Review: The Catch by Taylor Stevens

A Mysterious Review of The Catch by Taylor Stevens.

Review summary: There is a nice balance of action and intrigue in this thriller, and the pacing throughout is nearly ideal. The uncertainty of what might happen next makes for an intense and exciting journey. New readers to the series will likely be going back to earlier books to learn more about this most remarkable lead character. (Click here for text of full review.)

Our rating:

The Catch
Taylor Stevens
Crown (July 2014)

Publisher synopsis: 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.