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The child was taken in broad daylight, on a warm June morning, in a crowded shopping area in downtown Pittsburgh.
Marina Benedict first saw the baby with his mother. Then, just minutes later, she saw him again, in the arms of a man she was certain was not the child's father. In a single life-altering act -- as baffling as it was inescapable -- Marina followed them. Thus begins Kathleen George's breathtaking novel, a heart-pounding thriller that brings together dozens of frayed and frail lives around the fate of one baby boy....
Marina had every reason not to get involved. She'd just left her therapist's office, reeling from her decision to finally end her shattered marriage. But the sight of a baby had always caught her attention and filled her with longing -- for the child she herself has been unable to conceive. And when she sees the child again, she knows -- knows beyond all knowing -- that he has been abducted. Without hesitating, without thinking, Marina follows the kidnapper into one of Pittsburgh's bleakest neighborhoods.
Within hours, the city is galvanized by a single news a child, the son of a rookie pitcher for the Pirates, is missing. And suddenly Marina Benedict is at the heart of a bewildering mystery, one that grows darker and more complex with each passing day.
For as the search builds to a crescendo, dozens of lives are drawn into the drama -- Richard Christie, lead detective on the case, struggles with his own demons as he tries to unravel a mystery that has torn his city apart. And Marina Benedict, pulled from the safety of her ordinary life by a devastating crime, will not emerge unscathed. Once Marina tried to save a life and it changed her forever. Now she will risk her life again -- for a child who is still out there somewhere, still in need of saving.
A thriller of extraordinary menace and power, Taken slowly unravels a mystery that is as complex as it is heartbreaking. Like the woman who is at the center of this tale, Taken is at once alluring and deeply a story that takes the classic fast-paced thriller and infuses it with sensuality, insight, and compassion.
Marina Benedict first saw the baby with his mother. Then, just minutes later, she saw him again, in the arms of a man she was certain was not the child's father. In a single life-altering act -- as baffling as it was inescapable -- Marina followed them. Thus begins Kathleen George's breathtaking novel, a heart-pounding thriller that brings together dozens of frayed and frail lives around the fate of one baby boy....
Marina had every reason not to get involved. She'd just left her therapist's office, reeling from her decision to finally end her shattered marriage. But the sight of a baby had always caught her attention and filled her with longing -- for the child she herself has been unable to conceive. And when she sees the child again, she knows -- knows beyond all knowing -- that he has been abducted. Without hesitating, without thinking, Marina follows the kidnapper into one of Pittsburgh's bleakest neighborhoods.
Within hours, the city is galvanized by a single news a child, the son of a rookie pitcher for the Pirates, is missing. And suddenly Marina Benedict is at the heart of a bewildering mystery, one that grows darker and more complex with each passing day.
For as the search builds to a crescendo, dozens of lives are drawn into the drama -- Richard Christie, lead detective on the case, struggles with his own demons as he tries to unravel a mystery that has torn his city apart. And Marina Benedict, pulled from the safety of her ordinary life by a devastating crime, will not emerge unscathed. Once Marina tried to save a life and it changed her forever. Now she will risk her life again -- for a child who is still out there somewhere, still in need of saving.
A thriller of extraordinary menace and power, Taken slowly unravels a mystery that is as complex as it is heartbreaking. Like the woman who is at the center of this tale, Taken is at once alluring and deeply a story that takes the classic fast-paced thriller and infuses it with sensuality, insight, and compassion.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published May 8, 2001
About the author
Kathleen George
2,754 books67 followersKathleen Elizabeth George (born July 7, 1943) is an American professor and writer best known for her series of crime novels set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
She was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania and educated at the University of Pittsburgh: B.A. (summa cum laude), 1964, M.A. (theatre), 1966, Ph.D. (theatre), 1975, M.F.A. (creative writing), 1988. She teaches theatre arts at the University of Pittsburgh and fiction writing at the Chatham University Low-Residency MFA Program in Creative Writing.
She is married to the writer Hilary Masters, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. They reside in Pittsburgh.
