The Sleeping Doll

I liked a lot the brief Kathryn Dance's appearance in The Cold Moon, so when I saw an Italian translation of the first book of her series, I bought it straight off. I was expecting a perfect summer reading, but I got instead a bland thriller, slow paced and without the famous Deaver's twists. I was disappointed also because Deaver's knowledge in Kinesics science isn't as good as his expertise in forensics showed in the Lincoln Rhyme's series.

Kathryn Dance is an investigator working for the California Bureau of Investigation. Her specialty is kinesics, a fancy word for body language. She's one of the top in her field, so when new evidence emerges in a cold case suggesting that imprisoned cult leader and murderer Daniel Pell may have one more homicide to his name, she's called in to interrogate. But Pell escapes and she's left leading a manhunt, trying to catch the "Son of Manson," as he was called, before he can either kill again or persuade someone else to kill for him.

Let's get the cliche out of the way first: I couldn't put it down. My eyes felt like sandpaper and I had a headache, but I just had to find out what happened next. The action just kept coming. The plot was show more full of surprises for me, right up until practically the last page. The book was well-written and seemed to be well-researched. Kathryn was a great female protagonist, strong, quirky, funny, likeable, but not too perfect. The other characters were maybe not quite so well-drawn, but I still liked them or hated them.

There were two things keeping me from giving this five stars. First, the ending dragged out too long for me. I always use the comparision, "You know, it's like that movie 'Speed.'" The story was over for me but more surprises kept popping up. I get frustrated when that happens. The big thing that kept this from being a five star book was the constant explanation of kinesics. There's a pretty extensive explanation of what Kathryn looks for when she's interrogating in the first chapter of the book. I'm a smart girl--assume I got it. Instead, we get quite a bit of repetition like how "I swear" inevitably signals that someone is lying or at least holding something back, or that when someone taps their foot or jingles their change, they're experiencing stress. It wasn't constant repetition, but by halfway through, I was thinking, "Oh no, here we go again. I hope this explanation isn't too long."

Overall though, the strengths of the book far outweigh the weaknesses and I would recommend it for a fast, edge-of-your-seat read. show less

I had some problems with the character of Dance. She is a likable and interesting character, however, her inability to use a gun grates and her judgment seems greatly impaired. She blithely blabs all the details of the investigation to the former cult members,never considering that they are first, not the most stable to begin with and seemingly unconcerned of their possible involvement. She keeps the writer of dubious credentials in the loop and lets her sex drive override her common sense. The pacing is off, the book is long and drags in some portions. Although not a terrible book, I have certainly read better by this author.

Typically convoluted plot from Deaver. Somewhat predictable in a few scenes, though. Nice manipulation, betrayal and backstabbing. Good chase scene set in Point Lobos, one of my favorite parks. Villians good and nasty, too. A bit too neat, but then, that's Deaver all over.

But I don't like Kathryn Dance. I bought this book before reading the last Rhyme novel where Dance is introduced. If I had, I wouldn't have bought this one since I find her touchy-feely crap really annoying. And the kinesic stuff is laid on with a trowel, too, as if Deaver now has to legitimize this 'science' the same way he has done for forensics. Not terrible, but I'm sticking to the Rhyme series.

First Line: The interrogation began like any other.

Special Agent Kathryn Dance, interrogator and kinesics expert with the California Bureau of Investigation, is given the opportunity to interrogate convicted killer Daniel "Son of Manson" Pell. Pell has become the prime suspect in a newly unearthed crime, and the Bureau needs all the information he can give them. All hell breaks loose at the prison where the interrogation is taking place, and Pell manages to escape. It's up to Dance to put all the clues together before the body count begins to rise.

Although this is a plot-driven thriller, there was enough information about Dance's character to keep me interested. She's a widow, has two children, and quite the routine to keep herself show more grounded and her family running smoothly.

The information Deaver gives about kinesics (body language) is very interesting and easy to apply to real life, although sometimes too much of the detail was repeated. It was fascinating to follow along with Dance and her rather unorthodox line of thinking ("A to B to X") to see if I could figure out Pell's next moves before he actually made them. I also appreciated the fact that the author didn't fall prey to a line of jeopardy that it would have been all too easy to insert into the plot.

As a thriller, this is definitely a cut above, and I have the next Kathryn Dance book, Roadside Crosses on my bookshelves. show less

Part detective-part psychologist, Kathryn Dance studies the body language of criminals to decipher their responses during questioning and to build psychological profiles. She meets her biggest test in a cult leader and murderer of all but one member of a family who escapes prison and then tries to come after both Dance and the victim he missed. The interactions between the characters grab the reader and there are many twists and turns (some expected/some not; some believable/some far-fetched). I'm looking forward to reading more by this author.

I was really intrigued by the character of Kathryn Dance in "Cold Moon." Having a character that uses kinesics in order to get witnesses and suspects to open up and or confess.

In "The Sleeping Doll" we get more information on the character of Kathryn Dance. She works at the California Bureau of Investigation (think of a state office set up like the FBI) and is about to interrogate a man who murdered a family decades earlier (Daniel Pell). Pell is seen as similar to Charles Manson due to having his own family (teenage girls) who he commanded to steal from stores and homes in order to support the family. When new information comes up linking Pell to a murder Dance is set in to break him and get him to confess. Too late Dance realizes that show more Pell is up to something and then he escapes. This books follows Dance's efforts to track down and stop Pell as well as following Pell as he continues to wreck havoc.

There are multiple POVs in this book per usual for a Deaver book. We get Dance, Pell, and some of the teens (now older women) who came under Pell's spell decades earlier. We also get a POV from a writer who is going to write about the family that was murdered and the lone survivor of that murder (the so called Sleeping Doll). Deaver manages to do a good job shifting from each POV. I was honestly surprised since I thought it be too much.

I can say I wanted more of Dance though. Deaver was slow to reveal details about Dance, but at least I had questions answered about her from "Cold Moon." Due to Dance being a widow she has a lot of trouble trying to establish a new relationship without dealing with her kids disapproval. And because of Dance's special abilities she does a lot of analysis of her friends and family. It's kind of like being around a human version of a Vulcan.

Deaver gets a bit too in depth at times when explaining Dance's methods when interrogating cooperative and uncooperative witnesses. We also get to see how Pell manipulates people around him. And we definitely focus more on people's motivations, thought processes, and even body movements. I found this whole thing pretty fascinating.

The flow worked nicely in this one and of course we get typical Deaver twists, though they work in this one. Unlike with the Rhyme books I didn't feel like these were meant to shock. If you're paying attention you realize that Deaver was giving clues all along the way.

The setting of this one takes place in California. What I wish we had gotten more details about is the areas near Dance. Deaver provides details on Dance's home and her deck (which features prominently in this book) but I would have liked the same attention of detail regarding the history of the state and town they are in like he does in the Rhyme books.

The ending left me with some questions regarding Dance, her romantic relationships, and her family. I can't wait for the next one. show less