Fairly early on, I'd have him use his relationship with Mellie to get a job at the Dollhouse. Him and Echo teaming up would be pretty Alias, but hey, Alias was a good show.

And it's funny you should say novel, because Joss Whedon's premise of a girl who breaks free of a mind control outfit seems a lot better suited to a movie, where she can get out in the first act instead of almost breaking free over and over again.