She was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania and educated at the University of Pittsburgh: B.A. (summa cum laude), 1964, M.A. (theatre), 1966, Ph.D. (theatre), 1975, M.F.A. (creative writing), 1988. She teaches theatre arts at the University of Pittsburgh and fiction writing at the Chatham University Low-Residency MFA Program in Creative Writing.
She is married to the writer Hilary Masters, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. They reside in Pittsburgh.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
April 11, 2015
So I've been trying to shy away from hiding my reviews for spoilers, basically because I'm trying not to be lazy, and because I used to regard the most basic of plot points as spoilers & that's just silly. The event in this book that I'd not want to ruin for anyone (or have wanted to have ruined for me before I read this) comes up in almost every review that I've read of this book on this site, and is, in my opinion, grossly understated in every case. I'm kind of torn as a result. I don't want to hide my review since no one else seems to think that this event is such a big deal, but good grief, saying that a certain character gets shot does not do justice to what actually happens at all. I guess I'll just say be aware: I'm going to mention a major plot point about halfway through this. You'll find this same plot point mentioned in every other review you'd read here, I just see what happened a little differently from everyone else. My ass = covered now, right?
After leaving a couple's counseling session wherein she has announced that she wants to separate from her husband, plucky heroine Marina Benedict spies a baby in a stroller. The baby smiles & seems captivated by her; turns out all babies act this way when she's around. A short time later, she gets on a bus & sees this same baby in the arms of a strange man - but fear not, courageous Marina follows the man to an abandoned building, where she is captured by three bad guys, who have bungled their usual nefarious scheme and have resorted to dabbling in other criminal business.
The term 'Mary Sue' may not have been coined when this was written in 2001, but rest assured that Marina Benedict certainly fits the criteria. Here's where everyone references the fact that Marina is shot and survives, which does a disservice to what George actually wrote, even as she in turn does a disservice to her reader. "The sound is not so loud. There is fire in her side at the end of her life, lightning in her head, and then blackness." If you write such a thing about your character, who is tied to a chair & shot in the head & chest, should your reader not take that to mean that you've killed that character? Nothing like such a turn of events to make one think, 'damn, mortality & so forth' before reading on, and at first I admired George for her gutsy willingness to create a character & then murder her a scant 40 or so pages into the book. But it turns out that there was very little to admire after all, since Marian somehow lives through her execution with her remarkable beauty unsullied, despite, you know, having a wound in her skull, and goes on to solve the crime more quickly than the actual detectives & FBI agents assigned to the case, all while catching the eye of the married commanding detective, who just can’t believe how graceful and hot and awesome and all-around wonderful she is.
How terribly, utterly disappointing.
This book annoyed me to no end. I was certainly enraged by the fact that Marian was apparently shot with amazing take-back bullets that leave her almost entirely uninjured for the rest of the book – and with her perfect photographic memory of what happened completely intact – because lord knows that the ridiculous premise of almost-death has been coming up in so many of the books I’ve read lately (Nick Cooper, I am still mad at you for being alive) and it's really starting to piss me off. But that combined with the tired device of a married detective who simply must be attracted to & eventually have sex with the victimized woman who is part of his investigation, and how the detective and Marian’s sister and her estranged husband and the woman whose baby was kidnapped are constantly reflecting again and again on how beautiful she is and what a wonderful person she is, and the fact that Marian eventually confronts one of the bad guys again & she doesn’t get shot again because he’s stymied on her incredible gorgeousness, that elevate this to true throw the book across the room status. Thanks but no thanks, Kathleen George.
After leaving a couple's counseling session wherein she has announced that she wants to separate from her husband, plucky heroine Marina Benedict spies a baby in a stroller. The baby smiles & seems captivated by her; turns out all babies act this way when she's around. A short time later, she gets on a bus & sees this same baby in the arms of a strange man - but fear not, courageous Marina follows the man to an abandoned building, where she is captured by three bad guys, who have bungled their usual nefarious scheme and have resorted to dabbling in other criminal business.
