THE SLEEPING DOLL
Jeffery Deaver
Simon & Schuster
Thriller
ISBN-10: 0743260945
ISBN-13: 9780743260947

• 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 reading recommendation, it will be THE SLEEPING DOLL that I transfer from my shaky fingers to theirs.

The novel marks the return of Kathryn Dance, first introduced in THE COLD MOON. She is a worthy protagonist, no question about it, but fans of Deaver's work read him not so much for his heroes (Lincoln Rhyme notwithstanding) as for his evildoers. What makes this newest work special is that the villain of the piece, Daniel Pell, has been dubbed the "Son of Manson" by the media. On the surface this is an apt comparison. As the book begins, Pell is serving a life sentence for the brutal murders of four family members, with only one, the Sleeping Doll, surviving.

Pell, a la Manson, had his own "family" consisting of three women and another man, along with a large collection of material regarding the cult leader. When he makes an ingenious escape attempt during an interrogation concerning another, unrelated murder, Dance is put in charge of re-capturing him.

Deaver's move in casting Pell as an apparent Charles Manson clone is a stroke of genius. The mere thought of Manson, even in his 70s, somehow making a teetering escape out of maximum security and hobbling around at large would be more than enough cause to have a sizable amount of the population from the Atlantic to the Pacific grabbing shotguns, pitchforks and torches until he was dead or returned to custody. The author captures this feeling perfectly, as Pell --- clever, smart and extremely dangerous --- avoids being caught time and again.

Meanwhile, the Sleeping Doll (so named because she slept through the attack on her family) does not appear until well over halfway through this fine work, yet she unexpectedly holds the key to much of what happens --- even as Pell seems to be on the verge of making his escape a permanent one.

Deaver must have Yogi Berra's motto "It ain't over till it's over" engraved above his writing desk. While there are two major endings (and at least one minor ending) to THE SLEEPING DOLL, he leaves one with the feeling that more may be coming. Combining his familiar touches with some brand new flourishes --- not to mention his scariest villain to date --- Deaver once again has produced a work that succeeds on all levels.

   --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

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