For eight years, followers of The Prophet have hidden the child, moving her from country to country, shielding the man who stole her.
Now, those who've searched the longest know where to find her.
They are childhood survivors of The Chosen, thirty-somethings born and raised inside the cult who've managed to make a life for themselves on the outside.
They understand the mindset, the culture within that world, and turn to Vanessa 'Michael' Munroe for help, knowing that the only possibility of stealing Hannah back and getting her safely out of Argentina is to trust someone who doesn't trust them, and get Munroe on the inside.
Vanessa Michael Munroe — the fearless heroine of the New York Times bestseller and award winning 'The Informationist' — returns in a gripping new thriller.
Authors Details:
In an alternate universe, I spent my formative years living with parents and siblings, showing up for school and getting acquainted with HBO, Michael Jackson, neon clothes and big hair. In reality, childhood and adolescence were spent begging on city streets from Zurich to Tokyo, preparing food and washing laundry for hundreds of people, and otherwise trying to survive dreary life as a worker bee child in a communal apocalyptic cult.
My innocence and scholastic education stopped completely when I was twelve-years-old.
Cut off from personal family, at times under the care of sadistic individuals and without access to books or television from the outside world, imagination became a survival mechanism. As a young teenager, I secretly entertained commune children with fantastic stories that took us through time and space, until these sins were discovered by cult leaders. Several laboriously hand-written books were confiscated and burned and I was ordered on pain of - well, a whole lot of pain - never to write fiction again. The nomadic culture of the cult became an adolescent's journey across four continents and nearly two dozen countries culminating in four years living in East and West-Central Africa - thus this is the primary setting of THE INFORMATIONIST.
I was in my twenties when I broke free, and leaving everything I knew brought with the fear, a fresh beginning beckoned.
Refusing to go to my grave with regrets, "what ifs," or tears over the lost years, I set out to take back what was taken from me. Through trial and error and observing the masters I taught myself the craft, and gradually the gift of storytelling returned. Learning basics that many take for granted has been a journey to be sure, but on the flip side, if I ever need to make breakfast for 150 people, I've already got that covered.