The Informationist: A Thriller
The Informationist: A Thriller book cover

The Informationist: A Thriller

Hardcover – March 8, 2011

by
Price
$12.25
Format
Hardcover
Pages
320
Publisher
Crown
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0307717092
Dimensions
6.5 x 1.5 x 9.5 inches
Weight
2.1 pounds

Description

From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Stevens's blazingly brilliant debut introduces a great new action heroine, Vanessa Michael Munroe, who doesn't have to kick over a hornet's nest to get attention, though her feral, take-no-prisoners attitude reflects the fire of Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander. Nine years have passed since Munroe, the daughter of American missionaries, escaped Cameroon at age 15 after a violent incident. She's forged a new life in Texas as an "informationist," a person who specializes in gathering information about developing countries for corporations. Munroe's best friend, marketing consultant Kate Breeden, refers her to Miles Bradford, a high-stakes security pro, who believes she's the perfect choice to help Houston oilman Richard Burbank find his adopted daughter, Emily, who vanished four years earlier at age 18 while vacationing in west central Africa. Munroe returns to Africa, where she reconnects with her ex-boyfriend, Francisco Beyard, a sexy drug- and gun-running businessman, who assists in the dangerous search for Emily. Thriller fans will eagerly await the sequel to this high-octane page-turner. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. From Booklist 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. --Don Crinklaw "An irresistible, gorgeously written thriller....impossible-to-put-down....Hollywood, let the casting wars begin."-- The Dallas Morning News “Extraordinary….No one has written a more exhilarating, adroit, and stylish debut for a suspense series since Raymond Chandler introduced Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep back in 1939." --TheDailyBeast.com "A globe-trotting thriller. . . . The Informationist is an accessible, crisply told tale."-- NYTimes.com "One can't help but think that Munroe and Salander are lone wolves who, if they ever had a chance to meet, might discover they are really part of the same hunting pack...Stevens...writes with the confidence of one who knows she's hit on a winning series character who has the world at her beck and call." -- Los Angeles Times"The Informationist is a remarkable thriller; intense and heartbreaking, with a chilling, killer climax ."-xa0Associated Press "In the wake of the stunning success of Stieg Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo comes a thriller by an American writer whose protagonist is drawing comparisons to Lisbeth Salander. The good news: Vanessa Munroe, the woman at the center of The Informationist, Taylor Stevens' debut novel, lives up to the hype. Best of all, Munroe evokes the spirit and intelligence of the gutsy, damaged Salander, but she's far from derivative...Much will be made of the similarities between Munroe and Salander. But in some ways, Munroe's brooding personality and her ability to blend in to her surroundings bring to mind the provocative Jason Bourne. Thank goodness a sequel to this fiery novel is in the works."-- USA Today "Vanessa Munroe is the book world’s newest tough-girl action hero."- New York Post " A Dazzling new thriller... The Informationist is Steven's first novel but it reads as if she's already a master of the genre."-- New York Daily News "Stevens' debut novel, The Informationist [is]xa0an international thriller featuring a most unusual hero." -- Fort Worth Star-Telegram "The star of this novel- an androgynous espionage agent named Vanessa Munroe- boasts a mysterious past and impressive survival skills."- Entertainment Weekly "Taylor Stevens in her first novel has achieved the gripping story telling technique of many acclaimed authors."- Paramus Post " The Informationist pushes every one of my buttons: exotic locale, sassy and competent protagonist, crisp dialogue and nonstop action. A fine debut—can’t wait for the sequel!"-- Book Page, Bruce Tierney"Stevens’ debut novel is as compelling as her actual back story. Like Vanessa Munroe, a heroine haunted by her hijacked childhood, Stevens was raised all over the world in a religious cult. But the similarity ends there in this breathless, international thrill ride as Vanessa lies, kills and uses her incredible gift for getting what she wants. But underneath all the action is an even more powerful story of a woman trying to make peace with her personal demons."-- Family Circle , Darcy Jacobs"Stevens’s blazingly brilliant debut introduces a great new action heroine, Vanessa Michael Munroe, who doesn’t have to kick over a hornet’s nest to get attention, though her feral, take-no-prisoners attitude reflects the fire of Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander…. Thriller fans will eagerly await the sequel to this high-octane page-turner."— Publishers Weekly (Starred, boxed review)"Stevens has penned a fast-paced, gripping, edgy mystery with a heroine whom even Lisbeth Salander would admire."-- Library Journal (Starred)“Dazzling…Munroe 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.”-- Booklist "A riveting procedural, and a multi-dimensional thriller, with a heroine that hooks you from her first appearance."--OpenLetters.com"An utterly smashing debut, starring an unforgettable heroine who could go toe to toe with Lisbeth Salander—and claw her way on top. One of the best thrillers of the year!"—Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author of ICE COLD"With its break-neck pacing set against the simmering violence of Central Africa, THE INFORMATIONIST is a thriller of the highest caliber. Michael Munroe is a heroine you’ve never seen before—a shape-shifter who’s sharp, fast, and deadly, but still vulnerable to her own demons. Powered by intricate plotting that leads to a climax on a grand scale, this novel announces Taylor Stevens as a writer to watch."--Colin Harrisonxa0xa0"A turbo-charged debut with a protagonist as deadly as she is irresistible. With THE INFORMATIONIST Taylor Stevens has crafted a thriller that’s smart, sexy, fast-paced—and impossible to put down."—Vince Flynn"A terrific thriller with piercing tension, chest-tightening adventure, and a one-of-a-kind heroine I’ve continued to think about long after finishing the last page.xa0 Taylor Stevens is a born storyteller. I couldn’t put THE INFORMATIONIST down."—Michael Palmer, author of The Last Surgeon "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...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 heat—a gifted debut with much promise."-- Kirkus Born into the Children of God, raised in communes across the globe, and denied an education beyond the sixth grade, Taylor Stevens broke free of the cult in order to follow hope and a vague idea of what possibilities lay beyond. She now lives in Texas, and is writing a third Vanessa Michael Munroe novel. Read more

Features & Highlights

  • “Stevens’s blazingly brilliant debut introduces a great new action heroine, Vanessa Michael Munroe, who doesn’t have to kick over a hornet’s nest to get attention, though her feral, take-no-prisoners attitude reflects the fire of Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander….Thriller fans will eagerly await the sequel to this high-octane page-turner.” —
  • Publishers Weekly
  • , starred, boxed reviewVanessa “Michael” Munroe deals in information—expensive information—working for corporations, heads of state, private clients, and anyone else who can pay for her unique brand of expertise. Born to missionary parents in lawless central Africa, Munroe took up with an infamous gunrunner and his mercenary crew when she was just fourteen. As his protégé, she earned the respect of the jungle's most dangerous men, cultivating her own reputation for years until something sent her running. After almost a decade building a new life and lucrative career from her home base in Dallas, she's never looked back.Until now.  A Texas oil billionaire has hired her to find his daughter who vanished in Africa four years ago. It’s not her usual line of work, but she can’t resist the challenge. Pulled deep into the mystery of the missing girl, Munroe finds herself back in the lands of her childhood, betrayed, cut off from civilization, and left for dead. If she has any hope of escaping the jungle and the demons that drive her, she must come face-to-face with the past that she’s tried for so long to forget. Gripping, ingenious, and impeccably paced,
  • The Informationist
  • marks the arrival or a thrilling new talent.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(469)
★★★★
25%
(391)
★★★
15%
(234)
★★
7%
(109)
★
23%
(359)

Most Helpful Reviews

✓ Verified Purchase

Wow! What a wonderful and amazing accomplishment.

Its not often that I can't wait to find the time to read. I looked forward to see where the story went, what new things I'd learn about African culture, what new disturbing episode the main protagonist would get involved in, and what new doublecross would present itself to be unwound.

Given that this is the authors debut novel, I was simply blown away. Its not hard to tell that she has a unique mind, and has lived through many remarkable experiences. The depth of her character exploration, the complexity of the protagonist's perspectives, and the twists and turns that deep African culture and social complexities lead to are just incredible.

The basic story is somewhat standard thriller fare. But the way its told, the way the story is constructed, and the remarkable depth of the characters is simply amazing. Layer that with how the author weaves the story, with her deep knowledge of some of Africa's more seedy cultures and the deeply lonely yet introspective characters that populate her story, and its just some of the finest fiction I have ever read.

This book is a remarkable accomplishment, by any and all measures. That is her first novel makes it even more amazing. The characters, settings, and twists are like nothing you've read, even if you're a prolific reader.

I look forward to her next novel, as I'm sure others who've read this book are. Fantastic, just fantastic
124 people found this helpful
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Poorly conceived, poorly written, uses every cliche in the book

First, take the basic premise: this young woman is an "informationist." What does that mean? Apparently, that she drops into countries, learns the local language in a heartbeat, and finds things out that no one else can. What are those things? We are never told. Just that she's brilliant, wonderful, businesses pay her huge amounts of money to write her reports. A classic case of the author telling us something, and utterly failing to show it in any way that convinces us. Her skills? Her facility with languages (one day in a country she understands; two days, she speaks; three days, she is fluent). Even if you buy that, her only other skill is that she can cross dress as a boy. Oh, and give her a knife and she has an insatiable urge to kill due to her dark past. As other reviewers have noticed, this was a carefully calculated attempt to cash in on the Steig Larson gravy train. I am more disappointed than I can say that the marketing muscle of the US publishing industry has put any money in this writer's pocket when there are so many fine and truly original writers out there struggling to have their voices heard. And I am appalled at the stellar reader reviews as well. It has completely undermined my faith in the reading public. Don't buy this book. Don't reinforce the publication of this kind of derivative trash.
40 people found this helpful
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High concept plot done in by tortuous, cliche-a-page writing

First off, The Informationist is not as good as you might think based upon all of the breathlessly positive reviews. The main problem is the disconnect between the book's extremely compelling premise and the ragged quality of the writing itself. This was ultimately very frustrating -- like going to a World Series game where the best hitters turn in a sub-par performance.

The heroine of the book -- Vanessa Michael Munroe -- is someone who is known as an "informationist." She's a hired gun of sorts who companies hire to gather intelligence on foreign markets that will aid them in their business decisions. Her skills in this arena have not come easy, but are an outgrowth of survival skills learned growing up in the wilds of Cameroon as the daughter of missionaries and then, while still under 18, as part of a team of African mercenaries.

The book begins with Munroe being hired for a different, but very complementary assignment. A business tycoon's daughter has gone missing in Equatorial Guinea and after four years of searching it is still unclear whether she is alive or dead. Enter Vanessa Michael Munroe.

It's in the execution of the writing where the experience of this book falls off with page upon page of tortuous, cliched lines. For example, "It was one thing to allow a man access to her body, another thing entirely to allow a man access to her soul." And this goes on throughout the entire book.

Also, "Michael" as she's mostly referred to is a particularly grim and not very likable character. She comes across as particularly soulless and shallow at the beginning and really doesn't change all that much through the course of the book.

If you need a diversion on a plane, this could be a good choice. Just don't go in expecting any sort of tour-de-force.
34 people found this helpful
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Very disappointed

I ordered this book on kindle based upon a review in the local paper that said something along the lines of "we have found the new Lisbeth Salander and Michael Munroe is her". What a disappointment to have to force myself to finish this long slow pointless book and find that this is not the "new" Lisbeth. No, she is not even a good facsimile. This is not a thriller! So if you are in the mood for a typical thriller with fast action packed prose, pass on this one. The writing is disjointed at best and there really isn't any action.
31 people found this helpful
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ZAP!!! 6 stars and no hornets

I suppose it's inevitable to compare Vanessa Michael Munroe to Lisbeth Salander, but it's not fair.

Stevens' hero is closer to Jason Bourne or Gabriel Allon than to the brooding Swede. She's all action all the time, and her vaunted information-gathering skills, which arise from her ability to read a situation and interact with people so that they see what they need to see, are light years away from the computer geek with that famous tattoo.

