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Once I started reading this excellent novel I was hooked. High Octane Thriller. Not to be overlooked! Thought provoking and eye opening. Robert Crais a brilliant writer.
Taken is the 15th book in Robert Crais "Elvis Cole" series.It is a good addition to the series!
A new Robert Crais book is an occasion to read a master at work. His knowledge of the criminal element and the evil they do is second to none. Also he really does a good job in giving the hostages a presence in the story. The prisoner scenes and the horror there really increases the tension.One of the more interesting elements of the novel is its non linear plot. The action is broken up into the point of view of various characters and some of the story is told from the point of view of some char...
This month I am recommending Robert Crais. In general, and in the specific. His latest Elvis Cole and Joe Pike thriller is titled TAKEN. It is about immigrants trying to get into the country illegally and being hijacked by the various ethnic gangs and then ransomed to their families over and over again. Very tough stuff to read about, but a terrific story from Bob. I've like all of his books. This latest is just an excuse to remind readers once again what a good storyteller he is.
I’ll say it right off the top: I hate kidnapping plots. When I realized this was centered on a kidnapping (that’s not a spoiler; it’s clear from both the title and chapter one), I almost skipped it. However, I am sadly at the end of the Elvis Cole series, with only this and the latest book, Wanted, remaining. I decided to trust Crais, who hasn’t really let me down since book three, and was glad I did.Taken has a fast moving plot that begins when a college-age couple is partying with friends in t...
If I ever get kidnapped I want Joe Pike looking for me.Private detective Elvis Cole gets hired to find a young woman because she dropped out of sight for a few days. The mother suspects that her daughter is with a boyfriend that she disapproves of, and that this is a case of college aged kids just off having some irresponsible fun. However, Elvis quickly figures out that the couple were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and were swept up as part of scheme in which illegal immigrants crossing...
A woman hires Elvis Cole to find her kidnapped daughter. Elvis takes the case, only to find himself kidnapped. Can Joe Pike find Elvis before the kidnappers decide to silence him... permanently?So now I'm finally completely caught up on the adventures of Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. How did this effort stack up to the rest of them? It held its own, that's for certain.With Taken, Robert Crais put to rest my fears that maybe Crais might start phoning it in. He took a fairly basic kidnapping plot and d...
This book is unique (I think) for this series. It's my first by Crais anyway to have time jump from multiple point of views. Sadly, it was too confusing to listen to because time was nonlinear, it was all over the place. So from a listener point of view, I just knew what happened. Pretty exciting to have a rescuer getting captured, or "Taken"!
Ok, a few rambling thoughts on Robert Crais. Who is this guy, where'd he come from, how'd he get so popular? Well the first thing to know is that Crais is not from California at all. He is a native of Louisiana, grew up in a blue collar family, and read his first crime novel The Little Sister when he was 15. And that's all it took. Chandler gave him his love for writing. Other authors that have inspired him were Hammett, Hemingway (seems like that's true of all the crime writers), Parker, and St...
Krista Morales and Jack Berman are young and in love. After meeting a group of friends one night out in the California desert, Krista and Jack remain behind when everyone else leaves. Even the most casual reader will understand that this is a huge mistake.A few days later, Krista's mother, Nita, retains Elvis Cole, the World's Greatest Detective, to find her daughter. Nita assumes that Krista, an honor student who is about to graduate from college, is simply dallying with a boyfriend that Nita d...
To date I’ve weaved a random path through this series, featuring LA private detective Elvis Cole and his hard man sidekick Joe Pike. In this, one of the later episodes, Elvis is approached by a woman whose daughter has gone missing. Because of the structure of this book we already know this: her abduction, along with her boyfriend, having been covered in the opening scene. In fact this book really does tell the story in an unusual way, as various scenes from the past are interspersed with action...
Taken is a Pike and Elvis Cole novel from Robert Crais. Elvis Cole caught a case of a wealthy industrialist missing son and his girlfriend when the police believe that they faked their kidnapping. To find Jack and Krista Cole went undercover. However, he did not realise that he would disappear too. Pike became involved in the case to find Cole. The readers of Taken will follow the twists and turns to see if Pike will discover where the kidnappers are keeping Cole, Jack and Krista.I was recommend...
2nd reading - Going back through the series, and this is where I originally met Elvis and Joe. The timeline of this story is disjointed, but to me, just adds to the suspense.A wealthy Hispanic business owner contacts Elvis to look for her college-age daughter, who has been seeing a young man for several months. She thinks the girl has eloped or is in trouble. Unraveling the mystery, our hero discovers a web of illegal immigrant smugglers. If that isn't bad enough, there are groups of bandits who...
This book in the series is about human trafficking. Cole, Pike and another combat buddy, Jon Stone, immerse themselves into a world so amoral you might want to brace yourself. Krista and her boyfriend are in the wrong place at the wrong time and have seen too much. They are both captured during a transport heist and these bandits will take anyone who has family that will 'pay' for them. Krista's mother hires Cole, but she's not the only one looking for her daughter. The boyfriend is hiding somet...
I'm a big fan of Elvis Cole and Joe Pike, but this was not my favorite book in the series. The decision to run segments out of chronological order meant we see Joe Pike being violent before we see the events that tipped him over that limit. This makes made him feel less sympathetic. Pike always hovers on that edge, because of his ruthless pragmatism and his Delta skills, but because he's also honorable, usually there is justification that exonerates his violence. In this case there is too, but y...
It's a good thriller, but it's not a great Elvis Cole book.As the series has progressed, Crais has kept on raising the physical and emotional stakes for his protagonists. Early on in the series, bad things happen to strangers and clients. Then bad things happen to people close to the main characters. Then bad things happen to the heroes directly. By now, it's almost impossible to conceive of an Elvis Cole/Joe Pike story where the two of them are not in mortal danger on every page.It gets tiring....
I read this at some point in the past, but I don't remember exactly when, although I can guess by the file dates on my computer; it was between the original date and the date I joined Goodreads. My audiobook player remembers that I finished it, and I somewhat remember the basic story. So, my rating isn't that accurate, but any book with Joe Pike rates at least 4 stars.
Another 5*. When you start an Elvis Cole & Joseph “Joe” Pike adventure it’s hard to stop reading until you are finished then you wished it wasn’t over. Robert Crais is awesome 👏
Always leaves me wanting more...Pike.More Pike, more emotion but those two words just don't go together. I keep hoping the facade will crack and we will get a momentary glimpse inside the tortured man we have grown to love. I thought I would see more emotion with Elvis being kidnapped but in true Crais form it was understated and simple, like Pike and his relationship with Elvis, it was broken down into simple, tangible things, the Corvette and a Jiminy Cricket figurine. Each item having meaning...
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.