Taken

An Elvis Cole and Joe Pike Novel, Book 15

By: Robert Crais

Narrated by: Luke Daniels

Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

The search for a missing girl leads private investigators Elvis Cole and Joe Pike into the nightmarish world of human trafficking in this #1 New York Times bestseller from Robert Crais.

When Nita Morales hires Elvis Cole to find her missing daughter, she's sure it's a ruse orchestrated by the girl and her boyfriend. She's wrong. They've been taken by bajadores - border bandits who prey on the innocent by buying, selling, and disposing of victims like commodities.

Cole and Joe Pike start an undercover investigation to find the couple, but their plan derails when Cole disappears, leaving Pike to burn through the murderous world of human traffickers to find his friend as well as the missing young people. But he may already be too late...

"Luke Daniels doesn't just narrate Robert Crais's latest novel featuring Elvis Cole and Joe Pike - he transports us to the terrifying world of human trafficking, which Cole must infiltrate in order to find a client's missing daughter."--Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

Investigate another case with Elvis Cole and Joe Pike.

©2012 Robert Crais (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Good thriller, but I miss the mystery

Excellent thriller by Crais. I do miss his original style though, which was more detecting, more mystery.

In his thrillers Crais uses everything in his power to ratchet up the suspense-- flash-forwards, flashbacks, foreshadowing. In this book for example every chapter starts with a countdown to the moment when Elvis Cole himself is kidnapped (so it's not a spoiler that the publisher mentions this event in the book's teaser.) The story alternates between the points of view of Elvis, Joe, some kidnap victims, and others, and it's all designed to keep the plot at a high boil. It's all extremely effective, as usual.

The downside for me is that whenever Crais has a choice between tension and mystery, he goes straight for tension. There is a fair amount of detecting done by the heroes, but most of the time we already know what happened. While it's still interesting to see how Elvis and Pike manage against the odds to connect the dots, this is not structured like a mystery story.

(There were also a character that I thought was going to play a significant role in the denouement, and was instead became merely a witness. Not sure if this was a red herring or if Crais was setting up that character to appear in a future book.)

Crais is really good at keeping the tension up for insanely long stretches, and I am still a big fan of his writing, and of Elvis and Joe. But I hope he occasionally takes a break from trying to top himself in stakes, tension, and body count, and remembers Elvis Cole's roots.

It took me a while to get used to this narrator, but he's perfectly fine. I can't put my finger on what I'd change about the reading. Maybe it's just the usual problem of hearing someone else's voice doing characters I've only heard in my head for so many years.

good read

Would you consider the audio edition of Taken to be better than the print version?

the audio version meets my needs. i can no longer read for long periods of time as i once could and the audio also allows me to multitask.....browse, garden,drive etc.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Taken?

i cannot remember one particular moment in retrospect the story has good continuity and Joe and Elvis work it out.

Which character – as performed by Luke Daniels – was your favorite?

I like elvis best as the story teller and combined with joe as the action maker to back him up.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

this subject matter is everyday news and is sad commentary on todays lifestyle.

Any additional comments?

i have read all of the books in this series and they all entertain and enlighten.

Exciting & Complex. More, please!

This is a complex, fast moving and exceptionally well constructed story with two legendary characters. The evil of the bad guys (bajadores -- criminals who prey on other criminals) and terror of the kidnapped comes through vividly. Crais presents a wide range of interesting characters that one must either hate or love - there is no middle ground. I found myself developing genuine concern for the main kidnapped characters, Krista Morales and her boyfriend Jack Berman. The addition of Jack's aunt - an ATF bigwig was a great stroke of genius, adding an extra layer of interest and tension to the story. Human trafficking, kidnapping, and a "good guy" organized gang of Korean killers - it all works! Only Crais could weave this together in such a masterful way. It was great to get more of Joe Pike in Taken versus most other novels from the series. In fact one could argue that Joe is the main character this time. (The Pike character, however, is too one dimensional to carry a story on his own. The story must be built around him, as Taken seems to be. Pike is the solution not the suspense.) The narrative bounces back and forth in time quite a bit, especially at the beginning, and switches narrative perspective a few times. I'm not sure this technique was necessary and it makes it a bit difficult to follow as an audiobook - I was probably 90 minutes into the audio before I developed a sense of what the book was about and knew enough to follow the story without long pauses and rewinding.

Awesome Author

What did you love best about Taken?

Robert Crais writes the most interesting books, I am never bored listening to all the books I've downloaded from his series. They make my day at boring work go by really fast!

Classic Cole and Pike

I love this series , it is fantastic to learn the characters and to grow with them . This book is up there with the best of the series , not the best but up there.

love Robert Crais

Exciting suspenseful read. Crais never disappoints! Joe Pike and Elvis Cole are sweet characters.

Skipping Books In The Series

I'm not reading the books in this series in order so that may affect my review. The character, Jon Stone, is new to me and I feel like I have missed something because I do not understand how he fits into this series. He just doesn't seem to mesh with the characters of Cole & Pike. I guess Pike needed someone to help him but the introduction of the Stone character felt forced.

I thought this book had a slightly different take on kidnapping and trafficking than other books I've read in this genre. Other books I've read dealt with the sex and drug aspects of this crime, but in this book, it is about weekly small $ ransoms from hundreds of people to make millions of dollars for the perpetrators. Something I hadn't considered especially on the US side of the border.

Early in the story at the plane crash, I found Krista to be annoying and wondered why her boyfriend even bothered to come back for her when she was acting so recklessly. Their whole situation was entirely her fault. I also found her boldness at the plane site unrealistic. I don't think any real young woman would have just stayed there videotaping such a dangerous situation. Then after acting so foolish at the plane site, I found it hard to swallow that after they were kidnapped, Krista suddenly became rational and keenly astute enough to know to act like an illegal instead of an American citizen.

Otherwise, I thought this was a typical Cole/Pike novel and was fun to read. I definitely will continue to hop around the series and read more of Cole & Pike.

A great Joe & Elvis thriller

What made the experience of listening to Taken the most enjoyable?

love Joe & Elvis stories

What was one of the most memorable moments of Taken?

Love Elvis's sense of humor even when he was in a bad situation

Which character – as performed by Luke Daniels – was your favorite?

John Stone....and I really did not like his Joe voice

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The violence by the cartel/human smugglers was frightening and on a good note I loved Joe's loyalty to finding Elvis.

Any additional comments?

A great Joe and Elvis story! Yes, it is a very gruesome story and really makes you think (and be thankful our relatively safe life we live here in the US). The story starts out with Joe looking for Elvis who has been kidnapped. Elvis was looking a a college student who is missing and he figures out that she had been kidnapped by some very nasty drug cartel/human smugglers. Eventually he was taken too and Joe sets out to find him. If you are looking for a great read that will keep you on the edge of your seat, check this one out. And of course you still get Elvis's great sense of humor.

great read

this book captured me from the very first chapter. it was full of action and suspense. I love every bit of it. I learned a lot about human trafficking in this book. it was a big eye opener. a must read

Great series

Easily one of the best thriller series. Elvis Cole, Joe Pike and Jon Stone are a great combination