The term 'Mary Sue' may not have been coined when this was written in 2001, but rest assured that Marina Benedict certainly fits the criteria. Here's where everyone references the fact that Marina is shot and survives, which does a disservice to what George actually wrote, even as she in turn does a disservice to her reader. "The sound is not so loud. There is fire in her side at the end of her life, lightning in her head, and then blackness." If you write such a thing about your character, who is tied to a chair & shot in the head & chest, should your reader not take that to mean that you've killed that character? Nothing like such a turn of events to make one think, 'damn, mortality & so forth' before reading on, and at first I admired George for her gutsy willingness to create a character & then murder her a scant 40 or so pages into the book. But it turns out that there was very little to admire after all, since Marian somehow lives through her execution with her remarkable beauty unsullied, despite, you know, having a wound in her skull, and goes on to solve the crime more quickly than the actual detectives & FBI agents assigned to the case, all while catching the eye of the married commanding detective, who just can’t believe how graceful and hot and awesome and all-around wonderful she is.
How terribly, utterly disappointing.
This book annoyed me to no end. I was certainly enraged by the fact that Marian was apparently shot with amazing take-back bullets that leave her almost entirely uninjured for the rest of the book – and with her perfect photographic memory of what happened completely intact – because lord knows that the ridiculous premise of almost-death has been coming up in so many of the books I’ve read lately (Nick Cooper, I am still mad at you for being alive) and it's really starting to piss me off. But that combined with the tired device of a married detective who simply must be attracted to & eventually have sex with the victimized woman who is part of his investigation, and how the detective and Marian’s sister and her estranged husband and the woman whose baby was kidnapped are constantly reflecting again and again on how beautiful she is and what a wonderful person she is, and the fact that Marian eventually confronts one of the bad guys again & she doesn’t get shot again because he’s stymied on her incredible gorgeousness, that elevate this to true throw the book across the room status. Thanks but no thanks, Kathleen George.
January 1, 2020
A baby is kidnapped for a child adoption scam, a bystander intervenes and is shot. Things unravel even more. A bunch of marriages unravel, too, as marriages in thrillers do, and a bunch of people get killed, as people in thrillers do.
In other words, predictable.
In other words, predictable.
May 30, 2013
I wanted to read this book because it takes place in Pittsburgh, my favorite city, and the story involves one of the Pittsburgh Pirates - my absolute favorite sports team.
The story itself I had a hard time following... it jumped from one person to another. And it just wasn't all that believable.
The baby of a rookie pitcher for the Pirates is taken in broad daylight from a downtown shopping center.... and nobody saw anything. But then Marina, who had briefly seen the baby with his mother earlier in the day, sees said baby on a bus with a man.... and she thinks that something doesn't seem right.
I'm all about following your intuitions, but the entire story seems a little far fetched.
Although I enjoyed Marina's character (who apparently has super healing powers - I mean, she was shot twice at close range, once in the head and once in the chest/stomach - and she was basically back to normal within a month!), I would have liked to have spent more time with baby Justin's parents. They were kind of an afterthought.
This book really left a lot to be desired. For me, the saving grace was the fact that I could picture most of the places mentioned in and around Pittsburgh, and a brief reference to one of my favorite former Pirates, Jason Kendall. Three stars for the Kendall reference alone.
The story itself I had a hard time following... it jumped from one person to another. And it just wasn't all that believable.
The baby of a rookie pitcher for the Pirates is taken in broad daylight from a downtown shopping center.... and nobody saw anything. But then Marina, who had briefly seen the baby with his mother earlier in the day, sees said baby on a bus with a man.... and she thinks that something doesn't seem right.
I'm all about following your intuitions, but the entire story seems a little far fetched.
Although I enjoyed Marina's character (who apparently has super healing powers - I mean, she was shot twice at close range, once in the head and once in the chest/stomach - and she was basically back to normal within a month!), I would have liked to have spent more time with baby Justin's parents. They were kind of an afterthought.
