He is cold and calculating and says he will return Tomas tomorrow after Kate transfers almost half-a-million dollars into an off-shore account.  The man, Captain Stephen Cutter, drugs Kate for the evening, returning in the morning to take her to the bank.  He reneges on his promise to return Tomas. Instead he kills the sheriff and baseball coach, Fred Corso, hides him in Kate’s basement freezer and calls a tip in to 911. 

Now Kate is arrested for murder, her son is still missing and she can’t get the police to listen to her.  She hires attorney Maria Savalo to keep her out of jail and Randall Shane to help find Tomas.  The three work quickly against time, Randall and Kate teaming up to search for Tomas.  Randall comes with his own set of demons that looking for lost children seems to help, but not entirely.  Readers learn the story from both Kate’s point of view, as well as Cutter’s, but it is not until the very end that the true nature of the kidnapping is learned, making the whole ordeal that much more gruesome.  

Kate is a very passionate woman who will use her last breath to locate Tomas.  Because it involves the kidnapping of a child, the story is very emotional; but the fact that the police refuse to take Kate’s report of her missing child makes the story unbelievable at times. 

Also, at the very end when Kate is going to storm the fortress, she asks two of the women who work for her catering business to help (including arranging a helicopter ride). These are women that she has not spent a lot of time with during the rest of the book or seems especially close to.

 The plot of the story is very interesting and will have readers trying to figure out who or what is behind the kidnapping. Why Cutter has taken Tomas and why he wants him alive, will be very surprising and even a bit shocking to readers. Taken is a fast-paced story that is very readable and enjoyable, if the police’s lack of concern for a missing 11-year-old child can be overlooked.  

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry