The Informationist

A Thriller

By: Taylor Stevens

Narrated by: Hillary Huber

Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

Vanessa “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.

©2011 Taylor Stevens (P)2011 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“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)

Hardly a thriller...predictable from the outset

No comparison to Lisbeth Sander's complex character, nor story. Morgan, and the story are both predictable and lame. The reader made the story read like a romance novel rather than a thriller...I listened at double speed just to slog through.

it should be called "The Somnambulist"

I took this book based on its blazing review; all the elements of a good yarn were there - the gun for hire, the mystery of the missing daughter of a wealthy industrialist, the deadly African jungle. Instead I got a deadpan drone about a character that killed me with boredom. I havent slept so well in ages!

Maybe women will like this

I was so annoyed by this book. The lead character was a tough as nails girl who had no feminine side at all, unless it was to take advantage of some nitwit man who, of course, has no control over her wiles. The men in this story are wimps compared to her and written as subjects to her will. One male character was written as a ruthless drug dealer who is mush when it comes to his unbelievable heart driven love for her that seems to be based on the fact she can kill better than he can. This story was ridiculous on more levels than that though. I guess a woman who wants a break from her romance novels and an entry into an action book might get it. Not me.

What information?

The main character is an Angelina Jolie, kick-butt, type, which is okay but the whole thing came off as forced. Trying too hard. A different narrator may have made the story better but even the story itself didn't hold water for me. The romance between the main character and her mentor falls flat, the terrible accent of the narrator plus the monotone she uses made this hard to finish. By the end, I didn't care what happened to the person they were searching for.

Boring

For a thriller it was very hard to keep interested. The recording was very monotone and slow.

Big Disappointment

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Within the first two hours it was apparent that this is not an original concept. It feels too much like the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series; the story line is very similar. The book is a big disappointment.

Meh

I thought this was poorly written and the narrator was awful. I was very disappointed with it all.

Couldn't Continue

--Voice--the narrator's voice was affected and pretentious. It didn't fit the story, as much as I could bear to listen to.

--I admit I didn't last more than about 20 minutes into the story, because of the narration. But the content was full of cliches and trite statements. Nothing at all seemed real. I just kept thinking, "this is so pretentious and fake that I can't keep going".

Don`t Waste your time

This is a total forgettable book, just finish, hate it, can`t even remember why ahhhh
waste of credits!

What can I say that hasn't been said?

After re-reading the reviews for this book, I can now see where I went wrong in choosing to listen to it. If the reviews seem overly harsh, I tend to think people are just being haters. Most of the time I can really get into books that others have a hard time with. (Once and Future King, Satanic Verses, Xenocide....) This was a completely different situation. The reviews are true. But I wanted to give it a fair shot, so I listened all the way through. Here's what I found:

The main character has been likened to Lizbeth Salander. This is far from accurate. While she is pretty extraordinary, she lacks the personality that it would require for someone to be that awesome. Someone can not speak 20 different languages and also have social skills. That's part of the appeal of Lizbeth Salander. She is obviously flawed, yet wonderfully complex. The author obviously didn't take the time to research actual people who have the skill set of the character she wrote.

The story line isn't that bad. It ebbs and flows. Some parts are stronger than others. I think it's a good attempt and I'm sure the author will produce better work as she gains experience.

As I do with most authors that I read, I looked into the background of Taylor Stevens. She had a very interesting and kind of rough childhood. She grew up in a cult. I have a similar background, so I can see exactly where she's coming from. In the environment she was familiar with, you gain some great survival skills, but you miss out on some very specific life skills. This shows through in this book. I have a feeling that she has greatness in her, but she's still learning how to tap into it.