This book really left a lot to be desired. For me, the saving grace was the fact that I could picture most of the places mentioned in and around Pittsburgh, and a brief reference to one of my favorite former Pirates, Jason Kendall. Three stars for the Kendall reference alone.
March 7, 2013
Well, this is just about the dumbest book I've read! Woman sees a baby on a bus that she saw earlier in a shopping mall and "just knows" the baby doesn't belong to the man on the bus. She follows the kidnapper, puts herself right in the middle of a baby buying ring with lots of bad people, gets herself shot, twice. She survives and is put in a police protection program, and separates from her husband, (who starts shagging his assistant because wife isn't home, but feels guilty later when he finds out she was being tied, gagged, shot at, etc). Lady Hero, who is constantly bored with being in police protection, starts an affair with the lead detective (who is married with 2 children) and then sneaks away to track down the baby and save the day, because the police and the FBI can't do it on their own without her "intuition". I kid you not.
Wasn't a one star book because I read to the end (yeah, I'm not listening to any of your "who's the dumb one retorts) to see what happened to everyone. I was more interested in Joe, the bumbling baby napper, then anyone else.
Wasn't a one star book because I read to the end (yeah, I'm not listening to any of your "who's the dumb one retorts) to see what happened to everyone. I was more interested in Joe, the bumbling baby napper, then anyone else.
August 1, 2019
The pacing of this book was awful in my opinion. It seemed like it could have been suspenseful, but perhaps purposefully wasn’t? I can’t gauge what the intent of the writing style was. Anything that could have been a twist was written later as a 2 sentence after thought explanation. I also couldn’t connect with or care about any of the characters, protagonists or antagonists. Very bizarre.
May 20, 2024
This book so disenchanted me that I didn’t even look to see whether there are other books in it. I won’t read them if they’re there.
Marina and Michael are calling it quits. They’ve shot their marriage to Hades, and on their last session, they determine that it really is over. Earlier in the day, Marina saw a baby in a stroller with whom she interacted. As she takes a bus home, she sees the same baby in the arms of a different man, and it intrigues her enough that when she exits the bus, she follows the man and baby to an abandoned building. The child is the kidnapped baby of a rookie member of the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team. If you read this, (and I’m taking a neutral view), you’ll learn that there’s more to the kidnapping than the ransom cliché. The kidnappers use Marina to purchase baby supplies, so the child doesn’t die before they achieve their aims, then they shoot her in the head and chest and leave her to die.
I don’t know how you take shots in the head and chest, lose a significant amount of blood, lie in your leakage for nearly a full day, and still live. It’s almost like the author did no research on this. Worse still, the woman heals in less than a month. From that point forward, the book had no credibility with me.
Additionally, I felt these characters were of such low quality that I didn’t care what happened to them. Had Marina bled out in the first 50 pages or so, I’d have been able to yawn, stretch, and move on. The Pittsburgh cop who caught the kidnapped child case is equally reprehensible. Richard Christie has his own demons, and his marriage and children aren’t a factor for him in his eagerness to bed Marina.
In short, the premise of this book is far more gripping and interesting than the book. Kidnapping a baby in the middle of the day is a life-changing experience for a whole lot of people. I was intrigued by the idea of a kidnapping in plain site like that. I had high expectations for this based on that premise, and the book failed to meet those expectations.
Marina and Michael are calling it quits. They’ve shot their marriage to Hades, and on their last session, they determine that it really is over. Earlier in the day, Marina saw a baby in a stroller with whom she interacted. As she takes a bus home, she sees the same baby in the arms of a different man, and it intrigues her enough that when she exits the bus, she follows the man and baby to an abandoned building. The child is the kidnapped baby of a rookie member of the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team. If you read this, (and I’m taking a neutral view), you’ll learn that there’s more to the kidnapping than the ransom cliché. The kidnappers use Marina to purchase baby supplies, so the child doesn’t die before they achieve their aims, then they shoot her in the head and chest and leave her to die.
