Julie's Review: Liars' Paradox

                                  Author: Taylor Stevens

Series: None
Publication Date: December 18, 2018
Publisher: Random House
Pages: 352
Obtained: publisher via Netgalley
Genre:  Thriller, Mystery
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: An action packed book that will have you waiting for the next installment
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Summary: They live in the shadows, Jack and Jill, feuding twins who can never stop running. From earliest memory they’ve been taught to hide, to hunt, to survive. Their prowess is outdone only by Clare, who has always been mentor first and mother second. She trained them in the art of espionage, tested their skills in weaponry, surveillance, and sabotage, and sharpened their minds with nerve-wracking psychological games. As they grew older they came to question her motives, her methods—and her sanity . . . Now twenty-six years old, the twins are trying to lead normal lives. But when Clare’s off-the-grid safehouse explodes and she goes missing, they’re forced to believe the unthinkable: Their mother’s paranoid delusions have been real all along. To find her, they’ll need to set aside their differences; to survive, they’ll have to draw on every skill she’s trained them to use. A twisted trail leads from the CIA, to the KGB, to an underground network of global assassins where hunters become the hunted. Everyone, it seems, wants them dead—and, for one of the twins, it’s a threat that’s frighteningly familiar and dangerously close to home . . .  Filled with explosive action, suspense, and powerful human drama, Liars’ Paradox is world-class intrigue at its finest. ~amazon.com


Review: I'm a big fan of Ms. Steven's Munroe series and I also get her emails so I knew she was working on something new but that it was taking a bit of time to get it right. I'm so happy she took the extra time because Liars' Paradox is exactly what I would expect from her; high-octane! Jack and Jill (not their real names) are siblings who have always been pitted against each other by their mother Clare while she trains them to survive. Although they aren't sure what they are supposed to be on the look out for. Jill is more action while Jack likes to be a bit more methodical about how to go after a target. They both are loose cannons in their own ways. They are definitely not siblings who send each other holiday cards.

When they are called by their mother to come to her location, Jack kidnaps Jill out of her boyfriend's apartment and just as they show up her house explodes. All of the sudden they are being hunted by whomever blew up Clare's house.

What occurs throughout the rest of the book is Jack and Jill trying to fit the pieces of the Clare's past together and who has a bounty on both of them now. Can they use everything that Clare taught them to save themselves and perhaps find her? Who is behind all these webs that their mom has tried to shield them from all these years.

Some parts of the plot are hard to follow because of all the intricacies of it but in the end it comes together and you understand all the players in the game. Clare might be the most masterful of all of them.

I am definitely looking forward to the next book in the series.

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Julie's Review: The Mask

Author: Taylor Stevens
Series: Vanessa Michael Monroe #5
Publication Date: June 30, 2015
Publisher: Crown
Pages: 352
Obtained: Amazon Vine
Genre:  Thriller, Suspense
Rating: 4.5/5
Bottom Line: Thrilling and exciting entry into one of my favorite thriller/mystery series
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Summary: Vanessa Michael Munroe, chameleon and information hunter, has a reputation for getting things done: dangerous and not quite legal things, in some of the world’s deadliest places. Still healing from a brutal attack that left her near death, Munroe joins her lover, Miles Bradford, in Japan where he’s working as a security consultant protecting high-value technology from industrial espionage. In the domesticity of their routine Munroe finds long sought-after peace—until Bradford is arrested for murder. She will soon discover how far she’ll go to save him from twenty years in locked-up isolation; how many laws she’ll break when the truth seems worse than his lies; and who to trust and who she’ll kill. Because she’s a strategist and hunter with a predator’s instincts, and the man she loves has just stabbed her in the back. ~taylorstevensauthor.com  

Review: The Mask is one of those books where I had to trust the author and it's a good thing I've read all the other books in this series to know I can trust her. I did seriously wonder what kind of ride she was going to take me on and how Michael was going to come out of this on the other side. I was worried that the only thing keeping Michael tethered was going to be ripped away from her. This trip to Japan to see Bradford was supposed to be a healing trip for her. Well, how much fun would that be to read about and write? Probably not very for this character. Michael needs action, she needs to feel purposeful. I doubt she's ever had a proper vacation.

