Customer Reviews

Taken

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Talk about an enjoyable read. This novel has it all: Elvis Cole and Joe Pike, innocent young adults, a determined parent, evil men and women with no sense of morality, and bajadores - ruthless bandits who prey on other bandits. Mix them all together with drugs, weapons, the buying and selling of victims, and brutal murder and you have the ingredients for compelling novel.

Add the painstaking detective work, the genuine humanity, the nerve-racking tension, the thrilling action, and unbelievable suspense that only a talented writer like Robert Crais can bring to this novel and you have a thriller that you won't soon forget.

Taken is the fifteenth Elvis Cole and Joe Pike novel and it's the first to feature them both equally. While I've enjoyed the last two books that had Joe Pike in the starring role, this novel ratchets up the tension by having Cole lead early and Pike take over in the second half.

The story centers on a young Latina and her Anglo boyfriend who are kidnapped by bandits along the Mexican border. These criminals are the worst of the worst - preying on other criminals figuring they can't or won't go to the police. This novel centers on bajadores who steal immigrants bound for the United States. This people kidnapping business is a rampant but often ignored problem along the Mexican border.

The mother of the kidnapped woman hires Elvis Cole to rescue her daughter. Cole soon discovers what has happened to her and he enters into a risky arrangement with a Korean organized criminal. It's a desperate move and Cole knows it.

"I was now in business with a Korean gang known for extortion, brutality, and violence, and about to put my trust into a drug cartel known for torture and mass murder. I told myself it was worth it. I told myself I had no choice. I lied to myself, and knew I was lying, but chose to believe the lies."

When the plan doesn't work out, Cole is seized by the bajadores and Pike must come to his rescue. With backup from fellow mercenary Jon Stone, Pike follows the trail left by his captors and holds nothing back from search for his best friend. The feds are also on the hunt for Cole and Pike must find him first before the federal agents make mistakes that could blow Cole's cover - and his life.

This is vintage Robert Crais weaving one of the most suspenseful thrillers I've read in a long time. This is a book you'll want to savor but if you're like me, the tension will build so quickly that you'll be unable to put it down. I finished it in a weekend. With fewer things to do, I'd have been done the same day.

I've read all of the Robert Crais novels available for a Kindle. While this is an entertaining book, it is not, in my opinion, up to the standards of his previous Elvis Cole/Joe Pike books. My experience is that a writer's talent is most obvious in the dialogue in a book. With good writers it's believable and flows easily. Here, it seems to be somewhat forced, especially that between Joe Pike and Jon Stone. To me, Elvis Cole and Joe Pike seem to have become caricatures of the ways they were developed in previous books. Jack Reacher has the same malady. I hope it hasn't spread to these two.

As a post-script, I should add that this book is not really representative of Robert Crais' talent. His other books in the series were so good that I read them in order, non-stop. If this had been the first that I'd read, I doubt I would have done that. As a long-time reader of virtually nothing but books of this type, I'd rate this book as fairly good, but not close to others in the series. I hope he gets back on course with his next book.

I don't use that word lightly, but in this case it applies. There are some books so compelling that you carry them around--everywhere--reading a chapter here, a paragraph there. I think of Andrew Vachss's debut novel Flood, Harris' Silence of the Lambs . . . and now, Robert Crais's Taken.

Abduction novels are not my favorites, but here all of the dangers of such novels (claustrophobic settings, excrutiating emotional situations) are happily avoided. Crais uses short chapters, multiple points of view and mixed time levels to create a masterpiece of suspense. This, however, is not the kind of suspense that entails unimaginable resolutions. We know that Elvis and Joe Pike are going to triumph in the end; what we wait for, what we anxiously anticipate, is the body count.

Elvis has been hired by a woman in Los Angeles to find her daughter, a star student from Loyola Marymount and an all-around good person. She and her boyfriend (concerning whom the mother has some reservations) have been in Palm Springs. The two disappear and the mother receives demands for her daughter's return at a ridiculously low price: $500.

What the mother doesn't know is that her daughter and her boyfriend have been swept up in an unrelated event in which a group of bajadores (bandits who steal from other bandits) have captured a group of illegal immigrants. They then proceed to call the relatives of their captives and demand ransom. They put the captives on the phone and torture them so that their relatives hear the screams and are more likely to loosen their purse strings. When the money runs out the captives are murdered and thrown into ditches in the desert.

Fortunately, Elvis and Joe are on the case and they're aided by Nancie Stendahl (an ATF muck-a-muck who is the aunt of the captured Latina girl's boyfriend). Aunt Nancie is pure standup, but she has to work within the law. Not so for Jon Stone, an addition to the cast who is an old compadre of Joe Pike's, a veteran of various mercenary engagements, Delta force operations, and so on. (Note to Mr. Crais: we absolutely must have more of Jon Stone in the future.)

I won't spoil the plot, but I will say that Elvis is taken captive--a minor setback, since he (and the reader) know that the cavalry riding in his direction consist of Joe and Jon (not to mention Aunt Nancie).

And there's more. The captured illegals include a group of Koreans whose transport to the U.S. has been paid for by the leaders of the Korean mob. These individuals are not amused by the actions of the bajadores and they are willing to talk to Elvis, Joe and Jon about a possible partnership. The bajadores, of course, are very, very nasty bits of business, given to intimidating the weak, abusing women and reducing their captives to animals. They call them their pollos. We know very early on what these people need: a visit from Joe Pike and his assortment of friends and allies.

It's early in the year, but Taken may just be the suspense thriller of 2012. It is already Robert Crais's best book. Do not miss it.

