The Taken

Jonathan Quinn, Book 16

By: Brett Battles

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best-selling author Brett Battles delivers another suspense masterpiece in one of the year's most riveting international espionage thrillers.

The world thought Dmitri Melnikov was dead.

Especially Quinn. Why would he have believed otherwise, since the bomb intended for Melnikov had nearly killed Quinn and several members of his team?

But Melnikov is not dead. He has been taken by someone who wants to shut him up. And the former chess champion isn’t the only one who has been abducted.

US Intelligence can’t do anything about it. Not officially, anyway. The risk of causing an international incident is too great. What the agencies can do is ask someone who’d been there when Melnikov was kidnapped to do something for them.

It’s not a normal mission for Quinn and his friends, and the chances they’ll all survive are slim, but this one is personal. So how can they say no?

If you enjoy action-packed international espionage crime thrillers with high-stakes suspense, surprising plot-twists, and a cast full of unforgettable characters, then join millions of fans who love Battles’ novels and start devouring your next great listen The Taken now!

©2023 Brett Battles (P)2024 Audible Inc.

Great Series.

Loved it. Just listened to the complete series. Not a cheap addiction. Great character development and the stories fast passed with lots of twists and turns. on my way to check out his other books.

Great Listen !!

Engaging and exciting, and never sleep on Jar. An ending that gets you to the waiting room! And of course, Mr. Brick delivers as usual.

Feels like meeting up with an old friend!!!!

It’s been three years since the last Jonathan Quinn book. I was beginning to wonder if Battles had given up on this and the X-Com series but am very happy to see this new book. Does this mean there’s hope for his other series as well? One can only hope!

This book has Quinn and his team sneaking into Russia on a rescue mission of a man they believed to have been murdered. Instead he had been kidnapped. They’ve convinced another man they’re acquainted with to become a decoy and implanted device in him so they can find them both(and possibly others they think may have been taken by the Russians). The first problem arrises when they lose the signal. Next problem: getting into Russia undetected. Then the obvious of finding, freeing and escaping. I won’t elaborate further because I don’t want to spoil this for anyone.

I Highly Recommend this entire series. Each book can be listened to as a standalone however I would suggest listening to the previous books to fully appreciate how far the characters have come and the relationships they’ve developed through the years that make them work together so smoothly. Based on the ending I do think that this series may be winding down to a finish. I hope I’m wrong but…?

Scott Brick as always does a fantastic job narrating.
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What a pleasant surprise - a NEW Quinn book!

4.25 Stars 🌟

It has been a pretty long time since I was back in the Jonathan Quinn world. I think the last book that I can remember reading occurred in the middle of the pandemic (around 2020 I think) and the storyline mirrored what was going on in the world. Our gang took on a case and they were talking about being on the road when there were not any other cars on the road and how much harder it was to operate in stealth mode when there wasn't any other traffic - things like that... That was about 3 or 4 years ago so I was thrilled to see a new book available.

This time we start off with our team in the middle of completing an assignment. While they do their part and get the "package" away safely, there is a traitor in the FBI and things go very wrong. Fast forward a year later and Quinn and Orlando are approached with information that certain Russian ex-pats are being abducted or going "missing", kidnapped and being forcefully returned to Russia and one of these ex-pats is the former Russian Chess Champion that has a prior history with them.

And so it begins. Quinn and the team are tasked with rescuing certain prisoners. Not only do they have to discover "where" they are being held, they also have to infiltrate a hostile foreign country to do this. So, hold on to your hats, it is a wild ride.

What makes this series so fun to read is the wonderful cast of characters that we have come to know and love. We are 16 books in and at this point, we have extremely rich backgrounds and history with Quinn, Orlando, and Nate. Daeng and Jar are newer additions to the gang, but their characters have been so nicely fleshed out that they all work together like a well oiled machine. Jar especially, adds a bit of comic relief, though not necessarily intentionally.

This was another well written, action packed storyline that keeps the pace up throughout the entire book. I listened to this on audio and was pleasantly surprised to recognize Scott Brick as the narrator. I honestly can't remember if he narrated this series in the past, but he is one of my favorite narrators so it was a very nice surprise. As usual, the book was over much too quickly, and I am hoping that this is not the end of the series.