Stevens debuts with a tightly written thriller woven around an uncommon heroine with a knack for putting facts together and coming up with the right answers.Vanessa Michael Munroe is both beautiful and androgynous at the same time. A chameleon by nature, she is Munroe to some, the boy Michael to others and Nessa to a very select few. Munroe hires herself out to glean information for international businesses. She has an encyclopedic and logical mind that stores, sorts and processes information. She can pass for a man or woman, whichever suits her purposes, and most important of all, she has a facility for languages that once sent the CIA calling to recruit her. It's this ability to pick up a language after a short exposure that makes her adversaries underestimate her. That, and of course, her violent past, which also gives her a hard edge, as well as the skills to kill without remorse or second thought. Munroe is hired by oil tycoon Richard Burbank to find out what happened to his stepdaughter, Emily, who disappeared in West Central Africa four years ago. Burbank sends along a babysitter, Miles Bradford, to help Munroe and report back to him. Munroe resents Bradford; she grew up in this part of Africa and not only speaks the dialects but also understands the geography, culture and politics. Still, the money that's offered is interesting and Munroe likes a challenge, so she takes the case, and plunges into the heat, chaos and treachery of countries run by dictators and greed. For a while the pair seems to be on the right track, but soon things go very wrong and Munroe finds herself facing her past and having to make a choice that she doesn't want to contemplate. When it comes down to the pivotal moment, Munroe won't know whom to trust and whom to kill.Stevens' novel wanders a little, particularly at the end, but the writing is stellar, the heroine grittier than Lara Croft and the African setting so vivid that readers can smell the jungle and feel the heata gifted debut with much promise.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

In Stevens's debut novel, Vanessa Munroe's current case might be her last. Having spent her life distancing herself from her sordid childhood in Africa, Munroe has based her career on the skills she acquired there. She is an informationist and linguist with the ability to blend into any country and obtain the knowledge sought by her high-paying clients. Her current client is a distraught father whose daughter, Emily, vanished four years ago in Africa. After Emily's safari group finished its tour, she decided to stay on to travel more with two men she met on the tour. Of the three, only one returned. Emily disappeared, and the last man who saw her now resides in a mental institution. Munroe is intrigued by what previous investigators might have missed, but she is unprepared for what awaits her in Africa. VERDICT Stevens has penned a fast-paced, gripping, edgy mystery with a heroine whom even Lisbeth Salander would admire. Recommended for all contemporary thriller fiction fans who like thrillers similar to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 11/1/10.]-Susan O. Moritz, Montgomery Cty. P.L., MD (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

This intriguing novel's first chapters summon memories of the sort of cases Robert Parker's Spenser had a habit of taking. A gazillionaire's daughter vanished in Africa years ago. The gazillionaire has paid fortunes to PIs with no returns, hence his interest in information specialist Vanessa Munroe, a gumshoe for the twenty-first century. She can't resist the mystery or the paycheck, and the first third here is a riveting procedural about how an informationist does business. Then she's kidnapped and held captive on a boat in Equatorial Guinea, and suddenly we're in an adventure tale. Vanessa spends another chunk of the narrative wondering whether she'll survive and will this make sense. So do we, and yes to both questions. The maneuvers at the end are dazzling, worthy of patience with the puzzling middle, and a tad reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes' matter of the Copper Beeches. Monroe is a model of an emerging action heroine: like Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander, not a guy in a girl suit but not one to whimper in the corner, either.--Crinklaw, Don Copyright 2010 Booklist

When hired to locate the missing daughter of a billionaire, the skilled information-tracker, Vanessa "Michael" Munroe must use her skills to track down possible leads and determine if the girl is even still alive. Munroe's information moves her into increasingly dangerous predicaments as she moves (and is moved) about the world to find the daughter. Stevens spins a compelling and suspenseful narrative that is only enhanced by Hillary Huber's performance. Huber's cool delivery adds to Monroe's toughness and well-composed persona. She's vocally lively but controlled, befitting the character who must keep a level head as she survives perilous encounters. At other times, Huber's voice has a certain sardonic tone that works equally well with the narrative. Additionally, Huber executes strong dialogue among characters, not only keeping consistency but also maintaining necessary tension among certain characters. A Crown hardcover. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.