Tag: Hilary Huber

The Mask (Audiobook) by Taylor Stevens, Hilary Huber

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On July 24, 2017

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

The MaskThe Mask

by Taylor Stevens, Hillary Huber (Narrator)
Series: Vanessa Michael Munroe, #5

Unabridged Audiobook, 13 hrs., 54 min.
Random House Audio, 2015
Read: June 1 – 6, 2017


I spent a lot of time being annoyed with Michael in this novel — more time being annoyed with Miles, however. Well, that’s not true — events keep Miles off of the board for most of the book, so let me say that I spent more time annoyed with him while he active. I get that communication is hard for them, and I guess it was good to see that Miles was human, too — even his ability to understand Michael’s needs and desires has limits.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

So Michael’s got her head on right after The Catch and goes to join Miles in Japan. He’s there in a strange corporate security consulting gig that he really won’t clue her in on. They spend a few months together, him working days and her trying not to get bored and learning Japanese. The latter of those two works a whole lot better than the former. She needs something to do — and not in the “I’ve gotta kill someone or take drugs” kind of way she did back in The Vessel. She just needs something to occupy her time while he’s putting in 15 hour days. Which isn’t dong their relationship any good. Before she can have it out with him, he gets arrested for murdering someone at the tech company he’s working for. If she had tried to talk, if he’d explained himself a little better — if they had communicated at all . . . so much of this novel wouldn’t have happened. Too many books/movies/TV shows rely on this poor interpersonal communication to force plots forward, it really gets on my nerves.

First, we get a little lesson in Japanese jurisprudence, which by itself was enough to convince me that I don’t want to end up arrested in Japan (not that I really want to be arrested anywhere). Then Michael goes to work to clear his name, no one else is going to. The hoops she has to jump through make her previous adventures seem easy — sure, she was in more peril in most of the previous books, but it seemed easier for her to get around and get the information she wanted. Cultural and corporate protocols are tougher to beat by bribery, sensuality and violence than other things, I guess. Throw in some underworld figures and you’ve got yourself a thriller worthy of Monroe. I really enjoyed this story once Miles got arrested and things got moving — Stevens is getting better at plot intricacies.

There’s a great corporate espionage plot throughout with an operative that could probably sustain her own novel if Stevens ever got around to it. I’m not sure I can say more than that without messing something up. But as despicable as I find (some of) her methods, they made for good reading.

About the time that I’d given up on Michael doing more than outwitting her opponents, she got sucked into a very violent confrontation. I didn’t spend a second thinking that she was in trouble, but man, she had to work hard to eliminate these guys. There’s that scene in The Vessel where Stevens cuts away from the action, and we don’t get to see Michael kill her captives, we just know she’s about to do something and then Miles comes along later and finds the aftermath. This fight scene was probably pretty similar to that — but there’s no cut. We get the whole thing.

I should take a moment to talk about Hilary Huber, but I can’t say anything about her narration than I’ve said before. Now that I’m caught up with these, I’m going to have to track down some other books that she’s narrated.

I never expected a happily ever after scenario between Michael and Miles — but I expected something better than this (not that this is in any way, shape or form the end of their relationship), and that took some of the shine off this book for me. Otherwise, this was very entertaining, gripping, and so on — a Michael Monroe thriller that tops its predecessors, and deepens our understanding of Michael. Not much more to ask.

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3.5 Stars

The Catch (Audiobook) by Taylor Stevens, Hilary Huber

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On May 9, 2017

In Audiobook, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

The CatchThe Catch (Audiobook)

by Taylor Stevens, Hillary Huber (Narrator)
Series: Vanessa Michael Munroe, #4

Unabridged Audiobook, 13 hrs., 35 min.
Random House Audio, 2014

Read: April 4 – 10, 2017


After the events of The Doll, Michael had to hit the road. She bounced around a little, before landing in Djibouti — doing some small time work for a security company. She’s forced into working guard duty on a ship bound for Kenya — which turns out to be a gun-smuggling vessel that’s attacked by Somali pirates. Michael being Michael, after determining that she couldn’t prevail on her own, she gets off the boat, taking the captain with her.

This sets her off on a solo adventure — she makes phone contact with Miles a couple of times, briefly, but he’s really not a factor here. It’s Michael, her wits, her skills and a couple of allies she makes along the way that will try to rescue the ship, her fellow guards and the captain from the pirates and a crew of Russians with an unhealthy focus on the captain.

This novel pushes Michael to her physical limits — but pretty much leaves her psychologically undamaged. She has to prove herself to both herself and her allies here. She doesn’t have the resources she usually has, she doesn’t have the backup readers are used to her having, and she’s more out of her depth than usual (she almost seemed more in control of things in as a captive in The Doll).

I really enjoyed this — knowing that Miles wasn’t going to be in this too much, I wasn’t as interested as I could’ve been (I didn’t realize how much of a draw he was for me). But Michael on her own actually worked for me — and I liked seeing her having to scramble to survive.

Huber did a great job as usual — handling several accents with (seeming, I’m sure) ease, while maintaining both the emotions of Michael and the tension and suspense of the novel’s action.

Another satisfying entry in the series.

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3 Stars

The Doll (Audiobook) by Taylor Stevens, Hilary Huber

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On March 8, 2017

In Audiobook, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

This post was supposed to go up this morning, but I thought of a point or two I wanted to add. So during my morning break, I pulled it up on my app and the post vanished. Well, not the whole post — the tags, categories, and headline stuck around — but the actual content vanished. Thankfully, I don’t compose in WordPress, so I didn’t lose that much, just some minor tweaks. But still — any one else ever have this trouble with their app?
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The Doll (Audiobook) The Doll (Audiobook)

by Taylor Stevens, Hillary Huber (Narrator)
Series: Vanessa Michael Munroe, #3

Unabridged Audiobook, 13 hrs., 47 min.
Random House Audio, 2013
Read: February 17 – 24, 2016


The novel starts with Miles Bradford witnessing Vanessa Michael Munroe being kidnapped — and in a most impressive way. He mobilizes he members of his private security team in town and begin looking for her — and Logan — immediately. Miles assumes (correctly) that if the object was to hurt Michael, he and Logan would be the top candidates to join here. If she’s being kidnapped to do a job, Logan would be the ideal candidate for a hostage — as long as someone has him, Michael will do whatever it takes to keep him alive. Ergo, since he knows Michael’s out of the country, but he’s not sure where, the best thing he can do is to free Logan from whoever took him, eliminating the leverage they have over Michael.

Meanwhile, Michael wakes up somewhere in Europe where she’s presented with this simple choice: do a job for this man she recognizes as The Dollmaker — or he’ll have Logan killed (and he threatens to do similar things to others Michael cares about). The job is to deliver a young woman into a life of sex slavery and torture. This particular young woman is a rising movie star who’s gone missing — the surrounding publicity makes her one of the best known faces in the wold. She needs transported over a few European borders without being seen or injured in any way. Doing this will repay a debt to The Dollmaker that Michael incurred in a previous case.

Just typing that makes it sound like Michael’s a monster for even considering delivering Neeva — and she certainly thinks so — but in the context, Michael can’t seem to do anything better (although she does hope that Logan will be rescued, giving her the opportunity to save Neeva). Michael also knows that no matter what happens, she and Logan are dead as soon as the girl is delivered (barring a successful rescue). Most of the book is a compelling race against the clock, followed by Michael’s hunt for revenge.

This is the first time that we really get to see Bradford’s operation outside of just him — I’d enjoy a novel or two about he and his team without Michael, I must say. The best parts of this book involve Miles and his team doing their thing.

Huber did a great job, as per usual — I honestly can’t think of anything to say about her work that I haven’t said before. Neeva frequently sounded like Anna Faris to me — which helped solidify the character. There is one thing that I’ve meant to say since the last book and forgot about until this instance — there’s a playfulness that creeps into Huber’s voice as Michael prepares to do something violent. I love that little touch. It says so much about the character (and I hope Stevens agrees with what it says) — it also speaks volumes about Huber’s attention to nuance.

A gripping tale — with some of my favorite moments in the series — even if I found some character choices hard to believe/stomach. With plenty of callbacks to earlier books to cement this in Michael’s story. Still, another good entry for Stevens, Huber and Munroe.

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3.5 Stars

The Innocent (Audiobook) by Taylor Stevens, Hilary Huber

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On February 1, 2017

In Audiobook, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

The Innocent (Audiobook) The Innocent

by Taylor Stevens, Hillary Huber (Narrator)
Series: Vanessa Michael Munroe, #2

Unabridged Audiobook, 12 hrs, 30 min.
Random House Audio, 2011
Read: January 23 – 30, 2016


Michael Monroe’s best friend and most trusted ally, Logan needs help — he was raised by a cult as were most of his close friends, and despite being free of them for all of his adult life, he’s not been able to truly put The Chosen behind him. His friend, Charity, is possibly the only one closer to him than Michael, she grew up in the same cult and also left when she was old enough to make it on her own. Eight years before this book, her daughter was kidnapped by a member of The Chosen and taken somewhere to South America . Now, after years of searching, and her being moved from location to location, they have located her. There’s only one person that Logan trusts to bring Hannah home.

Locating one girl in the city of Buenos Aires is no easy feat. Extricating he from a controlling atmosphere without harming anyone isn’t much easier. Getting her out of the country and back into the US? More difficult yet. Throw in some donors and allies to The Chosen that aren’t who you’d expect — and aren’t nearly as pacifistic as the cultists — and you’ve got yourself a thriller.

Ever since the events of The Informationist, some months earlier, Michael’s been haunted by the deaths she’s caused — and is experiencing some kind of night terrors that keeps her chasing danger. Her own subconscious might be the biggest opponent that Michael has to deal with.

Frankly, for the first third or so (probably less), I had to force myself to stay with it, trusting that Stevens knew what she was doing — the way that Michael’s internal conflict was presented — as well as the way that Logan approached things, just didn’t work for me. I’m not sure if it was the way Stevens wrote the problems/solutions. But it wasn’t until the Michael got to Argentina that things really got me interested.

Hubner’s narration was capable and engaging — it wasn’t dazzling, but it delivered everything you want.

Despite a rocky start, once things got moving, this proved to be another satisfying thriller with Michael Monroe — and demonstrates what this series can be. I’ll be back for more soon.

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3 Stars

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