Needless to say, Michael's skills are called into action quickly when Miles gets arrested for murder. She knows he didn't do it but he also wasn't fully honest with her. This is when she has to start putting together the puzzle pieces.

Michael is also operating in a culture that she doesn't quite understand but that she has to learn quickly to adapt to. She has to learn how to function and command respect from men in the office. She needs someone to help her adapt and to also figure out the pieces of the puzzle that she can't do on her own. She needs someone to team with this time. This time she can't do it on her own.

Ms. Stevens always does a great job of making two plot lines intersect and The Mask is no different. I never doubt the path or paths she's going to take us on. They are almost always a wild ride, which is what keeps this reader coming back. Plus I happen to think Vanessa Michael Munroe is one of the most interesting and complex characters I've ever read.

If you've never read any of Ms. Stevens books and you are a fan of thrillers plus excellent characters, then you need to pick up this series.


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Julie's Review: The Catch

Author: Taylor Stevens
Series: Michael Munroe #4
Publication Date: July 15, 2014
Publisher: Crown Publishing
Pages: 368
Obtained: Amazon Vine
Genre:  Thriller
Rating: 3.75/5
Bottom Line: Not my favorite of the series but still a solid thriller.
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Library

Summary: Vanessa Michael Munroe, chameleon and information hunter, has a reputation for getting things done—often dangerous and not quite legal things. The adrenaline-fueled work has left her with blood on her hands and a soul stained with guilt. Having borne the burden of one death too many, Munroe has fled to Djibouti, Africa. There, where her only responsibility is greasing the wheels of commerce for a small maritime security company, she finds stillness—until her boss pressures her to join his team as an armed transit guard on a ship bound for Kenya. Days into the voyage, Munroe discovers the security contract is merely cover for a gunrunning operation of which she wants no part. The ship is invaded off the Somali coast and in a moment of impulse while fighting her way out, she drags the unconscious captain with her. But nothing about the hijacking is what it seems. The pirates were never after the ship; they’d come for the captain. In chasing him, they make their one mistake: targeting Munroe raises the killer’s instinct she’s tried so hard to bury. Wounded and on the run, Vanessa Michael Munroe will use the life of her catch as bait and bartering chip to manipulate every player with a stake in the ship’s outcome, and find a way to wash her conscience clean. ~amazon.com

Review: I always highly anticipate the new Michael Munroe book, so when I found out I could get The Catch early, I jumped on the chance. While I enjoyed Michael's newest journey, it wasn't my favorite of the series. I understand why Michael left the U.S. and needed this respite to figure out what she wanted. I think I just don't like her as a lone wolf. I know she can take care of herself but we all need backup and people to trust.

On the other hand, maybe she needed this respite to understand what it is she wants and needs. Maybe she needed to see that it's OK to rely on other people and not just herself. She has survived the past 6 months by disguising herself as a man, which she does easily, and working with a small, maybe not so legit, security company. It's obvious that the owner, Leo, can't stand him but his wife, Amber, does find her useful.
So when the chance comes to be an armed guard aboard a ship to Kenya, she jumps on it. Little does she know that this decision will have her gunning for her life and those life of the innocent crew aboard the ship.

While I enjoyed the story, I did get lost a couple of times in the details of putting together this rescue effort. I have no doubt that the pirating that happens off the coast of Somalia is financed illegally for profit, but I got lost in the maze of the underworld.

While I would love to see another book in the series, I am totally OK with the ending of this novel. It gives me hope that Michael might finally be able to have some peace.

If you haven't read any of the Michael Munroe series, I highly recommend them.


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Julie's Review: The Doll

Summary: Information specialist Vanessa Michael Munroe has a reputation for getting things done, often dangerous and not-quite-legal things. Scarred from a life of violence, pursued by her own demons, and as proficient with languages as she is with knives, when a human trafficking ring kidnaps her to transport a high-profile starlet, she’s prepared to destroy those responsible—until she discovers that to save one life, she will condemn the person she loves most. Plunged into an underground world where women and girls are merchandise and a shadowy figure known as The Doll Maker controls her every move, Munroe must choose who lives, who dies, or find a way to outthink and outsmart a man who holds all the cards. In this high-octane thriller for fans of Lee Child, Barry Eisler, and Robert Ludlum's Bourne trilogy, Vanessa Michael Munroe will have to fight fast, smart, and furiously to overcome a dangerous nemesis and deliver her trademark brand of justice. ~powells.com

Review: I love the Monroe series. It always gives me the adrenaline rush I crave. Ms. Stevens always seems to write about a subject matter that creeps me out and yet I find intriguing. She obviously does her research on these subject matters because it's in the details where it can get tricky and she gets it seem probable. The fact that this kind of business exists outside of novels is disheartening.

