Like Lisbeth Salander*, Vanessa Munro is a smart, strong woman with a whole lotta attitude. Her childhood background, also like Lisbeth, provides the skewed (and what seems, at least initially, psychotic) perspective on which she bases her decisions and actions. But unlike Lisbeth, Vanessa has managed to find a way to mostly function on the same plane as the rest of us. She is an information specialist. Clients of all kind pay Munro large amounts of money to discover information in a way which may require stealth, deception or an ability to think outside the box. Munro has just finished a job in Turkey when her friend, lawyer and confidant, Kate, contacts her about a new job.

A Houston oilman’s stepdaughter disappeared while in Africa four years ago. He has spent a small fortune on investigators trying to find out what happened to Emily. He is willing to pay Munro $100,000 to just meet with him so he can explain why trying to discover what happened to his stepdaughter is like gathering information and therefore should be just another job to Vanessa. She meets with him and eventually agrees to take the job. She then heads back to Africa where she was raised by missionary parents and where she was a gunrunner.

Like Lee Child and Steig Larsson, Stevens has created an utterly unique character. Munro is someone with values set in granite and, I have to admit, every once in a while, I enjoy seeing everything in black and white; it just makes everything a little bit easier. This was a terrific thriller! The story of Munro’s search for Emily is fast-paced and required some nail biting. But I also found the sections which filled in the events and traumas of her childhood equally fascinating. Stevens is already at work on a second book featuring Munro and I’m very hopeful there will be more than a trilogy in the future. Available March 8th. ~Patti
*Steig Larsson protagonist.