I don’t know how you take shots in the head and chest, lose a significant amount of blood, lie in your leakage for nearly a full day, and still live. It’s almost like the author did no research on this. Worse still, the woman heals in less than a month. From that point forward, the book had no credibility with me.
Additionally, I felt these characters were of such low quality that I didn’t care what happened to them. Had Marina bled out in the first 50 pages or so, I’d have been able to yawn, stretch, and move on. The Pittsburgh cop who caught the kidnapped child case is equally reprehensible. Richard Christie has his own demons, and his marriage and children aren’t a factor for him in his eagerness to bed Marina.
In short, the premise of this book is far more gripping and interesting than the book. Kidnapping a baby in the middle of the day is a life-changing experience for a whole lot of people. I was intrigued by the idea of a kidnapping in plain site like that. I had high expectations for this based on that premise, and the book failed to meet those expectations.
April 22, 2020
I probably shouldn't have read this while under stay-at-home orders during a pandemic as a main character did a lot of complaining after she told to stay home for her safety, and I felt no sympathy. That aside, the story was compelling, but had some major issues with pacing. The beginning and end — where most of the action took place — moved quickly while the middle dragged.
Many chapters, mostly those in the middle of the novel, were just check-ins on various characters. Nothing changed from the beginning to the end of these scenes. Sometimes there was character development, but often not. Either way is unacceptable for a thriller.
If the middle was tightened and more scenes ended in different places than where the began, it would have been a superior novel. It was still an enjoyable read, particularly for those of us in Pittsburgh.
Many chapters, mostly those in the middle of the novel, were just check-ins on various characters. Nothing changed from the beginning to the end of these scenes. Sometimes there was character development, but often not. Either way is unacceptable for a thriller.
If the middle was tightened and more scenes ended in different places than where the began, it would have been a superior novel. It was still an enjoyable read, particularly for those of us in Pittsburgh.
July 7, 2024
This was a pretty good book. It wasn’t five star but it certainly had some good twists and turns that kept me going.
I thoroughly enjoyed all of the specific references to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania since I am a Pittsburgher. Well, a suburbanite In a fairly spacious community about 10 miles south to downtown.
I started reading a new book already that takes place in Corona Del Mar California. California may be nice and I would love to live in a California ranch, but their yards are like postage stamps your houses are practically on top of one another. When I look at how it is out there on Google Earth, I am really glad to be here with my 9/10 of an acre. I have a gardening shed. I have a spacious backyard and addition front yard that overlooks the Woodhill side. The privacy is fantastic. I’m not sure how I could live with someone’s house 3 feet away from my house.
I thoroughly enjoyed all of the specific references to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania since I am a Pittsburgher. Well, a suburbanite In a fairly spacious community about 10 miles south to downtown.
I started reading a new book already that takes place in Corona Del Mar California. California may be nice and I would love to live in a California ranch, but their yards are like postage stamps your houses are practically on top of one another. When I look at how it is out there on Google Earth, I am really glad to be here with my 9/10 of an acre. I have a gardening shed. I have a spacious backyard and addition front yard that overlooks the Woodhill side. The privacy is fantastic. I’m not sure how I could live with someone’s house 3 feet away from my house.
April 2, 2024
Very original plot, not like anything I've read before. I like the different perspectives that are given throughout the story, I always find this style of writing to be more engaging. Plus I liked that it's based in Pittsburgh and I could envision many of the mentioned locations. However, SO. MANY. NAMES. There are tons of people to keep track of and too many of them have similar names to each other. There are also an incredible number of plots where people are committing "justified" cheating. Didn't love that message but overall an OK book.
March 15, 2023
Really well-crafted narrative that keeps the reader constantly guessing because the detail is such that the story could go any one of 3 or 4 or even more ways. Very subtly done with complex characters, including the minor ones, and no one that it is really easy to pigeon-hole. Only major flaw is that the actions of the main character seem a bit far-fetched as she solves a crime that stymies both the Pittsburgh police and the FBI.
