Vanessa Michael Munroe arrives in Japan, to be picked up at the airport by Miles Bradford, a close friend. She is recovering from a brutal attack that almost killed her during a job that did not go well. She is living with Bradford, trying to regain her equilibrium, while he’s working as a security consultant at a high-tech firm trying to uncover who within the firm is sharing information with other companies.

Munroe is using her time to pick up Japanese and explore, which she does on her motorcycle while Bradford is at the office, but she is getting antsy and wants something to do. She asks him if she can work with him, but he keeps her away from the office as much as possible. The one time she goes there, he insists that she wear her most feminine clothes and introduces her around. Not long after her visit, there are two murders at the company.

The book is divided into two parts, the days leading up to and then after the murders. When Bradford is arrested and charged as the murderer, Munroe takes over his job as a way of finding the truth and getting him out of prison.

V. M. Munroe is meant to be another Lisbeth Salander from Stieg Larsson's Millenium series. They share high level technology skills and fighting skills that defy human physiology, and both learned their trade despite the physical and psychological damage they experienced while coming of age. Munroe and Salander have few relationships, and the ones they have are hopelessly complicated. And neither is afraid of breaking the law if that is what is needed to get the job done. Munroe, however, does her work out in the open, and she can get away with this by sometimes presenting as a woman (Vanessa) and sometimes as a man (Michael).

The Mask is the 5th book of the Vanessa Michael Munroe series by Taylor Stevens. I had not read any of the books leading up to this one, so I didn't know the backstory of Munroe or the other characters, but Stevens provides enough information to flush Munroe out as a character and to pique my interest in the series.

The biggest flaw of the book is the writing. Up until the second part of the book after the murders, it was difficult to relax into the reading, because it seems that every sentence, every paragraph is written with overly stylistic structure and vocabulary so different from the everyday that it kept me on edge, and not in a good way. "With perfect twenty-twenty hindsight, when it was too late to really matter, she'd pin the discomfort down to the muted screams of instinct, that sixth sense of animal knowledge trying to tell her that her other senses were lying, that this was more than what it seemed."
- Taylor Stevens, The Mask

There were also too many overt references to the dark future for the main characters, as if the reader weren’t smart enough to know that in this type of book things would go wonky and become dangerous. I found the future references at the end of each of the early chapters annoying as they disrupted the flow of the narrative and served to give the reader a chance to just put the book down rather than as a hook to keep the reader engaged.

In fact, these two issues, the convoluted sentences and clumsy foreshadowing, were not in the second part of the book, and this stylistic change made it seem that the first and second parts of the book had different authors.

I enjoyed reading how Munroe navigated the complexity of Japanese work culture, corporate espionage, and intermingling of the law and underworld, and how she made it out in one piece. There was a good balance of fast-paced action and violence with slower scenes of planning and watching, allowing the reader to take a breath occasionally. Despite the writing flaws, this book would appeal to anyone who wants their hero to be a woman who can fight and think but not wear a cape.


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I wish this series had ended better. This wasn't really bad but I remember the other books being better. I felt this was unnecessarily drawn out, repetitive and sometimes, unclear on what the character is thinking about but the author seems to think the reader will understand. It took me almost 5 days to get through this and for me, that is a long time for a "fun" book. I'm giving this a 3 because of how I enjoyed most of the books in the series and how Michael was pretty awesome in this book when she got to be her usual decisive self. ( )

I started this book and simply could not put it down!!! I like the fast pace the books keeps through out, I love the characters, I love the mystery. Mr. Stevens is a wonderful writer and I can not wait to read something else from him. Thanks so much for letting me into these characters lives!! ( )

4/5 stars
The Mask
by Taylor Stevens
Publisher: Crown
Published: June 30th 2015

Vanessa Michael Munroe is at it again in The Mask. After a rather disastrous adventure in Somali, Munroe finds herself in Japan with her boyfriend Miles Bradford. While Munroe adjusts to a rather mundane routine, Bradford works as a security consultant for some extremely high-value technology. However, when Bradford is arrested for murder, Munroe finds herself dead center in another throng of mishaps. How far is she willing to go to save him while learning how much he has lied to her? Is Munroe prepared to kill in order to save the man who has just stabbed her in the back?

This is the very first Taylor Stevens book that I have picked up. I did not do the research and was unaware that this was book number 5 in the series. I'll start by saying that I felt like I was thrown into a mix of characters that I had zero background information on. I felt a little lost and out of place at times but this is definitely not the author's fault. That being said, I absolutely love the main character. Munroe is a fierce woman who can apparently pass as both a man and a woman. (I'm looking forward to starting this series from the very beginning) I love how strong and self motivated this character is. I felt as though I didn't get to know enough about Bradford but again, more reason to start this series from book #1.

The Mask is a thrilling, fast paced story with plenty of plot twists that will leave your head spinning. I quite enjoy Stevens' style of writing which makes the book smooth and easy to follow. I can easily say that even though I have not read the others books in this series, I am looking forward to getting to know Munroe's character better. ( )

Now You See Me, Now You Don’t

Vanessa Michael Munroe is a fasinating character. She has skills a lot of us wished we had. Meeting her lover at the airport, spending a few days in a lovers daydream, she gets restless for work and asks her man to take her to work with him, but he refuses, until he finally gives in. Then without notice, her man is arrested for murder. Now, is the process of finding out just what is going on. Everything he had shown her she would need again and the question that would burn her in weeks to come was whether her man, Miles Bradford, had already known and if knowing was the real reason he had brought her in. Emothion was weakness. She had known this, lived by this and yet she had stupidly allowed herself to fall, believing in the fantasy that in giving herself over to what terrified her, she might find peace. Instead she had grown soft and useless. What will Munroe find in her search to prove Miles innocence? How will she encounter? Will she prove Miles innocence or die trying. This book is a page turner. Miles and Vanessa are awesome characters. This is my first time reading a Taylor Stevens book. I am now a fan. I am looking forward to my next Taylor Stevens book. It has suspense, romance, excitement and drama. Pick up a copy today. You won’t regret it.

I received a complimentary copy from Blogging For Books for this review. ( )