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Taken Audiobook
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(4.00) - 4,855 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
Crais has never written a book with the power and intensity of Taken.
When Nita Morales hires Elvis Cole to find her missing adult daughter, she isn’t afraid, even though she’s gotten a phone call asking for ransom. She knows it’s a fake, that her daughter is off with the guy Nita will call only “that boy,” and that they need money: “Even smart girls do stupid things when they think a boy loves them.”
But she is wrong. The girl and her boyfriend have been taken by bajadores—bandits who prey on other bandits, border professionals who prey not only on innocent victims, but on one another. They steal drugs, guns, and people—buying and selling victims like commodities, and killing the ones they can’t get a price for.
Cole and Pike find the spot where the couple were taken. There are tire tracks, bullet casings, and bloodstains. They know things look as bad as possible.
But they are wrong, too. It is about to get much worse. Going undercover to find the couple and buy them back, Cole himself is taken, and disappears. Now it is up to Joe Pike to retrace Cole’s steps, burning through the hard and murderous world of human traffickers to find his friend.
But he may already be too late.
Thrilling, emotional, passionate, with some of the best characters and well-crafted writing in all of crime fiction, Taken is further proof that “Crais just keeps getting better” (Publishers Weekly).
Praise for the narrator’s performance of Taken by Robert Crais:
“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
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"Elvis Cole and Joe Pike take on a gang who steal humans being smuggled into the US, then demand money from relatives--or kill their captives if no money is forthcoming. Cole is hired by the mother of a young woman who has disappeared. She and her boy friend, it becomes clear, have been seized when they accidentally find themselves in the middle of a seizure operation. Crais experiments with time and point of view. Cole is generally in close third person, but sometimes in first. It's a page turner, a thriller."
— Lorin (4 out of 5 stars)
Awards
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A 2013 Booklist Top 10 Crime Fiction Audiobook
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A New York Times bestseller
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Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
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A 2013 Shamus Award Nominee for Best Hardcover P.I. Novel
Taken Listener Reviews
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" This was a good book, I enjoy the Cole & Pike series, especially when Stone is incorporated in the mix. This is a fast paced book written from the different hero's perspectives. Also, the story is not linear. The story jumps through different time--back and forth--it makes the story very interesting. "
— Steve, 2/11/2014 -
" I've read all of Robert Crais's books and I've found them less enjoyable in the past few years. The way he writes is very different from THE MONKEY'S RAINCOAT and there's also a distinct change I've noticed since LA REQUIEM. The shifting viewpoints don't do it for me. I don't think I'll read the next one. "
— Charlie, 2/9/2014 -
" Very Good; Continuing character: Elvis Cole; when a girl and her boyfriend disappear, a mother hires Cole to find them and he and Pike come across rivals battling over illegal immigrants; the jumping around between time frames and perspectives keeps this from being better "
— Joe, 2/5/2014 -
" Good addition to the Elvis Cole, World's Greatest Detective series. Two kids out in the desert are inadvertently captured by bajadores, who steal immigrants bound for the U.S. and extort their families. Elvis investigates and is himself captured after enlisting Joe Pike and Korean gangsters, whose "clients" were abducted. "
— Skip, 1/31/2014 -
" This is vintage Elvis Cole-Joe Pike international murder mystery. A young couple is kidnapped by bandellos and held for ransom. It does present a different perspective on the immigration problem, but without a lot of philosophizing about the issue and with a lot of special services action. "
— Janet, 1/25/2014 -
" Interesting story, complicated (in a good way) plot. "
— Barbara, 1/18/2014 -
" Elvis and Joe are likable characters. "
— Grammy, 1/18/2014 -
" Any Elvis Cole and Joe Pike book will be a little over the top on plot, but entertaining as hell. I love the regular characters, especially the dry humor of the World's Greatest Detective. "
— Jim, 1/15/2014 -
" As always Elvis Cole and Joe Pike make for an exciting duo. For some reason the subject matter was more scarey than some to me... Wish there were more rel Joe Pikes around. "
— Audrey, 1/13/2014 -
" Another perfect bit of action adventure staring Elvis and Joe, this time taking on kidnappers who snatch Elvis Cole in the process. "
— Eric, 11/25/2013 -
" I love Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. They both play a major role in this book, and I found their roles in solving this mystery involving Mexican drug cartels to be a wonderful read! "
— Tamra, 10/18/2013 -
" I love Joe Pike. Love. I did not love this book. I did not like the way it was written, going back and forth between the different characters. I will continue to read this series, but I really hope the next one is a lot better than this one. Robert Crais is a lot better author than this book showed. "
— Sheri, 10/9/2013 -
" good story line and plot. Not a very long book. "
— Shawn, 8/12/2013 -
" Another great Elvis Cole/ Joe Pike book. Getting both Joe Pike's and Elvis Cole's point of view in the narrative was a real treat. The story was suspenseful and well-paced. "
— Heather, 7/17/2013 -
" I love joe pike and Elvis together. A nice thriller "
— Lorraine, 3/19/2013 -
" The beginning and the end were poor, but the stuff in between wow!!! "
— Bebe, 1/15/2013 -
" Another very good book from Crais that held my interest. "
— Kay, 9/11/2012 -
" Another exciting read by Robert Crais. Enjoy "
— Frank, 8/31/2012 -
" The latest in the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series. Elvis is asked to help find a woman's daughter who had gone missing. His search uncovers the seedy world of human trafficking, which this girl and her boyfriend unwittingly ended up in the middle of. A real page turner, my wife and I both liked this one. "
— Doug, 8/26/2012 -
" Joe Pike has to find and rescue his partner, Elvis Cole, who is abducted while tracing a missing girl. Scary story about bajadores--border professionals who steal drugs, guns and even illegals being brought across into the U.S. "
— Marge, 2/20/2012
About Robert Crais
Robert Crais is an American author of numerous New York Times bestsellers, including Taken, which debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. He received the Ross Macdonald Literary Award in 2006, The Eye—Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010, and the Mystery Writers of America’s Grand Master Award in 2014. He has written for such acclaimed television shows as L.A. Law, Cagney and Lacey, Miami Vice, and Hill Street Blues. A film adaptation of his novel Hostage was released in 2005, starring Bruce Willis as ex-LAPD SWAT negotiator Jeff Talley.
About Luke Daniels
Luke Daniels, winner of sixteen AudioFile Earphones Awards and a finalist for the Audie Award for best narration, is a narrator whose many audiobook credits range from action and suspense to young-adult fiction. His background is in classical theater and film, and he has performed at repertory theaters around the country.