Customer Reviews

The Taken

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Alex was preparing for her cousin Paul's arrival and his 40th birthday party when her aunt Mary has the shock of her life when she is approached by the ghost of a girl who died nearly 30 years ago. Melanie Parr disappeared and it seems she has come back to the small town of Watterow in England, bringing storms with her and seeking revenge in very creepy ways.

Alex is discovering she isn't the only one with secrets as the town's people, aunt and cousin included, all seem to be hiding something. Strange and deadly things are happening and no one knows how to stop it.

I don't generally read this genre, but a friend read it not too long ago and the storyline intrigued me. Is there anything creepier than evil children? I think not. This story delivered plenty of chills and as my city experienced power outages this weekend I found myself reading by candlelight then doing that ultra girly leap/dive into bed so Melanie and the other spooks in this story couldn't catch my feet from under the bed. I also ran from room to room looking over my shoulder. Embarrassing, I know.

This story is surprisingly complex and even tugged at a few of my heart strings when dealing with some of the secrets and the ending in particular. This was a suspenseful and creepy read and I am glad I stepped out of my normal reading realm to enjoy this one.

Cherise Everhard, June 2008

A small town in the remote British countryside falls under seige by a small army of malevolent ghost-children. Melanie Parr, the leader, blames certain residents of the town for her death 30 years earlier, and has returned to claim vengeance. This is what I knew about the novel before reading it, and it is more or less what I expected. This alone amounted to a good 3-star horror novel - mysterious events, scares, gore, etc. presented competently by a good writer. However, what I didn't expect was that this isn't what the novel is truly about.

Intertwined, yet effectively hidden for the majority of the novel, is another story, more important and more compelling in my opinion, where the horror hits at a much more personal level. The author masterfully conceals the subtle, more effective horrors of this hidden story among the more visceral, in-your-face terror found in most of the novel. Aside from a few hints that there might be something more going on, I was pleasantly surprised by the direction the author took the story.

Upon finishing the novel, I closed the book and thought about it... for hours. This is atypical for me as I usually eagerly jump right in to the next book, or at least browse my collection considering my next read. Only a handful of stories have ever had this effect on me. The novel went from 3-star to 4-star after finishing it, but after contemplating some of the plot points my opinion continued to rise. While the initial pretense of the story is the common good vs evil, monsters vs innocent, army of ghost-children vs sleepy town theme, the true story here is much more complex.

A unique story disguised as standard horror fare, I was won over by the outstanding plot - 4 and 1/2 stars!

Thirty years ago, ten-year old Melanie Parr disappeared in a violent thunderstorm. Now she seems to have returned to seek revenge, along with a group of children in another raging thunderstorm. The inhabitants of the small town of Watterrow, England soon begin to die in horrible ways. Alex, a woman afflicted with cancer, seems to have a connection with the children. Along with her cousin Paul and his friend Simon, they'll try to get to the bottom of this, uncovering the town's darkest secret.

A creepy and enjoyable read. For her fourth book, Pinborough took the ghost story to another level with The Taken and avoided falling into the clichés of the genre. We learn that Melanie Parr wasn't some poor innocent girl killed off by evil people; she was a monster herself when she lived. There's a lot going on here; Alex is dealing with the reality of her imminent death, the town and its residents are cut off from the world because of the endless thunderstorm, strange children are playing in the streets around the town, meanwhile, the body count escalates and starts hitting a little too close to home. All this contributes to give the reader a sense of all-encompassing doom. Some of the deaths are pretty gruesome and inventive (the death involving fishhooks stayed with me for some time after reading the book). I also liked the legend of the Catcher Man; a tale told by parents to scare their kids into behaving. Does the Catcher Man really exist? Is Melanie really back from the dead? And where do all these kids wandering about come from?

There are a lot of characters to follow, but the focus is mainly on Alex, whose terminal cancer allows here to go between life and death. She's a very sympathetic character and Pinborough develops her fully, along with Alex's cousin, Paul and his mother, Mary, who seems to know a lot more than she's letting on about what happened thirty years ago. The story moves at a quick pace and is always very engaging and has genuinely scary moments. The flashbacks reveal some of the most intriguing parts of the story. Usually with a story like this, the third act is often a let-down. I was glad that it wasn't the case here. For the third part of the book leading to the grand finale, she went in a very interesting direction and brought the story to a superb climax.