Given.
Robert Crais has given us another taunt terrific thriller. His protagonists Elvis Cole and Joe Pike are at their action best pursuing a young couple kidnapped by brutal "bajadores" coyotes. The couple just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and now Cole and Pike are hired to find them. Along the way the dynamic duo battle drug cartels, human "coyote" traffickers, Korean gangs, and the BAFT. Both Cole and Pike are taxed to the max and have to ask for help from a long time shadowy friend. The plot bubbles and boils to a deadly dramatic action packed conclusion.
No gratuitous sex, language or violence, nevertheless, there is some very strong language and violence. This is the world in which Cole and Pike move in and the strong language and violence are done to advance the dynamic plot.
Character development was superb. With each new Crais novel we learn more and more about who Elvis Cole and Joe Pike are. With this novel Pike's shadowy mercenary friend Jon Stone is richly developed. He is a character gold mine who I hope Mr. Crais develops in future Cole-Pike thrillers.
No question, must read 5 stars. Robert Crais gets better and better with each Cole-Pike thriller. With Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch getting very long in the tooth, it appears Robert Crais may just overtake Mr. Connelly as the new leader of LA Detective thriller?? Love Harry, but Cole and Pike are giving him a serious run for the best LA detective series.

In a thrilling story about human trafficking, Robert Crais sets a frenetic tone and captures perfectly the teamwork of friends Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. The story is brutal, as Elvis Cole tries to recover Krista Morales, when hired by her mother. Krista was in the wrong place at the wrong time and wound up a captive of a brutal gang of thugs that normally make illegal immigrants their victims. Pike is in the mix to cover Cole's move as he goes underground, and then, frankly, to save Cole's life. The story is told from multiple points of view, jumping from point to point in the captivity. Doesn't matter....terse and exciting, with very little of Cole's savvy patter or humor, "Taken" goes down as one of Robert Crais' most exciting books in a great series of work.

Highly recommended!

Having read all of his books to date, I will say this isn't Crais' best or worst. The reader knows going in that the two main characters, Cole and Pike, are going to be okay and that they will find the people they are looking for. But it is the story of how that makes this a good read. The subject of human trafficking is a sad one and this is a decent expose of it.
Some reviewers did not like the multiple points of view and the changing time line, after watching three seasons of "Damages", I had no problem with either of those. To expect every book of a series to be a knockout is probably a little unrealistic but as many have said we know Robert can do better.

Here's another page-turning mystery novel by Crais. It's his 18th novel & he never disappoints the reader. This is another in the series featuring private detectives & tough guys Elvis Cole & Joe Pike. They are partners & best friends & closer than brothers. They always take on the bad guys & win, even if sometimes they have to work with some bad guys to take out the bad guys they need to defeat. In this novel, we not only have Cole & Pike, but also the Mexican Mafia, the Korean Mafia, the U. S. Gov't, & another tough guy friend of Pike's. The plot centers on illegal immigration from Mexico of nationals of various countries into the USA & the mistaken abduction of two innocent American students who become collateral damage in the ongoing fighting between various Mexican gangs to control the lucrative trade of illegal immigration. It's the job of Cole & Pike to safely bring back the students. This is one very exciting rip-roaring yarn which keeps the reader glued to it's pages & wanting to keep reading to learn what comes next.

Robert Crais is a wonderful mystery thriller writer who proves himself again with Taken. This week it tops the New York Times Best Seller list as it should.

Elvis Cole, Joe Pike and Jon Stone are all featured in Crais's latest offering. Elvis Cole is hired to find a missing daughter of Mexican American entrepreneur Nita Morales. Ever since Nita had told her daughter that she was actually an illegal alien, her daughter has been fascinated by the plight of illegals crossing the Mexican American border into the US. Krista along with her boyfriend are taken by kidnappers of illegals while investigating in the desert for a story Krista wants to write. Krista quickly pretends she is one of the illegals.

The plight of illegals and the perils they face to try to enter the US are well documented in this book. The Mexican gangs are featured in the book as well as the Korean gangs who have become a prominent force in the American underworld.

The reader recognizes that of course only good will come of having Joe Pike, Jon Stone and Elvis Cole on the case. However, you cannot put the book down as Joe and Jon race against the clock to rescue the taken Elvis Cole.

Highly recommend Taken as well as the rest of Robert Crais' books. You can discover everything about him at [...].

I've read all of Robert Crais, and I must say that this book is not his best. He seems to have lost his originality and the switch that he has made in the last few books from the focus being on Elvis Cole to Joe Pike is evidence of that. We're back to Elvis Cole in this book, which fragments the time frame by the chapters not being chronological, which is very annoying. The bad guys in this book are so complicated, in terms of their intertwined connections, that it's almost impossible to follow. At a certain point, I stopped caring.
Also, there is a character who is seen as a victim in the book, but who has the capability of fighting back, and the author chooses to just tease the reader and then erase the character later in the book. Not sure what the deal is with Robert Crais on this one, but I hope the he gets his focus back in the future.

This is a good stand alone thriller/mystery. If you have followed Robert Crais's works, though, you will thoroughly enjoy this one that has Elvis Cole and Pike in equal doses. You will also enjoy that they might be at their most human and least super-human in TAKEN.

The premise is that two youths get caught up - well, taken - when a shipment of illegal aliens is hijacked by a rival gang. Cole also gets taken. This is not a spoiler. The very obvious foreshadowing is in the first pages. Crais keeps the suspense taut as he tells the story from the perspectives of Cole, Pike and the taken youths, switching from one to another. The short chapters are not always in chronical order, but that does not confuse the reader, it adds to the tension.

Although this can stand alone, for the first time reader the characters may not be that well-developed. Crais fans, though, know the characters so well it is like seeing old friends after a period of time. There is no reason to get a biography. From this view, new readers may not enjoy the book as much as fans of the author. For a first timer, I'd give it four stars. For the followers of The World's Geratest Detective and Pike, it a solid winner.