Review: Taken by Robert Crais

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult; First Edition edition (January 24, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399158278
• ISBN-13: 978-0399158278

Book Description

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 only call “that boy,” and that they need money: “Even smart girls do stupid things when they think a boy loves them.”

     But Nita 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 each other. They steal drugs, guns, and people – buying and selling victims like commodities, and killing the ones they can’t get a price for.

     Elvis Cole and Joe Pike find the spot where they 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 worse. Going undercover to find the two young people and buy them back, Cole himself is taken, and 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..


My Review

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 www.robertcrais.com.