The Sleeping Doll - by Jeffrey Deaver

Most widely known for his novel The Bone Collector which was turned into a movie several years ago, Jeffrey Deaver actually has an entire series of novels based around Lincoln Rhymes. This is not one of those. The Sleeping Doll is the first in his new series about a different kind of detective. He first introduced us to Katherine Dance in one of the Lincoln Rhymes novels and now has sent her back home to California to star in her own series of novels. Katherine Dance is a kinesics expert; a human lie detector who reads body language.

This story is about Katherine's search to apprehend an escaped convict/ cult type leader who has managed to fake evidence that he was involved in yet another murder in order to arrange his escape. The book takes place over the course of a week and during that time we meet several interesting characters, not the least of which is Daniel Pell himself. We get a unique insight into the mind of The Pied Piper, as well as into the type of women who will follow him blindly.

Of course there are many twists and turns as it seems Katherine will finally catch him only to to be just a few minutes too late. And then there is Winston, another FBI agent aiding Katherine, but is he who he seems to be? And what's up with Katherine's boss who always seems to give out just a little too much information to the press. And then there is the "Sleeping Doll" herself, a 17 year old girl who was the only one in her family to escape the murderous Daniel Pell 10 years previous. How does she fit in? And why is Daniel Pell sticking around the Monterrey area when everyone is looking for him, instead of trying to get as far away as possible.

All in all the book was a good read, although about 100 pages and 2 twists too long. At times it almost seemed formulaic... sorry Mr Deaver but we've been down that rabbit trail before, must we go there again?