Book #34 - Taken

At the library, one of the first books I saw in the "new" section was Taken by Robert Crais. I've been a fan of his Elvis Cole series, and look forward to each new one. I had to grab this, knowing I'd be getting on a couple plans over the next week.

The book is really written in an interesting way. There's a kidnapping of two young adults, and of Cole, and the chapters all reference these events. There's a "The day Maria and Jack are taken", then "Four Days after Maria and Jack are taken" chapters mixed in with "Two days after Elvis is taken". These two events form the basis of the timeline, but the book doesn't move linearly. The kids are taken, Cole is hired by the mother, and then Pike is searching for Cole. The rest of the book somewhat jumps between the days the kids are in captivity by coyotes and the days Cole is searching for them, with a few skips forward to the days Pike is looking for him.

It actually backtracks a few times as Cole must unravel the mystery of what happened to the kids, who were in Palm Springs for the weekend. He determines quickly that the kids were caught by coyotes bringing illegal immigrants up from Mexico, and were taken by a bandit that robs the coyotes. He then pushes, finding himself in the mix between the rival gangs and cartels.

It's an exciting book, one I finished on two flights, and was loathe to put down between the flights. Worth the read.