In The Doll, she looks at the disturbing business of human trafficking. The money that is made from this "business" is disgusting and how it is hidden from authorities is a web of lies and legal businesses.

The Doll is told in two different viewpoints almost simultaneously. This is what I truly loved about this novel. It's what makes it standout from the other two in the series. Monroe is taken down immediately as the book starts, which is when Bradford's narration begins. It then switches Munroe's narration when she is being held hostage. The novel goes back and forth like this until the very end.

In a race against time to protect and save those she loves, Monroe might have to sacrifice an innocent life. This goes against her core being, which is why it is the perfect set up for The Doll Maker. I love this quote early in the novel:

For nine months the rage and violence that had defined so many of her years had finally ebbed, and now those who had no right had come with impunity to rip her out of her new found calm, throwing her into an impossible situation where no matter what she did or what she chose, the end result would be a return to madness.

 ~page 47

Monroe is a lot of things but vicious without reason isn't one of them. Ms. Stevens does a superb job of humanizing    Monroe and not making her a robotic killing machine. She does what needs to be done in unique situations. 

The third in the series left it quite open for Ms. Stevens to take Monroe places where only her skill set will be needed. I can't wait to read what situation she has to resolve next. I am almost sure that at some point Lumani will show up again and I can't wait to see if he's on the good side this time.

The Doll is on sale 6/4/2013 by fine booksellers everywhere.

Final Take: 4.50/5


Thanks to Crown Publishing and Taylor for my ARC copy of the novel.

Jenn's Review: The Informationist

Summary:  Fans of Lee Child's Jack Reacher will love Vanessa Munroe--a resourceful loner who grew up overseas and has combat training, a wry sense of humor, and plenty of sex appeal. Vanessa 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. A Texas oil billionaire hires her to find his daughter who vanished in Africa four years ago. Pulled into the mystery of the missing girl, Munroe finds herself back in the land 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 made her who she is.

Review:  The Informationist is one of those novels that was nearly drowning in hype when it came out. Though I didn’t love it quite as much as Julie, (Julie’s review), I found it to be a compelling, hard-to-put down read.

This book draws heavily on the Taylor Stevens’s knowledge of Africa and her ability to make it come alive. Her unique perspective made it possible to create characters who belonged nowhere; both Munroe and Francisco were adrift because of their minority status in a continent that didn’t consider them native and a Western World where they just didn’t fit in. If anything, I craved more about her characters and less about Africa.

The narrative was fast-paced with lots of close calls and plenty of plot twist. Although I had solved some of the mystery, it was intriguing to watch the characters unravel it and gratifying to be right. By no means had I solved the whole thing though and there were still plenty of surprises to be had.

The biggest draw back for me was that I was unable to connect with Munroe. Her character is reminiscent of Lisbeth Salander in the Millennium Trilogy, but somehow I had a much easier time connecting with Lisbeth than Vanessa Michael Munroe. Both are a product of their horrible childhoods, but Munroe chose the criminal world and Lisbeth was forced into it by circumstances beyond her control. While I’m not saying Munroe deserved what happened to her because of her choices, I think it made it harder for me to understand her. For most of the book, I wouldn’t say I disliked her but I can’t say I enjoyed her character. It isn’t until ¾ of the way through the book when Munroe displays a glimmer of humanity, that I began to find myself drawn to her. I like the idea of her, and now that I’ve warmed up to her a little, I think the second book, The Innocent will be far more enjoyable for me.

Final Take:  4.0/5

Julie's interview with the author, Taylor Stevens

 

Author Interview: Taylor Stevens

Earlier this year I read The Informationist and did a Q&A with Ms. Stevens. Well, she's back with another Munroe book, The Innocent, that I reviewed yesterday. We are lucky enough to have her back to do another Q&A with us.

GJR: In The Informationist, the idea spawned from wanting to highlight certain countries in Africa and The Innocent is somewhat based on personal experience. How were they different to write? Was one easier than the other?

Taylor Stevens (TS): One was definitely faster than the other, but I wouldn’t say that it was necessarily easier. THE INFORMATIONIST took about three years to write, and when it sold, it was as the first in a two-book contract. Problem was, I didn’t have a second book. I so desperately needed the money, and was so terrified that I wouldn’t be able to write a comparable sequel and might have to give money back, that spurred on by fear alone I basically finished THE INNOCENT in six months. The story is straight up fiction, but at the same time, it is as close to an autobiography as I will probably ever write. Hannah’s story and her experiences are emphatically not mine, but in order to write her, I had to return to situations and emotions from my childhood, and in the process had more than one meltdown moment digging up a lot of pain that I hadn’t touched for awhile. So faster, yes. Easier, not so much.

GJR: Were you as familiar with Argentina as you were with Africa? If not, how much research went into understanding Buenos Aries?

TS: I was familiar with Argentina in a sort of passing sense—a lot of my friends grew up there, but I’d never been to South America. I spent a lot of time reading about the country, looking at maps, and talking to people who’d lived there. Once I had the story finished, I made a trip down and basically followed Munroe’s path to be sure that I got things right. I’d nailed a lot of it through research, but I also got a lot wrong—things I just couldn’t know unless I’d been there in person to see it with my own eyes.

GJR: We see Munroe wrestle with her demons via her nightmares in The Innocent. Will she ever fully work through her past? If she gained peace in her life, would it change how she worked?

TS: One thing pointed out to me by readers is that Munroe seems to be, not so much defined by her past, but on a quest to defy it. I find that to be a very apt observation. I don’t know if she will ever truly find peace—not because of the violence that made her what she is, but because of the conscience she bears for the choices she has made since. If and when she does find peace, I expect she will lose a lot of the edge—that borderline insanity that drives her, and should some unfortunate soul push her into using her skill set, she will become even more brutal and calculatingly dangerous than she already is.

GJR: Munroe is just as lethal as ever but she’s able to rein it in when she needs to, do you think this makes her more lethal in some ways because she can control it?

TS: Munroe is definitely growing as a character—much in the same way we as real people grow and change in response to events in our lives. In THE INNOCENT we’re also seeing aspects of her personality that weren’t as clearly on display in THE INFORMATIONIST due to the circumstances she was in.

GJR: Will we see Hannah in a future Munroe novel? I’d like to see how she is dealing with the changes in her life.

TS: At this point, I’m not really sure. Real life has a tendency to be messy and leave a lot open ended, and I tend do that with the lives of the characters in my books, too—we see them as they pass through Munroe’s orbit, but don’t necessarily go home with them to find out how it all ends once her role is finished. But who knows? We’ll have to see how these stories play out down the road.

GJR: How do you feel Twitter has helped you as an author? What is your favorite aspect of being on Twitter? (@Taylor_Stevens)

TS: I use Twitter more on a personal level than in any successful social media marketing sense, so I’m not really sure if Twitter has helped me as an author. One thing for sure, it’s an awesome procrastination tool! I am a big fan of my fans, and Twitter has allowed me to connect and interact with a number of readers that I probably never would have otherwise, and for me that’s a very special thing.

GJR: Was writing The Innocent cathartic for you? Did it help or hinder you that this was as close to an autobiography that you will ever get?

TS: Because there is so much misinformation floating around about my own childhood, as well as The Children of God in general, it was extremely important to me on a personal level to bring this book into the world with all the truth I had to offer. But the problem with truth in fiction is that it can also be very limiting and can box the writer in—it’s far easier to create a high concept story when you can make everything up. This, combined with the very personal nature of the material, made writing THE INNOCENT quite difficult, but I am very happy with the end product. Now when people ask me what it was like growing up in The Children of God, I can simply point to this book and say, “this’ll get you started.”

GJR: I know that there is a third book with Ms. Munroe in it, tentatively titled The Doll. Can you give us a quick synopsis? Will this be the last one?