January 20, 2019
This was a good mystery. The setting is Pittsburgh with actual streets, restaurants, landmarks -so fascinating to a Pittsburgher. At least 90% of the book is a real page turner, then unfortunately lapses into sometimes predictable and sometimes stretching of the imagination sidelines. But all in all, a good read and I intend to read a few more of George’s novels.
July 14, 2023
It was fun to read a book that takes place in Pittsburgh written by a Pittsburgh author. This was my first Kathleen George read but it won't be my last! I've already ordered the second book in the Detective Christie series.
April 15, 2018
Marena's irresponsible choices wore thin. Christie's relationship with his wife wasn't very interesting. The criminals were interesting. I wonder what happened to Joe?
July 24, 2018
Did not live up to reviews, it was not suspenseful or page turning worthy. It was alright but not what I expected.
April 28, 2019
Kept my interest, but there were loose ends and several far fetched happenings. I’m from Pittsburgh, so it felt very familiar.
January 10, 2021
It was great right up to the last page, the end, which was confusing. It wasn’t clear who the narrator was or what was happening and why. Otherwise it would have been 4 stars
May 26, 2021
A woman notices a guy on a bus with a baby who clearly isn't his. Curious, she follows him and ends up entangled in a kidnapping ring. Good, hard to put down read.
September 25, 2024
Excellent 1st book in the series. Living in Pittsburgh my entire life, it's cool having a series of books based in Pittsburgh.
June 4, 2025
3.25 stars
August 16, 2025
This book started out great,then it became so bogged down in tedious minutiae.
I literally fell asleep multiple times trying to slog through it.
I literally fell asleep multiple times trying to slog through it.
August 9, 2021
I gave it 3 stars because it was set in Pittsburgh. Had it been anywhere else probably 2 stars. Fairly far fetched. And the double speak (repeating the same phrases usually twice as if it need to be said twice for stress…said twice for stress), was annoying.
March 14, 2012
One day, Marina Benedict, an actress who is trying to come to terms with the dissolution of her marriage, goes to the Clark Building in downtown Pittsburgh to turn her jewelry, gifts from her husband, into cash to cover living expenses. There in the lobby she sees an adorable baby with his mother. She's aware of studying the baby, even flirting with him, because she longs for a child herself. A short time later, having finished her business in the jewelry shop upstairs, she catches a bus for home. She sees the same baby on the bus, this time with a man whom she is certain is not the child's father. The man has nothing else with him—no diaper bag, no stroller. When Marina tries to talk to him, he avoids her. In a single life-altering act, Marina gets off the bus one stop after the man does and she follows him and the baby to an abandoned house. All she can think of is that the baby is in danger and must be saved. Nobody knows where she is.
This is the first of a series of loosely connected mysteries set in Pittsburgh. Commander Richard Christie is a unifying presence throughout the series, but each focuses and is primarily told through the viewpoint of a different character.
Each of Kathleen George's novels can easily stand alone. You don't have to read them all, but you will want to. Her writing is taut, suspenseful, and filled with gritty details that put you on the inside of each scene, living the story from start to finish.
This is the first of a series of loosely connected mysteries set in Pittsburgh. Commander Richard Christie is a unifying presence throughout the series, but each focuses and is primarily told through the viewpoint of a different character.
Each of Kathleen George's novels can easily stand alone. You don't have to read them all, but you will want to. Her writing is taut, suspenseful, and filled with gritty details that put you on the inside of each scene, living the story from start to finish.
April 2, 2012
I decided to read this book b/c the author works at Pitt and the setting is Pittsburgh. The story was a bit slow for me and some of the plot was a stretch.
It focuses on Marina Benedict, who is out of work as an actress and has decided to divorce her abusive husband. While trying to make money by selling her jewelry, she runs into a woman with a baby in the Clark building. As she is walking out, she sees a man getting on a bus with a child that looks like the baby she saw with the woman in the Clark building. Something seems off to Marina, so she follows this guy to a bad part of town trying to engage him in conversation. Rather than contact authorities, she follows him to an abandoned aptmt. where she is then kidnapped. (Really? Who does this?)