If you're a fan of Pinborough's, you have to read The Taken; it's a solid effort and one of horror's best books so far this year. If you enjoy ghost stories, this isn't a conventional ghost story about a little girl haunting a town; it's much more than that, and should even satisfy avid readers of the genre. Highly recommended!

Nobody talks about Melanie Parr any more. The younger generation living in the rural English village of Waterrow doesn't even know the name. Thirty years ago Melanie was dragged away by a flash flood and never seen again, leaving only one red shoe behind. At least, that's how the story goes. Now the storm has returned, and so has Melanie, to exact her revenge on the ones who failed to save her...

THE TAKEN is a fairly standard western vengeful ghost story. Based on the two books of hers that I've read so far, this seems to be Pinborough's method: take a familiar aspect of the genre and add just enough original detail to keep it this side of predictable. (The Reckoning was a haunted house story--kind of.) So her books end up being "comfortable" yet still moderately interesting. She writes very well, so she gets away with it, and her work ends up being a cut above that of other writers who try to do the same.

The story is wrapped up at the end a little too quickly, too simply, and with a certain amount of "huh?" but up until that point it is a decent read. Mildly recommended to horror fans as a breather between heavier or weirder reads.

I am forever on a quest to find good horror authors, and as a rule I almost always prefer the Brits. I'm also forever on a quest to find good female horror authors, and Sarah Pinborough has stepped into that sparsely-populated spot rather well. I discovered her through Dorchester/Leisure's large line of mass market horror paperbacks.

Not only do I love the way Brits tend to write, but I also love English, Irish, Welsh and Scottish settings. In this story, Alex(andra) is a young woman who, after the demise of her marriage, has come to stay for awhile with an aunt in the rural English village of Watterow. One of the most startling and effective devices in this story is the fact, known only to Alex and to the reader, that Alex is dying of ovarian cancer, and dying quickly. She only has a few months left, and the cancer is the real reason her marriage ended, although no one knows this because Alex has decided to keep the cancer a secret from everyone for as long as possible, until she literally cannot hide it anymore. For the reader, knowing this and being inside Alex's head as she struggles with her pain, despair and internal rage, brings out an intimacy and dark edge to the story that really changes one's perception of everything that takes place.

Not really ready to deal with anything beyond the very immediate present, Alex runs straight into an old secret the town has covered up for decades. All Alex knows at first is that a supposedly long-dead, angelic-looking 10-year old girl named Melanie Parr has something to do with a sudden rash of shockingly violent deaths in the once-peaceful little town, and that whenever the girl's name is mentioned the locals - including Alex's own cousin - glance at each other, clam up, and radiate fear from every fiber. Who on earth was this girl, Alex wonders, and what kind of sinister hold does a little girl lost in a storm 30 years ago have on these people? Who, too, is "The Catcher Man" people whisper about - often in the same breath? Once a pagan forest legend about a fertility god, twisted into a sinister being who steals children, it poses an interesting if indirect question about what kind of genuine power the human `thought form' can give to something and truly make it real.

I was thoroughly captivated by this book and have already ordered Pinborough's other novels. She's definitely one author horror fans should be watching for if they haven't discovered her already.

Sometimes the plot went abit out of the bounds of being believable, but hey, that is what horror is. It was a fun, somewhat scary read. I just have a hard time with books where the "horror" is children because it does not always ring true enough to really scare you. (well, with the exception of The Exorcist!) overall, it was enjoyable and had it's moments of fright. It was good enough for me to purchase another of her novels- The Reckoning- I liked that one better. I will be buying yet another of her books.

I completely enjoyed this book; its great twist on the vengeful spirit tale. Truly my only complaint has been the kindle version of this book. I read 90% of my books on Kindle for iphone (much easier on the subway and crowded train). This has been the only kindle book I have read where the text was blurry.

After reading three of Pinbrough's horror novels I get a sense of her comfort laying in small village or town settings. Her strengths are apparent in the well placed sense of dread and creepiness woven from the beginning, she builds up good characters, places them in an interesting setting, makes the reader involved in their life and then sneaks in something malevolent, waiting to break it all apart. It's almost hard to read but I guess that's how authors get us to care.

