from America, and the two couples start spending time together. Dexter practically lives at the office and becomes increasingly obsessed with work. Bored and a bit concerned Kate's old instincts kick in, and she begins to investigate her husband and their new friends. It doesn't take long for her to discover that Dexter's job isn't what she thought it is, and that he might be responsible for the theft of a huge sum of money. Kate also discovers evidence that the American couple are assassins and that she and Dexter are their next targets.

"The Expats" is a skillful and atmospheric descent into paranoia. Kate's journey as her life falls apart is compelling, and the novel is 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.

___

Online:

http://www.chrispavone.com/

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Review: 'The Expats' is excellent spy thriller

At a recent town hall meeting in Maine, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was forced to defend the millions he holds in offshore bank accounts.

"Do you think it's patriotic of you to stash away your money in the Cayman Islands?"one woman asked.

Romney assured the audience he doesn't receive any tax benefits on his at least $8 million, but possibly up to $32 million, stowed away in the Caribbean.

But Romney is still getting other benefits --like lower management fees and foreign interest.

But these benefits might not last forever. The federal government is rolling out legislation meant to keep Americans from stashing their cash overseas.

In 2010, theIRSand theTreasury Departmentpassed legislation called theForeign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), and those regulations will force many foreign banks to divulge the identities and account information of U.S. customers with sizeable offshore accounts that until now may have remained hidden for decades.

Some parts of the legislation won't take effect for a few years, but this year, many American expatriates must divulge personal information about their overseas accounts to the IRS.

But let's back up a minute and lift the veil off those often scandalously portrayed offshore accounts, whether you have one, are considering opening one or just want to know more about them.

Offshore overview

An offshore account is essentially an account that you open in a foreign country, like a bank account or a brokerage account.

The rest is here:
Here's How The IRS Plans To Track Secret Offshore Accounts

US stocks fell Monday as worries about the slowing global economy after China lowered its growth estimate eclipsed positive numbers on the US services sector.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 14.76 points (0.11 percent) to finish at 12,962.81.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 5.30 points (0.39 percent) to 1,364.33, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite lost 25.71 points (0.86 percent) to 2,950.48.

Stocks pared losses in drifting trade, analysts said.

The markets were "shrugging off an upbeat read on US services sector activity, amid a flare-up in global economic concerns courtesy of China cutting its growth forecast to the lowest level since 2004 and a disappointing eurozone business activity report," Charles Schwab analysts said.

Markets were under pressure after China's premier, Wen Jiabao, announced the world's second-biggest economy was targeting growth of 7.5 percent in 2012, below the 8.0 percent-plus rate in recent years and the lowest target in eight years.

Dow member Alcoa was the blue-chip index's worst decliner, tumbling 3.6 percent to $9.87. Caterpillar skidded 2.1 percent to $110.09.

American International Group rose 2.0 percent. The bailed-out insurer plans to sell a chunk of its stake in Hong-Kong listed AIA to help repay its debt to the US government.

Citigroup fell 1.2 percent. After the market closed Friday, the bank said that board chairman Richard Parsons, who guided Citi through the 2008 financial crisis, would not seek reelection in April.

Apple shed 2.2 percent to $533.16 ahead of Apple's expected unveiling on Wednesday of the next generation of its iPad tablet computer.

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US stocks end in red on global growth worries

By Bobby Fisher - March 5, 2012 | Tickers: DANG, GOOG, GRPN, YHOO, YOKU | 0 Comments

Bobby is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinions of our bloggers and are not formally edited.

If weve learned one thing from the dot-com bubble, it is that weve really learned very little. Sentiment, rumor, and in general, hype still tends to carry greater influence than cold hard facts, financial results, or even profits. When companies create their revenue through the internet or promise to start creating revenues somewhere in the future, the market sometimes regards this as a mystical process that does not follow the same laws the market normally adheres to. Currently we have a number of stocks that are overinflated by hype, but a correction is sure to follow just as a bubble will always burst.

Not that long ago,Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO)was the leader in two markets, but it has slipped into third spot behind Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Facebook in the display ads market, and as a search engine, it barely commands 6% of the market. Its market share in display and search advertising is set to slip further in coming years as Googles dominance grows.

As though that isnt bad enough, its investment in Alibaba.com, contributing more than 40% in value to the Yahoo! share price, is not being handled well by chief financial officer Tim Morse. Morse has been overcome by vagueness when speaking about issues surrounding its holdings in the Asian company. I expect more bad news from Yahoo! as it struggles to sell its Asian assets and its stock is sure to bear the brunt, causing longsuffering shareholders to wonder whether Scott Thompson will be another name in a succession of short lived CEOs.

The Chinese internet television company Youku, Inc. (NYSE: YOKU) is the closest equivalent to a Chinese Youtube, but it also includes professional productions like serial television shows, movies, variety shows, sporting events, and music videos. The other common denominator between the companies is their lack of profits. This has not deterred Youku in any way from trading with a market capitalization of $2.26 billion. Despite the share price falling from the heady highs of $69.95 in April of last year, the share price is still overvalued at around $22.

Looking at Youkus figures, there is hardly a number that isnt in the red. It starts out with a gross margin of 24.8% in the black, but this quickly runs into trouble with a net profit margin of -0.22% and earnings before interest, taxes, and depreciation margin is -18%. Clearly it is only a matter of time before this overvalued stock will get its just deserved correction from the market.

Another copycat of a U.S. model, E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc.(NYSE: DANG) tries to replicate in China exactly what Amazon.comhas done so successfully in the U.S. and in the rest of the world. From a business model standpoint you must say that this has been proven to work.

Dangdangs results arent backing this up though. Its latest set of results has shown growth in sales, but theres an ever-increasing loss per share as its margins continue heading in the wrong direction. In the last quarter its operating margin has increased to -12.1%.

Dangdangs problems originate from being the third biggest player in the online retail market in China behind Yahoo!s Alibaba.com which owns 49% of the market and 360buy.com with 18% market share. Dangdangs margins will only be squeezed further by price pressure and increasing marketing costs to compete against the two bigger players. This battle is an exercise in futility.

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Are These Internet Stocks Overhyped?