So, not to ruin the plot for those reading this, the baby was kidnapped and the father is a ballplayer with the Pirates, therefore becoming high profile. The police dept get involved. Marina miraculously is found (again, far fetched) by police and is placed in protection b/c she can identify the kidnappers. She and the police detective, Richard Christie, who's marriage is also in the toilet, fall in love at first sight (outlandish to say the least). The story continues trying to track down kidnappers and Marina continually puts herself in danger. The end leaves room for a continued love story.
I will probably give the next book a try to see if the plot line gets any better.
It focuses on Marina Benedict, who is out of work as an actress and has decided to divorce her abusive husband. While trying to make money by selling her jewelry, she runs into a woman with a baby in the Clark building. As she is walking out, she sees a man getting on a bus with a child that looks like the baby she saw with the woman in the Clark building. Something seems off to Marina, so she follows this guy to a bad part of town trying to engage him in conversation. Rather than contact authorities, she follows him to an abandoned aptmt. where she is then kidnapped. (Really? Who does this?)
So, not to ruin the plot for those reading this, the baby was kidnapped and the father is a ballplayer with the Pirates, therefore becoming high profile. The police dept get involved. Marina miraculously is found (again, far fetched) by police and is placed in protection b/c she can identify the kidnappers. She and the police detective, Richard Christie, who's marriage is also in the toilet, fall in love at first sight (outlandish to say the least). The story continues trying to track down kidnappers and Marina continually puts herself in danger. The end leaves room for a continued love story.
I will probably give the next book a try to see if the plot line gets any better.
May 24, 2012
When the fifth book in author Kathleen George’s Commander Christie series, Hideout, was recommended by my local library, I clicked back to her first one, Taken. I had indicated to the library that I enjoyed police procedurals and this book is that, but a more sensitive approach to the genre. In addition to the investigative particulars, Christie’s thoughts and feelings are freely expressed, perhaps a little too often and deeply for me at times. This quote from the book neatly describes the character and his love interest, “They both had absorbent personalities, took on other people’s lives.” The setting, in my mid-Western territory, was comfortable as were several exclamations of “Cripes” which I fondly remember my father using. George’s periodic Shakespeare references are clever but past my rudimentary knowledge – I’d better bone up on the basics for the next in the series, Fallen!
March 25, 2008
This author is from my hometown of Pittsburgh and the story is set there. I like giving local authors a try and it's always a bonus when I like their work. I very much like the main character, Detective Richard Christie, and found this story quite enjoyable. I also like the author's style of writing a mystery. It certainly kept me guessing and interested to find out the outcome.
December 18, 2009
I guess this is not really a mystery, because we see the action from a lot of different points of view, one of the things I really dislike, so we know who did it. It is more a police procedural...and a romance. Quite enjoyable, kept me awake late last night, although not very believable in some ways.
June 15, 2014
The 4 month old baby of a famous baseball player is kidnapped in an baby kidnapping operation that has been going on for a while but undetected. There is a witness and a woman who tried to stop the kidnapping, and she is now being kept under protective custody. However, there is no sign of the kidnapper or the baby, will Detective Christie ever solve this case?
March 30, 2015
Loved this! I first heard of the author by finding her latest book in the Mystery Lover's book store in Oakmont. Actually met her at the Women Read/Women Write conference in Carnegie, where I purchased her latest book, Johnstown Girls, and this one. This was her first book. A police drama with flair - Her character development is strong.
July 3, 2016
Doesn't get better than this
It's a police procedural, a psychological thriller, a child abduction story, a romance, and a suspense drama all at once. The writer's style is simple and gripping and thought-provoking. Characters are realistic and the plot is tight. This is the second book by Kathleen George that I've read, and it's official now: I have a new favorite author.
It's a police procedural, a psychological thriller, a child abduction story, a romance, and a suspense drama all at once. The writer's style is simple and gripping and thought-provoking. Characters are realistic and the plot is tight. This is the second book by Kathleen George that I've read, and it's official now: I have a new favorite author.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews