• The Sleeping Doll

  • A Novel
  • By: Jeffery Deaver
  • Narrated by: Anne Twomey
  • Length: 15 hrs and 40 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (1,475 ratings)

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The Sleeping Doll  By  cover art

The Sleeping Doll

By: Jeffery Deaver
Narrated by: Anne Twomey
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Publisher's summary

Ten years ago in California, Daniel Pell, a self-styled Charles Manson, was sentenced to life in prison for murdering an entire family: husband, wife, and two children, plus one of his young male followers. He is brought to Salinas, California, to interview with Kathryn Dance after he is implicated in yet another killing.

Things go terribly wrong during an interview break, and Pell, after badly injuring Dance's fellow California Bureau of Investigation agent and murdering several bystanders, escapes. The murder was just one of his many schemes to allow him to travel outside of his high-security prison - and to continue to kill on the outside.

It's up to Dance, aided by her CBI partners, a Monterey County detective, and a brilliant FBI agent specializing in cult mentality, to stop him before he kills again. Hungry on his trail, Dance enlists three of Pell's former female followers, now raising families and leading normal lives, as well as the one surviving family member from the initial killing. Only eight years old at the time, she was asleep in her bed and obscured by her toys and stuffed animals, prompting the press to call her "The Sleeping Doll". Now 18, this girl may have essential clues about Pell.

©2007 Jeffery Deaver. All rights reserved (P)2007 Simon and Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"Deaver digs into his bottomless bag of unexpected twists and turns, keeping readers wide-eyed with surprise, and leaving them looking forward to more of the perspicacious Dance." ( Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about The Sleeping Doll

Average customer ratings
Overall
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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

The sleeping listener

the basic premise of the story had a lot of potential but there was way too much plodding drival about the main character that had nothing to do with the story. There were also a lot of subplots that never really came together and just distracted from the main plot.
Overall, a lot of slowness!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Definitely worth your time!

I almost bypassed this novel altogether because I listened to Roadside Crosses first and was totally turned off by the narrator. Figuring Deaver deserved a second chance, I was pleasantly surprised (and relieved) that Ann Twomey is a talented reader. (Let's face it folks, the narrator can make or break the listening experience.)
The Sleeping Doll has well-rounded, interesting characters, and Deaver provides enough detail to keep his reader informed, yet wondering. A good combination, in my opinion; I don't need to be "invested" in the characters to like them or hate them. This novel offers an entertaining, fast-paced plot, and gets an all-around thumbs-up.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Sleeping Doll

awesome, I could not stop listening, everytime I thought it was end , anther twist came along, I cannot get enough of this author,, congrats!
5 stars

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

Unlike his other books this one failed to develop three-dimensional characters. The story line eventually gripped me but I never became invested in any of the characters.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Not Deaver's best work

This book doesn't stand up to the same level of writing as his other books and I felt Kathryn Dance works much better as a secondary character in the Rhyme series. Also the narrator lulled me to sleep at times.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Sleeping doll

This book was read very well and gave more feeling to text than any other reading I can recall. The plot was so compelling and the twists and turns were surprising and unpredictable. I really enjoyed it and hope to get more of the same.

Dennis H Rathmann

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Good Book

This was my first book by this author. I really enjoyed and will try additional book by this author in the future.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great audio

Great book and well worth listening too! Lots of twists and turns to the story.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

The Sleeping Doll

Fabulous and exciting as usual! I'm so glad to see Dance is back! Twists and turns and twists and turns. Guaranteed to make you "drive around the block" so you can hear more!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Better Than Rhyme!

This was an outstanding book full of sneaky plot twists and smart dialogue. Hopefully, Mr. Deaver will focus more attention on Katherine Dance and her gift for kinesics discernment. I know Lincoln Rhyme is an great character with his intellectual gifts and physical limitations, but none of the novels dedicated to him have been as good as this one. I applaud Jeffrey Deaver for a well researched and well written novel.

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