Taken by Dee Henderson ~ Book Review

Matthew Dane, a former cop, is now a private investigator.  When he attends a conference, he finds a young woman outside his hotel door looking for help.  Shannon Bliss has purposely sought out Matthew's aid.  Shannon was kidnapped at age 16, and now 11 years later, after carefully planning for years she has found a way to escape the life forced upon her but she needs Matthew's experience.  Matthew's daughter was also kidnapped, at age 8 and was found years later, so he knows the ins and outs of helping a victim to ease back into a normal life and to regain a sense of themselves.  But Shannon is determined to do it at her own pace and will only release information as she is ready which means her life could once again be in danger.  She has enough information that could put away some people for a very long time but the information also requires that they find hidden evidence.  Matthew needs to hold back his natural inclinations to solve the kidnapping at a fast a pace as possible and let Shannon feel comfortable in revealing everything that has happened to her.  But her re-entry into society is made more complicated because her brother, who has never stopped looking for her, is also running for governor and is only a few months from election.  Could her reappearance ruin his chances at his dream?  And could all the information that gets revealed also implicate people she thought loved her?

Dee Henderson is always an author I know I can go to for a very good story with flawed characters who never the less try to walk out their faith even in the midst of the criminal circumstances surrounding them.  Taken was a bit different for me.  Rather than an edge of your seat crime drama where one wonders whodunit, it more explored the victim trying to bring their life back to normal and all that would involve.  But because of the description on the back cover I was expecting the fast paced crime drama where I kept waiting for something big to happen and it never materialized.   Instead it was a very honest look at what crimes like this might leave the victim to deal with even when they are "rescued". It didn't make the read bad, just not what I was expecting.  I really liked the strength of Shannon's character in hanging on to her faith even in the midst of years of disappearance and how determined she was not to lose that in her life no matter what was happening.  There is a very good discussion between her and Matthew in the story concerning evil and free will that felt woven in very well and not at all just stuck in there.  It would make a great discussion point if the book was read in a book club.  

I gave the book an 8/10