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.

Another Enjoyable Cole and Pike novel

I have been reading the Cole/Pike series for years and greatly enjoy it. This one was right up there with the others. I found it interesting how it was told in a timeline of before and after Cole was taken by the "bad guys". Cole is a lot of fun, love his irreverant sense of humor. Pike is an interesting character who I would love to see more about.

The story was interesting and kept my attention while listening. You know that ultimately Pike will rescue Cole but you don't know what will happen to the characters who were taken.

It also makes you think about the struggles faced by people who try to come to the US illegally.

Good enjoyable story.

Crais's material is getting tired.

Twenty years ago, Robert Crais introduced two very entertaining characters: the wise-cracking, self-deprecating Elvis Cole ("the world's greatest detective") and his pal Joe Pike. Pike has always been cartoonish, an ex-Marine who has two red arrows tattooed on his deltoid muscles, pointing forward. Pike grunts few words, is mostly invisible, but always helps Cole solve the case. This sounds a little like Robert B. Parker's Spenser and Hawk. Initially the humor was fresh and Crais seemed to be a modern day Raymond Chandler. The material managed to stay fresh for a long time. For several years Crais introduced Lucy Chenier, a woman from New Orleans with a son, who established an interesting love life for Cole. However, it seems to me that Crais is now running out of material. "Hostage" was clearly made for the movies, and "Taken" is a complex jumble of Syrians, Korean and Mexican gangs, and a new character who is even more of a caricature than Pike, John Stone. This guy is so macho, speaks nine languages or something, works as a mercenary, and can apparently jump over buildings in a single bound (not really, but even so...). Two guys like this is one too many. In the past I could not imagine putting down a Crais novel in the middle, but with this one, I did. Crais is hyping up the violence and simultaneously running out of humor, sadly. Maybe he is in a rut and should create a new character. In any case, not good. Cole is no longer the world's greatest detective.

One of the best Elvis Cole/Joe Pike Novels

I have read or listened to all of the Cole/Pike books by Robert Crais and am a big fan. Taken was one of his best. Human trafficking is one of the most despicable offenses that man commits against his fellow man and Crais exposes it in all its ugliness. But with Cole's quirky personality, the book is not so dark as to be depressing. Like all of Crais' books, they keep moving, never becoming bogged down in sub-plots or details that take away from a book. Luke Daniels' narration was excellent,

I recommend this listen and recommend all books by Robert Crais.

TELEGRAPHED rather than TAKEN!

More like a short story that ran too long. Hardly a twist or wrinkle to hang your sleuth hat on. Not much on suspense either. Not only Pipe on the job, but this maniac Stone on a rampage too!
Saw it coming a mile away. Bad guy turned out to be kind of a wuss. Not Crais' best work.

Elvis and Joe are always interesting and fun

Author Robert Crais has created great characters in private detectives Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. Their cases are always interesting and often humorous. Crais' novels move along quickly so they never become boring. This book is about a kidnapping case. I enjoyed it. Luke Daniels narrates very nicely.

Better Example

It may be that the narrator plays a larger part than usual in the rating of this book/series. Nevertheless, this is one of the better examples of Crais's talent and this series.

One of the best

Can't miss with Joe and Elvis, good narrator but you'd think an author would pick one reader and stick with them. One of the best of the series.

Good But Was Expecting a Little More

I am a big Robert Crais fan and was really looking forward to this one. I thought it was going to be another Joe Pike novel, but it was split between Joe and Elvis Cole. I found that, because it was told from both points of view, it lacked a little depth. The story was still good, but I missed the more personal reflections of Elvis or of Joe. Also, it was a bit more violent than usual. The first Elvis novels were really funny. I think Crais needs to go back to that style and lighten up a bit.

Couldn't stop listening to Joe Pike and Elvis Cole

Wow, what a great novel. The twists and turns keep you guessing. One of the best written by Robert Crais.

Interesting

Luke Daniels did a good job narrating this story. Crais not only told an interesting story but address an important issue for the country and a big problem for CA, AZ, NM & Tx. Covering such a violent topic the usual humor of Cole was toned down. Every one should read this book and think about how to solve this societal problem.