Blog this item

The Sleeping Doll

A Novel

By Jeffery Deaver

(30)

| Hardcover | 9780743260947

Like The Sleeping Doll?
Join aNobii to see if your friends read it, and discover similar books!

Book Description

When Special Agent Kathryn Dance -- a brilliant interrogator and kinesics expert with the California Bureau of Investigation -- is sent to question the convicted killer Daniel "Son of Manson" Pell as a suspect in a newly unearthed crime, she feels both trepidation and electrifying intrigue. Pell is serving a life sentence for the brutal murders of the wealthy Croyton family in Carmel years earlier -- a crime mirroring those perpetrated by Charles Manson in the 1960s. But Pell and his cult members were sloppy: Not only were they apprehended, they even left behind a survivor -- the youngest of the Croyton daughters, who, because she was in bed hidden by her toys that terrible night, was dubbed the Sleeping Doll.

But the girl never spoke about that night, nor did the crime's mastermind. Indeed, Pell has long been both reticent and unrepentant about the crime. And so with the murderer transported from the Capitola superprison to an interrogation room in the Monterey County Courthouse, Dance sees an opportunity to pry a confession from him for the recent murder -- and to learn more about the depraved mind of this career criminal who considers himself a master of control, a dark Svengali, forcing people to do what they otherwise would never conceive of doing. In an electrifying psychological jousting match, Dance calls up all her skills as an interrogator and kinesics -- body language -- expert to get to the truth behind Daniel Pell.

But when Dance's plan goes terribly wrong and Pell escapes, leaving behind a trail of dead and injured, she finds herself in charge of her first-ever manhunt. But far from simply fleeing, Pell turns on his pursuers -- and other innocents -- for reasons Dance and her colleagues can't discern. As the idyllic Monterey Peninsula is paralyzed by the elusive killer, Dance turns to the past to find the truth about what Daniel Pell is really up to. She tracks down the now teenage Sleeping Doll to learn what really happened that night, and she arranges a reunion of three women who were in his cult at the time of the killings. The lies of the past and the evasions of the present boil up under the relentless probing of Kathryn Dance, but will the truth about Daniel Pell emerge in time to stop him from killing again?

Critics

Bookreporter.com - THE SLEEPING DOLL by Jeffery Deaver

• Read an Excerpt Jeffery Deaver's latest thriller may well be my favorite of his to date, supplanting THE DEVIL'S TEARDROP for that distinction. While it's possible that he has written better books, I have the feeling that when my friends ask for a ... (read full critics)

bookreporter published on Mon, 30 Aug 2010

3 Reviews

Head-scratcher

Plot twists abound in this well-paced novel. Too many, perhaps. Great setting, otherwise competent execution. The anti-climatic finale drags forever while the author tries to tie up all the loose ends. But what really irks me is that this novel, like many others, seems aimed at an ADD-affected audie ... (continue)

Plot twists abound in this well-paced novel. Too many, perhaps. Great setting, otherwise competent execution. The anti-climatic finale drags forever while the author tries to tie up all the loose ends. But what really irks me is that this novel, like many others, seems aimed at an ADD-affected audience, with the author repeating over and over things that happened just a hundred page earlier, or explains everything twice from different points of view, sometimes adding an interesting element, more often just making the reader feel patronized.

Is this helpful?

Paolo said on Mar 27, 2011 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Jeffery Deaver does not disappoint. This book was Deaver's first foray into kinesics - the interpretation of non-verbal language; in other words, the art of detecting subtle signs of stress when people lie. There were several twists and I like how the author still managed to keep the plot coherent a ... (continue)

Jeffery Deaver does not disappoint. This book was Deaver's first foray into kinesics - the interpretation of non-verbal language; in other words, the art of detecting subtle signs of stress when people lie. There were several twists and I like how the author still managed to keep the plot coherent and logical. There was one particular part i like, when Deaver actually united all his characters, a short conversation amongst Lincoln Rhyme, Amelia Sachs and Kathryn Dance. That really made his characters more life-like. I highly recommend this book!

Is this helpful?

The Underdog said on Jul 13, 2009 | Add your feedback

I have long been a fan of Jeffrey Deaver, ever since my son loanned me "The Blue Nowhere" in fact. I have at times been disappointed with his books, but not very often. This was not one of those times. Kathryn Dance makes her debut in this bookand a stunning debut it is. She will have to go some ... (continue)

I have long been a fan of Jeffrey Deaver, ever since my son loanned me "The Blue Nowhere" in fact. I have at times been disappointed with his books, but not very often. This was not one of those times. Kathryn Dance makes her debut in this bookand a stunning debut it is. She will have to go some distance to challenge Lincoln Rhymes as an intriguing character, but she is on her way.
The story is Deaver at his best. Full of suspense, red herrings, skillful narrative and false endings.
I recommend it.

Is this helpful?

Martin Papworth said on Aug 16, 2008 about the Mass Market Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Book Details

Rating:
(30)
- 5 stars
- 4 stars
- 3 stars
- 2 stars
- 1 star
English Books
Hardcover 448 Pages
Edition: 1
ISBN-10: 0743260945
ISBN-13: 9780743260947
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pub date: Jun 05, 2007
Dimensions: 1548 mm x 1097 mm x 194 mm Just how big is that?
Also available as: Mass Market Paperback, Paperback, Others and eBook
In other languages: other languages 繁體書, 和書, Livres Français, Deutsche Bücher, Libri Italiani