The Doll

March 11, 2013
Good and bad deeds alike have a high price, as dramatically shown in Stevens’s harrowing third Vanessa Michael Munroe novel (after 2012’s The Innocent). A sex trafficker known as the Doll Maker forces Munroe to deliver a nubile starlet to the starlet’s purchaser by taking Munroe’s best friend, Logan, hostage. Controlled at every step by the Doll Maker’s nephew, Valon Lumani, she transports the “doll” from Croatia to Monaco while trying to balance the lives in her hands. Back in Texas, Miles Bradford, Munroe’s lover and sometime employer, seeks Logan, Munroe, answers, and revenge as new hostages are targeted. At story’s end, none of the players is left unscathed. Trafficker-in-training Lumani is interestingly conflicted, and Munroe remains as compelling as ever: violent yet protective of innocence, imprisoned by not only her past but also the choices she has made in response to it, and painfully conscious of her closeness to sanity’s edge. 5-city author tour. Agent: Anne Hawkins, John Hawkins & Associates.