TS: I really hope THE DOLL is not the last in the Munroe series, but what happens next depends a lot on reader response to THE INNOCENT. Hint, hint. Here’s what I have on my website about THE DOLL: In Dallas, Texas, Vanessa Michael Munroe's close friend, Logan, is violently kidnapped. In broad daylight, Munroe is tranquilized and abducted while Miles Bradford, the man she loves, witnesses the incident and can do nothing to stop it. Tying these threads together is a mysterious figure with an ambiguous past, a man known only as The Doll Maker, who has come to collect on a debt that Munroe must repay. While Bradford races to find her, Munroe is thrust into a world of human trafficking and sexual slavery. To keep Logan alive, she must deliver a missing Hollywood starlet--merchandise and real life doll--but by succeeding she'll guarantee the young girl's demise. Munroe must choose who lives, who dies, or find a way to out-think and out-smart a man who holds all the cards, because otherwise, win or lose, she will pay her dues in the only currency she values: innocent life.

GJR: What is the hardest part of the writing process for you? Is it getting the initial draft done, editing, etc?

TS: Definitely the initial draft. I can’t even begin to describe how painful and difficult and time consuming it is for me to get that initial draft laid down.

GJR: It seems like authors are under an incredible amount of pressure to produce books quickly these days, have you found that to be true? Do you think it’s limited to those debut authors who need to prove themselves?

TS: I’ve never felt pressure from anyone on my publishing team to produce quickly. THE INNOCENT was completed way ahead of schedule, but that was due to my own fear and insecurity—I needed to get it done just to reassure myself that I actually could. If anything, I’ve been told to take my time, and that if I need more to just let them know. I heart my publisher.

Heartfelt thanks to Taylor for taking the time to answer the questions. Now, I just have to waiting patiently for The Doll. In the meantime, if you haven't read The Informationist go buy it and pre-order The Innocent which will be released by Crown Publishing on 12/27/2011.

Julie's Review: The Innocent

Summary: With The Innocent, Taylor Stevens, the bestselling author of The Informationist, returns with another blockbuster thriller featuring the fearless Vanessa Michael Munroe. Eight years ago, a man walked five-year-old Hannah out the front doors of her school and spirited her over the Mexican border, taking her into the world of a cult known as The Chosen. For eight years, followers of The Prophet have hidden the child, moving her from country to country, shielding the man who stole her. Now, those who’ve searched the longest know where to find her. They are childhood survivors of The Chosen, thirty-somethings born and raised inside the cult who’ve managed to make lives for themselves on the outside. They understand the mindset, the culture within that world, and turn to Vanessa Michael Munroe for help, knowing that the only possibility of stealing Hannah back and getting her safely out of Argentina is to trust someone who doesn’t trust them, and get Munroe on the inside. Tautly written, brilliantly paced, and with the same evocation of the exotic combined with chilling violence that made The Informationist such a success, The Innocent confirms Taylor Stevens’ reputation as a thriller writer of the first rank.

Review: The Informationist blew me out of the water when I read it earlier this year and when Ms. Stevens said there was another Munroe book coming; I immediately put it on my list of things to look forward to late in 2011. So, I was thrilled when I received an ARC of The Innocent. The plot was intriguing and while Munroe isn't a ticking time bomb, she definitely has a loose cannon feel to her.

The second novel is more personal than the first because the case is personal. While it might not be about Munroe directly, it does involve someone she cares deeply for perhaps making her take unnecessary risks. From my view point, The Innocent isn't as fast-paced as The Informationist but this isn't a bad thing. It's still action-packed but this time we get a bit deeper into her psyche than previously. Munroe has horrid nightmares. These are so bad for her that she medicates herself to pass out in the hopes that they won't come. The case involves taking a young girl out of a religious sect and bringing her back to her parents that she was stolen from at a young age. This involves a little bit of research and spy-maneuvering to gain access to a group that is typically paranoid. That is unless of course you come flashing some money.

What I love about Munroe is that she is who she is. Is she violent? Yes. Is she cold-hearted? No. Can she be ruthless? Sure, that was what she was trained for. While most of the people that are close to her accept her for what she does and who she is, she doesn't accept herself. She carries around a tremendous amount of guilt for her actions. We definitely learn more about Munroe in this novel but I don't even think we've fully tapped the well of her yet.

I know a lot of comparisons have been made between Munroe and Lisbeth Salander and while there are similarities, they are vastly different as well. I won't go into a dissertation here about it though. I will say that I do love the recent "kick-ass" women that are being written in fiction.

If you haven't discovered Munroe or Ms. Stevens, then I highly suggest for your New Year's Eve reading that you go and buy both The Informationist and The Innocent; they are better than some action movies out there now. I'm definitely looking forward to the next installment of Munroe!

The Innocent will be released on 12/27/2011 by Crown Publishing.


Final Take: 4.5/5

Author Interview: Taylor Stevens

Today, we are so excited to have up & coming author Taylor Stevens to the blog! Her debut novel The Informationist is getting a ton of buzz and it's well deserved. You can find my review here.

GJR: How did the character of Vanessa “Michael” Munroe come to be? Is she based on anyone in particular or an accumulation of people you’ve known?

TS:I wish I could say yes because then having to explain it all would make for such a fascinating answer. But truthfully, the original idea behind writing THE INFORMATIONIST, even before I had characters or a plot, or any idea really of what I would write, was to bring a location—Equatorial Guinea—to life for readers who might never have the chance to visit. The plot itself, the characters, and especially Michael Munroe, chameleon and predator, a woman with her own brand of morality and a take-no-prisoners form of justice, gradually came alive as a result of putting this rather unusual and demanding location into a novel format.

GJR: Africa is so detailed in the book. As a reader, I have a distinct feeling that you are intimately familiar with the country? Did you spend time there in your youth? What made you want to focus on these particular countries?

TS: I had lived in Equatorial Guinea for a little over two years as an adult, and also spent several months in Cameroon, so I was quite familiar with the location. Before moving to Bioko Island (the part of Equatorial Guinea where I lived) I’d already spent a year-and-a-half in East Africa, and had backpacked the 1700 miles from Nairobi, Kenya to Livingstone, Zambia, and up again, so it’s fair to say that I was somewhat familiar with living in and traveling around Africa. But, nothing that I had experienced by that point prepared me for what Equatorial Guinea would be like: a world of its own, the land that time forgot, nestled at the edge of civilization. I was quite affected by my time in Equatorial Guinea, and there was so much to write about, that it was the natural location to set the story.

GJR: Vanessa is so full of rage, anger, hurt and disappointment in the beginning of the novel but by the end she seems to have been able to find some peace. Do you think that she has finally closed the chapter on her youth?

TS: Although I expect that she will grow as a person and lay many of her demons to rest; I don’t think she’ll ever truly close the chapter on where she came from, because so much of who she is today is a result of not only her youthful past, but the resultant paths that past sent her down.

GJR: Vanessa has some powerful men in her company but for me she was more powerful and smarter than all of them. How do you think this affects her ability to gather information? She’s a great master of deception; how do you think this has shaped her psyche? Will she ever be able to fully emotionally connect to another person?

TS: From the beginning, when writing Munroe, I never viewed her in terms of strong or weak, good or evil, or even, in a sense, male or female, she just always “was” based on the life she’d lived. For her, indifference is as much a matter of survival as her knife skills because when she feels, she feels completely and deeply. She is truly a brilliant mind, and although her logic and her own awareness of her ability often do get in the way of connecting with others, it’s on a logical level—by choice—and not because she’s emotionally incapable of connecting. When she does connect, she does so fully and consciously knowing that in her line of work, there will inevitably be a price to pay for it.

GJR: Vanessa is a survivalist, yet her youth seemed very much of her choosing. How do you think her youth shaped who she became?

TS: There are elements of her personality that were there from the beginning: the insight into what made people tick, the fierce independence, the ability to see many moves in advance, and of course the savant-like language ability—these were who she was from the beginning. And then life intervened to take what was there, and transform her ability into something much more dangerous. There was at first the brutal violence, followed by fleeing Africa and trying to adapt to a completely foreign world that forged the other aspects of her personality. Combined like two halves, these separate pieces make up the whole of who she is today.

GJR: If the novel was to be made into a movie, do you have anyone in mind to play Vanessa, Miles, Kate, Francisco, Emily and Richard?

TS: Having books turned into film is such a crapshoot, and the odds so daunting, that this is one of those questions I’m afraid to answer for fear of jinxing the very, very minute possibility that THE INFORMATIONIST would be turned into a movie.