Small rural town of Watterrow, England, has been nestled in a peaceful cloud lasting thirty years, but with an approach of a huge storms something dark and cruel has decided to come along and stir trouble for elders and their grown children. Thirty years ago, a small girl, Melanie Parr, has mysteriously disappeared; she simply vanished of the face of Earth in a great storm. Her short life was not filled spreading joy, she was a nasty, cruel child who played mean tricks and turned her friends against each other. She was someone that nobody liked and never really mourned even when no one knew what happened to her; in people's minds she was best forgotten. Forgotten that is until she appeared again in the storm, stirring childhood fears into reality for few who knew her. Now she is back and hungry for revenge, something has happened to her and she will make everyone involved pay for her early demise. Adults are now in the mercy of a child, and a mean one who isn't ruled by logic but hate and anger.

The book was a fast read; I inhaled it in two sittings while my boyfriend caught up on his weekend naps - best time to read! I liked the main character of Alex a lot, I thought she was well crafted even if we didn't get to know her well or too long but she made the book enjoyable for me. Overall it wasn't super scary, but it had plenty of chills and the concept was intriguing even if not extremely strong. It was a nice way to spend an afternoon or two but it's not something that will stand out to me in the long run. I think the book lost a little momentum at the end and couldn't have been stronger but it wasn't bad. The concept was interesting but was a little flaky, I think all the layers of the book added up to make a book but they didn't make it solid, therefore the three stars. I'm still happy I read it though and I will read more of her in the future. So far after reading "The Taken", "Breeding Ground" and "Tower Hill" by Pinborough, I definitely think "Tower Hill" has been her best yet, the other books were more of a platform for her wings to grow so she can spread them in the future because I think she had plenty of ideas left in her.

- Kasia S.

I am a new fan of Sarah Pinborough and stumbled onto her books by chance here on Amazon. This is the second book I've read by the author [the first being The Reckoning,an atmospheric tale about a house with a will of its own]. "The Taken" didn't disappoint either, and is much more complex than The Reckoning in terms of plot.

In this novel, the protagonist is Alex, a young woman living in the quiet English village of Waterrow who is unfortunately dying of cancer. She lives with her aunt Mary and at the beginning of the novel, Mary experiences something troubling that brings back the past - a past that she had hoped would remain buried forever. When Alex's cousin Paul and his friend Simon visit to celebrate Paul's 40th birthday, Mary's rambling about a certain Melanie Parr causes Paul to get agitated much to Alex's surprise. That night, Alex has disturbing 'visions' of a ghostly specter, a child who seems to be warning her of something terrible that is to come.

Well, things get worse from that point on as the foursome awake the next morning to a terrible storm raging through the village, essentially cutting them off from the outside world [no cell phone coverage, phone lines down etc] and things get even more sinister when Simon and Alex come across the vicar, who dies shortly after,but not before warning them about Melanie Parr's return.

Another gruesome death in the village alarms the villagers, and Alex finally finds out the macabre truth about Melanie Parr and her mysterious disappearance decades ago during a similar storm. With two local children missing and more troubling events to follow, it's left up to Alex to figure out how to get all of them out of the situation alive.

This is a supernatural tale that will whet the appetite of any fan of the paranormal - a good old-fashioned ghost story peopled with credible characters[ and well-developed ones at that], a villain that chills the bones yet surprises [a 10 year-old evil child ghost with vengeance on her mind],a folkloric legend called the Cather Man and rich atmosphere [the raging storm, the isolated villagers trapped and cut off from the outside world, creepy children that appear and disappear at will, and otherworldly giggles].

Sarah Pinborough is definitely a horror author worth checking out - her novels are well-plotted and the characters have depth. Her stories have a sense of menace that grips the reader from the first page till the last. Highly recommended!

In Somerset, ten years old years old Melanie Parr looks like an angel, but is actually a cruel devil instead. She enjoys hurting the other kids, which she does constantly without recrimination. The mothers of the other children try to talk to her mother and reason with Melanie, but both fail. Desperate they decide to take matters into their own hands before this preadolescent psychopath kills or maims one of their offspring.

Three decades have passed since Melanie died in a tragic "accident". No one has said anything further about what really happened. Now "The Catcher Man" who provides a holding area between life and death for those who died young has freed Melanie. His liberating her from the after life enables her to return as an avenging angel where she has sexagenarian parents, their adult children, and their grandchildren as victims of her resurrection.

Amazingly the key to this exhilarating they come back horror thriller is the realistic portrayal of the sixty years old parents who show their age in many ways as they have grandchildren, middle aged children, and suffer diseases like terminal cancer. This "older" group seems genuine as they struggle with personal issues of aging, the guilt from what happened back then, and now have to accept the unbelievable in order to prevent Melanie from destroying their descendents. THE TAKEN will be considered one of the top ghost tales of the year.

Harriet Klausner