The Sleeping Doll

A Novel

By: Jeffery Deaver

Narrated by: Anne Twomey

Length: 15 hrs and 40 mins

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)

The Sleeping Doll

This is a good book and you will enjoy the story. It will hold your interest to the end but it was long as Jeffery Deaver's books tend to be. I recommend this book.

Intelligent

Fantastic Book! Delivers quite an entertaining as well as educational experience. Very real, an intelligent read.

I have listened too almost all of his book

Have listened too most all of his books. I always know that everyone of them will be great.
His books are full of action and suspense. I’m always on the edge of my chair and find that it’s hard to put the book down.

A decent listen

I've listened to a couple of Jeffrey Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme novels and have always found them better to read than to listen to. I enjoyed The Sleeping Doll more than his previous books and he did a good job of fleshing out the main characters. There were times I thought the story was tedious - the constant references to other people's body language got on my nerves (I get it - she's an expert in kinesics and I don't need an explanation for every gesture a character makes). I also though the story grew tedious at times when the author would wallow in the details of everything the characters were doing (she went home, she cooked dinner, etc.) and it seemed to slow the action. Overall, not my favorite audiobook but certainly not my least favorite either. I would call it average.

Read It or Listen To It

This is the first Kathryn Dance book, a character introduced in in a previous Lincoln Rhyme novel. She is an expert at kinesics — body language. She is employed by a state version of the FBI specializing in interrogation and interviewing witnesses and suspects. When a dangerous killer escapes after a jailhouse interview by Dance, she is drawn into the distorted and insane world of a cult killer, Daniel Pell. Pell was called Son of Manson by the prosecutor. On so many levels the book "works." It works because it draws you into a world not your own and makes you care about the characters and wonder what is around the corner that only a turn of the page will reveal. I have only one misgiving about the book. It would have worked as well, perhaps better, had it ended a hundred pages before it did. There was a perfect ending diluted by yet several more unnecessary plot twists. This is a minor flaw in my humble opinion. On the whole, read it, listen to it and enjoy!

not much action

Boy if my maiden name wasn't McCoy and I didn't live in San Jose I would have said this book was a snoozer. The book stops at a lot of bay area towns that I can visualize but not sure that other people would be interested in and I didn't think the towns added much to the story.

too much psychobabble

Story is pretty good .. characters are pretty real ... but all the "insight" into the mind of this "expert" just made the book drag on hour beyond what could have/should have been the end.

Depth of Characters & Great twists of Plot

The main character has a real life (kids, parents, home) adding depth her persona as the hunt for the serial killer, Pell, unfolds. There are thoughtful twists... A To B ... to X. Deaver is a great writer.

The narration was enjoyable, well done, with good voicing of Characters.

Excellent and entertaining

Outstanding story and narration. You do not want to stop listening. Thoroughly enjoyed - one of the best from Jeffery Deaver.

Great listen!

What did you love best about The Sleeping Doll?

Twists and turns. One of the best thrillers in a long time! Highly recommend.