Julie's Note: If I won the lottery I would figure out how to gt this movie made.

GJR: What are you currently reading? Any favorite authors or books you return to time after time?

TS: I’m still so sorely under-read from the decades of literary deprivation that I haven’t had a chance to truly pick favorites. I am a big fan of humor, though, so I have a read a number of Christopher Moore’s and Carl Hiaasen’s books and thoroughly enjoyed them.

GJR: What makes you motivated to write? How do you avoid the dreaded writer’s block? How do you overcome writer’s block?

TS: Ultimately I’m motivated to write because I have no plan B—no other career to fall back on, no other way to pay the bills. Because of that, writing is my job and so even though I don’t have a boss or any immediate threat if I choose not to “go to work” on a particular day, I still have to treat writing as if I did. When I am working on a book, I am at my computer every weekday, and often on weekends, with very demanding production goals. I also face writers block every single day, and in response, every single day I will sit at the computer and just write until I have something to work with. It might not be much, but sometimes all that’s needed is a few sentences for the rest to build upon. I won’t kid you though, writing is not fun. It’s the “having written” part that is fun.

GJR: The ending of The Informationist pretty much guarantees a sequel. Can you give us a glimpse of what Vanessa is up to next? Any idea when it will be released?

TS: THE INNOCENT, the second installment in the Michael Munroe series, which will be released on December 27th, draws heavily on my childhood of having been raised within The Children of God. Although the story is fiction, it’s based on truth and probably the closest I’ll ever get to writing an autobiography—and I’m currently working on the third Munroe installment. (You can pre-order it on amazon.com. I already did).

GJR: When you write, do you have to have background noise or total quiet? Has this changed as you’ve developed as a writer?

TS: It kind of varies day to day between silence and music. I can write with background noise, but not with background chaos, which is why I generally have to work around my children’s schedule. I consider their school hours to be my work hours, although in terms of production this isn’t the most ideal. My greatest creative time is late, late at night and into the wee morning, but because I have to be up early to get the kids ready for school, I’m rarely able to access those hours.

A HUGE thanks to Taylor Stevens for taking time out of her schedule (she's on deadline) to answer our questions.

For further information on her you can find her on
Facebook, Twitter: @taylor_stevens and her personal website Taylor Stevens

Julie's Review: The Informationist

Summary: 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. ~amazon.com

Review: The Informationist is a high octane thriller that dives into the jungle of Africa. We are quickly introduced to Vanessa "Michael" Munroe who is gutsy, courageous and deadly. I found her utterly fascinating. She is complex and yet there is something under her surface that screams vulnerability to me. She hasn't had an easy life but it's the life she's chosen.

Vanessa is the best at what she does and she knows it. She demands a high price for her job - information gathering. She can get information that others can not about remote parts of the world. She is hired through her intermediary, Kate Breeden, to look for oil magnate Richard Burbank's missing daughter. She disappeared 4 years prior in the remote areas of Africa, without further contact. Vanessa takes the job knowing that is will bring back haunting memories of her youth in Africa. Even perhaps, that she won't come back at all.

I loved this book! I loved how Ms. Stevens peeled back the layers of Vanessa like an onion; slowly revealing what was at her her core. She was ruthless, angry and a vigilante. She has shut her self down to all emotion to be the best at her job. Emotions only cloud the job that is to be done and she can't afford any mistakes.

I loved the setting of the novel. Now Africa settings are not anything new in books, but Ms. Stevens takes us to countries that we have heard of but don't know much about. These countries have politics that would put the U.S. to shame. Coups happen at the drop of a hat and you never know who to trust.

The novel takes us on quite the roller coaster ride and it's one I didn't want to get off. By the end of the novel you completely understand who Vanessa and the things that motivate her to survive. As a reader, you might not always agree with her decisions but you always understand the survivalist in her.

Ms. Stevens wrote Africa's jungles and politics with such ease that I understood them very quickly. It's obvious that she has first hand knowledge/experience in these remote areas of this expansive country.

It's obvious by the ending that we will be seeing Vanessa again and I can't wait! It will definitely be a pre-order for me.

Run out and read this. You won't regret it!

Final Take: 4.75/5

Note: I could definitely see this as a movie but all I am asking is that Angelina Jolie isn't casted as Vanessa.