Taken (An Elvis Cole Novel) [Kindle Edition]

I am always so excited when Robert Crais releases a new book - I just know I'm in for a night of great reading. Yes, a night - because once I start, I can't stop until I turn the last page. Crais' latest book - Taken - was no exception!

A group of young people, partying out in the desert by an old abandoned plane. Two of them - Jack and Krista - decide to hang back after the others have left. They unexpectedly find themselves witness to a local coyote (human smuggler) unloading his cargo. And things go from bad to worse when the coyotes and their load are hijacked - and kidnapped - including Jack and Krista.

Krista's mom calls in Elvis Cole - self proclaimed World's Greatest Detective - to help her find her missing daughter. She's received a ransom request, but thinks it's a joke - they've asked for only five hundred dollars. Elvis calls in his partner and best friend Joe Pike. When Elvis goes missing too, the kidnappers don't know who or what's coming for them - Joe Pike.

Crais has created two of my favourite recurring characters in one series. Elvis is full of snappy one liners and really, he never stops talking - even when he should. Joe Pike - well, he barely speaks at all. Both of them are dangerous men, but Pike - he's in class of his own. With Elvis in trouble, Pike calls in a fellow mercenary this time - Jon Stone. Stone is a great addition to this cast. He's just as tough as Pike, as chatty as Cole and bored when he hasn't got a 'situation' to work on.

Crais has taken an issue that has been in the headlines and exposed it's dirty underbelly - human trafficking is very real. His scenes are gritty, painting realistic pictures of what may befall those looking for a better life.

Taken is told in a unique format. The storyline snaps back and forth telling the story from the view of Jack and Krista, Elvis and Pike. The narrative is told in non linear fashion - the timeline jumps to before and after each was taken. This absolutely ratcheted up the tension (and the speed at which I turned pages!)

Why do I love this series so much? The plotting is great, the action non stop and the characters are fantastic. And at the bottom of it all for me - Joe Pike. Who isn't holding out for a hero? Jack Reacher fans will love Pike. If you're looking for an action packed read, you will have found it with Taken. (By the way it's already #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list!)

J'ai aimé tous les romans de Robert Crais et j'ai toujours hâte au suivant. Je ne comprends pas les commentaires comme quoi il y avait trop de personnages. J'ai déjà lu des romans qui avaient gagné des prix littéraire et dans lesquels on rencontrait une vingtaine de personnages différents. Je m'y suis toujours retrouvée sans aucune difficulté. Et ici, rien de bien complexe que de suivre ces quelques personnages en action.
Contrairement à certains, je trouve que Crais continue de s'améliorer. Ici, il lui a fallu faire des recherches sur les différents cartels en action à la frontière mexicaine. C'est basé sur des faits et, ma foi, pas mal crédible. La réaction des personnes enlevées face aux actions malfaisantes des kidnappeurs est tout bonnement "authentique". C'est facile de s'imaginer réagissant de la même manière.
Crais introduit un nouveau personnage d'action (Jon Stone), qui, je l'espère, reviendra dans ses prochains romans.
Évidemment, puisque Pike part à la recherche de Cole, il n'y a pas beaucoup d'interaction entre eux. Mais Crais sait montrer, d'un simple geste (lavage d'auto et de jeep) l'affection entre les deux hommes et la reconnaissance d'Elvis.
Quand j'ai tourné la dernière page, comme toujours je me suis dit : "Non, pas déjà la fin!".
J'espère que M. Crais continuera d'écrire encore très longtemps. Merci à lui pour le plaisir qu'il continue de me procurer.

"And it happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, that all the city was excited because of them;" -- Ruth 1:19 (NKJV)

Let me start with the overview. Taken is a real page turner. It's only weaknesses come in needing more editing. If Mr. Crais had another 60 days of preparation time spent on making the plot easier to follow, this probably would have been his best book. As it is, Taken is a fun read and I recommend it to you.

In Taken, Mr. Crais tried something a little different. Rather than simply tell the story from beginning to end chronologically, he tells the story out of chronological sequence. You must pay attention to what day is what to follow the story and enjoy it. In the process, you'll run into characters whose first appearance will leave you scratching your head in puzzlement and find definitions and explanations repeated in unnecessary fashion.

It looks like the editors didn't have enough time to work it all out with Mr. Crais, and the acknowledgments suggest there was a problem. "The author apologizes for jamming their [the Putnam production team] time line, and thanks them for their herculean efforts on his behalf, most notably Meredith Dros. Copyediting is an often thankless task done under difficult circumstances. Patricia Crais worked with a constantly changing manuscript, requiring her to revisit and review her own work for far too many last-minute, sleepless nights. Thank you."

In past novels, I've marveled out how Mr. Crais can take as laconic a character as Joe Pike and create a story out of him as a protagonist. The design here is to have multiple narrators and to include talkative people in the sections where Pike is the narrator. It works out well as a storytelling method. I hope Mr. Crais will use it again in novels where Pike plays a large role.

So, what's it all about? Elvis Cole is hired by a concerned mother after her college senior daughter disappears with her boyfriend and the mother begins receiving telephone calls from her daughter asking for a few hundred dollars. It's not exactly the kind of case that Elvis seeks out . . . but he's all in favor of smoothing out a mother's nerves. The trouble is . . . as you will learn in the first few pages . . . there's a dangerous situation, one that a mother could not anticipate. As the story unrolls its plot, you'll learn a lot about illegal immigration that will probably leave you feeling strong empathy for those who are at risk in the story. The story maintains a high level of tension, aided by lots of cliffhangers, that will keep you rapidly paging through the book.

Keep an eye out for danger in all your surroundings!