The Catch: A Vanessa Michael Munroe Novel

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
—
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.