The Informationist, by Taylor Stevens

Vanessa Michael Munroe is not a spy, not a former agent, not special forces, not a soldier, but she has the skills and the attitude that could combine all of the above.  She is an informationist.  For a price, she can go into any environment to get information you need.  In The Informationist, Taylor Stevens's debut novel about Munroe, the informationist is hired by a Texas oil billionaire to find his daughter, a task at which legions of spies, agents, and retired special forces have failed.  It's a simple assignment: she's somewhere on the continent of Africa, so go find her!  Oh, and by the way, I'll pay you five million dollars.

Stevens pushes along an exciting story, and Munroe is an interesting, if ultimately unbelievable, character.  But there are just too many chance meetings and coincidences for me to embrace the story.  On the continent of Africa, what are the chances that Munroe's old friend knows exactly where the lost girl is?  Pretty good, in this world.  It reminded me a little of Star Trek, where there's this entire planet, but all the action takes place in what seems to be one tiny village, where they happen to beam down to.

And then there's Munroe; she's almost too much.  She speaks dozens of languages, has some undefined yet deadly martial arts and knife fighting skills, bordering on superpowers.  She blends into any crowd and can easily pass for a man or a woman, yet men find her irresistible.  (Given Munroe's sexuality, and tendency to flirt and go to bed with a variety of men, you would have thought she was created from a male fantasy.  But Stevens is a woman.  I'm not sure what to make of that.  I'm probably a sexist pig.)

So the story's too nice and neat, the main character is not realistic, but I still kept listening to the end (I checked out the audio book from the library).  There was something compelling about The Informationist, and I wanted to know how the convoluted connections and betrayals would all work out.  It's not a great book, but it was enough fun to listen to that I checked out the sequel to listen to next. . . .