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Synopsis

Special Agent Kathryn Dance — introduced in The Cold Moon — stars in the latest thriller from New York Times bestselling author Jeffery Deaver. When Special Agent Kathryn Dance is sent to interrogate the convicted killer Daniel “Son of Manson” Pell as a suspect in a newly unearthed crime, she feels both trepidation and electrifying intrigue. Pell is serving a life sentence for brutal murders years earlier that mirrored those perpetrated by Charles Manson in the 1960s. But Pell and his cult members left behind a survivor who — because she was in bed hidden by her toys — was dubbed the Sleeping Doll. Pell has long been both reticent and unrepentant about the crime. But Dance sees an opportunity to pry a confession from him for the recent murder — and to learn more about the depraved mind of this career criminal. But when Dance’s plan goes terribly wrong and Pell escapes, leaving behind a trail of dead and injured, she finds herself in charge of her first manhunt. As the idyllic Monterey Peninsula is paralyzed by the elusive killer, Dance turns to the past to find the truth about what Daniel Pell is really up to. She tracks down the now-teenage Sleeping Doll to learn what really happened that night, and arranges a reunion of three women who were in his cult at the time of the killings. The lies of the past and the evasions of the present boil up under the relentless probing of Kathryn Dance, but will the truth about Daniel Pell emerge in time to stop him from killing again?

THE SLEEPING DOLL

By

Jeffery Deaver

The first book in the Kathryn Dance series

Copyright © 2007 by Jeffery Deaver

The Boxer Copyright © 1968 Paul Simon

Used by permission of the publisher: Paul Simon Music

For the G Man

After changes upon changes, we are more or less the same. After changes we are more or less the same.
— Paul Simon, “The Boxer”

SEPTEMBER 13, 1999

‘SON OF MANSON’ FOUND GUILTY IN CROYTON FAMILY MURDERS

SALINAS, CALIFORNIA — Daniel Raymond Pell, 35, was convicted today on four counts of first-degree murder and one count of manslaughter by a Monterey County jury after only five hours of deliberations.

“Justice has been done,” lead prosecutor James J. Reynolds told reporters after the verdict was announced. “This is an extremely dangerous man, who committed horrendous crimes.”

Pell became known as the “Son of Manson” because of the parallels between his life and that of convicted murderer Charles Manson, who in 1969 was responsible for the ritualistic slayings of the actress Sharon Tate and several other individuals in Southern California. Police found many books and articles about Manson in Pell’s house following his arrest.