Evidently all action heroes of the new millennium are survivors of childhood trauma, the more gruesome the better. You'll have to read for a long time to out-grue the past Stevens constructs for Munroe. And yet the reader doesn't get bludgeoned with it. Stevens has the second greatest gift of a storyteller: patience. She sketches the dark past as an absent presence, a negative space. By the time we finally do hear about Michael's history, we believe it absolutely.

The greatest gift of a storyteller is an original voice, both for her narrator and her characters. Stevens is greatly gifted and Michael is wildly original. I read this between two of Jack Higgins' Sean Dillon thrillers and the contrast was stunning. Higgins -- whose plots I like -- never uses an adjective if he can help it. I don't know what anyone looks like, let alone what demons may be haunting the characters. And there are about a zillion guys, all with similar names and sub fusc personalities. Very stiff upper, but hard to sort out.

Stevens needs to work on her secondary characters, but her main figures are astonishing. Both Michael and Francisco will be with me for years. And I hope that Stevens really is at work on the second installment.

As an English teacher, I've got to gripe about awkward sentences -- usually misplaced phrases -- and very very odd word choices, as well as simple goofs -- mistaking "weigh anchor" for "drop anchor." But a good copy editor can fix this. The plot needs no help at all.

It's truly a thriller.
15 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

ZAP!!! 6 stars and no hornets

I suppose it's inevitable to compare Vanessa Michael Munroe to Lisbeth Salander, but it's not fair.

Stevens' hero is closer to Jason Bourne or Gabriel Allon than to the brooding Swede. She's all action all the time, and her vaunted information-gathering skills, which arise from her ability to read a situation and interact with people so that they see what they need to see, are light years away from the computer geek with that famous tattoo.

Evidently all action heroes of the new millennium are survivors of childhood trauma, the more gruesome the better. You'll have to read for a long time to out-grue the past Stevens constructs for Munroe. And yet the reader doesn't get bludgeoned with it. Stevens has the second greatest gift of a storyteller: patience. She sketches the dark past as an absent presence, a negative space. By the time we finally do hear about Michael's history, we believe it absolutely.

The greatest gift of a storyteller is an original voice, both for her narrator and her characters. Stevens is greatly gifted and Michael is wildly original. I read this between two of Jack Higgins' Sean Dillon thrillers and the contrast was stunning. Higgins -- whose plots I like -- never uses an adjective if he can help it. I don't know what anyone looks like, let alone what demons may be haunting the characters. And there are about a zillion guys, all with similar names and sub fusc personalities. Very stiff upper, but hard to sort out.

Stevens needs to work on her secondary characters, but her main figures are astonishing. Both Michael and Francisco will be with me for years. And I hope that Stevens really is at work on the second installment.

As an English teacher, I've got to gripe about awkward sentences -- usually misplaced phrases -- and very very odd word choices, as well as simple goofs -- mistaking "weigh anchor" for "drop anchor." But a good copy editor can fix this. The plot needs no help at all.

It's truly a thriller.
15 people found this helpful
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M. Hutchins

There's not much to add to the other one-star reviews. I got halfway through and called it quits. The characters that were not contrived were stale, one-dimensional retreads. While the plot might have eventually become interesting, I concluded it wasn't worth the effort. By the way, those comparisons between Vanessa Munroe and the enchanting Lisbeth Salander are pathetic.
14 people found this helpful
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"And when the answers presented themselves, she would take retribution..."

Lisbeth Salander and Vanessa Munroe share some commonalities: both experienced traumas in adolescence that cause them to disconnect to some degree in adulthood and display a few nearly sociopathic tendencies, both are super-humanly skilled with weapons and in command the information-gathering game, both are extremely tenacious and are survivors, both share androgynous physical characteristics, both are willing to use sex as a tool but at heart do desire real intimacy, and they both have few compunctions about taking vicious vengeance when personally threatened.

