What you discover about life’s shell game is that it’s hardest to follow the pea when you’re the pea.
I think it is immensely difficult to get the U. S. interested in non-U. S. topics. I dont think this is because the average American reader is disinterested, but more because of publishers playing it safe: if a thriller based in L. A. is a sure winner, why spend money plugging one based in Paris - or Bangkok?