The Informationist, by Taylor Stevens, is the first novel in the Vanessa Michael Munroe series, about a young woman raised in Cameroon as the daughter of American missionaries.

Reviews often compared Stevens's Vanessa Michael Munroe to Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander, in part due to their "feral, take-no-prisoners attitude.

"[3] Sarah Weinman, writing for the Los Angeles Times, said Munroe and Salander "are lone wolves who, if they ever had a chance to meet, might discover they are really part of the same hunting pack.

"[2] Crinklaw called the novel "intriguing," saying, "The maneuvers at the end are dazzling, worthy of patience with the puzzling middle, and a tad reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes’ matter of the Copper Beeches.

"[3] Weinman further indicated that Stevens "writes with the confidence of one who knows she’s hit on a winning series character who has the world at her beck and call — and, perhaps, a growing legion of fans too.