[[ASIN:0307717097 The Informationist: A Thriller]] is a drier name for a thriller than [[ASIN:0307454541 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo]] (or the other two GIRL novels), and one can argue that Taylor Stevens' new novel is piggybacking success off of the Salander trilogy phenomenon. However, be that as it may, THE INFORMATIONIST is a very compelling read in an of itself. Although the early pages felt a bit perfunctory and lacking some detail about how Informationist Vanessa (also called Michael or just Essa) actually does her job, once she began her mission to find the missing young woman, Emily, and returned to Africa, the novel was very hard to put down. Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea don't often appear as locales in popular fiction and I was very drawn in by Steven's ability to describe the environs, the people (both native and not), and the hair-trigger political and economic situations. Most of all, the book really came alive when Vanessa reunited with someone from her past and the two worked first on personal rapprochement and then on dealing with the arrival (again) of another -- Vanessa's assigned partner, mercenary Miles Bradford. Vanessa becomes a person with whom one can empathize as she navigates the mortal bodily dangers and the pains and confusions of the heart.

The plot is perhaps too easily guessed concerning certain facts, but Stevens does pack a few wallops of surprise too. Still, for a woman who is supposed to be such an expert at collecting, sifting, and analyzing information, Vanessa comes up a bit short; she should have been able to pinpoint at least one perpetrator earlier.

Vanessa mentions -- but not in too much detail -- that she was raised in Africa by missionary parents from whom she is now estranged. It is worth noting that author Stevens had an apparently even more radical childhood: the thumbnail sketch of her on the back cover notes that she "was born into a religious cult and raised all over the world before breaking free of the movement." Other Internet sources explain that the cult in question was the Children of God (now called Family International). Other well-known members at one time in their lives include, River Phoenix (and his siblings), Celeste Jones, and Rose McGowan. Grim allegations of child abuse have been leveled at the organization, and by her dedication in THE INFORMATIONIST -- "To my fellow childhood survivors - you know who you are" -- Stevens makes clear her own early life was one she wanted to escape. By creating Vanessa Munroe, a woman with problems but also with exceptional power arising from her need for control, one can theorize that Stevens is using as catharsis Vanessa's living with and trying to exorcise her oft-felt-or-mentioned psychological demons.

But author analysis aside, THE INFORMATIONIST is a welcome addition to thriller fiction. Lisbeth Salander's story was cut short (the late author had intended ten books), but, fortunately, now along comes Vanessa Munroe, and you don't want to be on the receiving end of her fury and acts of vengeance either! Stevens is already writing volume two in her series, and I am already looking forward to it. This first volume is definitely recommended.
13 people found this helpful
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Linguist, maybe...Informationist? No

A major disappointment. Because of the title of the book I expected a protagonist who sought information, collected it, used it. There are such characters out there, and I enjoy reading their stories. But this author tells us what her characters have done, without showing us how they reached the point of being able to do that, what information they've located, exactly how and why they're putting it to use. I wanted those details. About halfway through the book I stopped reading and deleted it from my Kindle.
11 people found this helpful
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Hard like of a hard woman.....not my style.

Vanessa Michael Munroe has lived a very hard life and made the most of it in her own way. The book begins with a prologue where a man is running although he seems confused and the reader is not sure what is real and what he might be hallucinating but we understand he was with another man and a young woman as well and that they are in some of the most wild parts of Africa and in danger.

The story then opens on "Michael" -- Vanessa in her disguise as a man -- as she goes about arriving to town, setting up in a hotel room and so on. She later changes back to a woman. I felt that this situation he/she has and how as a woman she does a pickup of a guy just for sex as a slob of a man might did not reflect well on her morals and character.

As the plot progresses and Vanessa takes the job mentioned on the book jacket to try to find out what happened to a very rich executive's daughter who was in Africa and disappeared four years ago, the reader does feel some interest in how Vanessa/Michael is investigating. However, for me the morals and attitudes of the main and secondary characters was just too overwhelming.

If you like seeing a woman act like a guy -- one who has very loose morals, etc. -- you will enjoy this intriguing story. And it is very intriguing if a bit slow moving for the first few chapters.
10 people found this helpful

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