Book info

• Title The Sleeping Doll
• Author Jeffery Deaver
• Year 2007
• Genre Thriller

California Bureau of Investigation Special agent Kathryn Dance is an expert in kinesics: the science of interpreting behaviour. It makes her a brilliant interrogator. But she's up against Daniel Pell, a master of control who mesmerises, seduces and exploits people for his own murderous ends. A convicted killer who is known as The Son of Manson for the chilling parallels between him and the notorious ritual murderer. To track down Pell before he destroys yet more lives, Kathyn Dance must enlist the help of four people from the killer's past. The three women who lived under his sadistic sway in the cult he once headed. And the young girl known as the Sleeping Doll, the only survivor of her family's slaughter at Pell's hands...

Thoughts

I’m always concerned when writers bring in secondary characters in a plot, only as a device to continue the series onwards. The worst example of this is the Clive Cussler Dirk Pitt novels, where some long-lost children were discovered just as the main character was getting on a bit. Conveniently, they both have the adventurous spirit that he does and the writing can continue!

Over to Jeffery Deaver then, and this spin off actually works pretty well. The character was introduced in a Lincoln Rhyme book, but didn’t overshadow that one, and now quite rightly has her own story to tell. I get the feeling Deaver chose this new path as a way to investigate other methods of policing, rather than sticking religiously to the forensics side of things. It’s certainly an interesting read, so I hope it was interesting for him to write.

The personal stories involved are not as compelling as the partnership between Sachs and Rhyme, but the crime side of things is up to the usual high standard. The twists and turns are all there, including that moment when you think the story might be over and you’ve still got several chapters to go. Recommended, although probably more of an acquired taste.

Rating: 3 / 5