Meeting people from different countries can lead you into exciting and educational situations. Meg Castaldo proves that this is the case in her new novel “The Foreigner.”

Alex doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life.

She doesn’t have a job, and she’s still living at home- the life most ISU students fear after graduation. So, when given the opportunity to apartment-sit for her Uncle Carmi in New York City, she swipes up the chance to get out of California and live a more exciting life for several weeks. More exciting is right.

Alex’s friend Kyle is acting strange. Her past fling with Jan, a European she met months before while out of the country, becomes a fling in the present when he unexpectedly comes to New York to meet with clients.

Her uncle’s neighbor carries around hundreds of dollars in cash and won’t leave her alone.

And a gruesome death in her apartment building leads her to fear for her life. Alex is threatened to keep quiet about what she assumes is a drug ring, even though she doesn’t know anything.

One drawback is that the preface stated some of the essential storyline, making some plot twists expected, such as the fact that Alex is never killed.

Another fallback is the fact that Alex is sometimes naive and jumps to a lot of conclusions about others. For example, a foreign man carrying around hundreds of dollars in cash and claiming that his profession is importing/exporting rugs is probably hiding something.

This book is enjoyable.

The characters are interesting, the plot is original, and the details of New York City are surprisingly accurate. The chapters are short, enabling a person without a lot of time on his or her hands to easily read a chapter quickly.