Taken by David Massey was one of those books that I simply couldn’t put down. This is the story of 6 young people who are kidnapped from their boat as they were attempting a round-world sailing cruise for charity. They were barely a day out of Cape Town and didn’t have a chance when overtaken by 4 speed boats. Their boat is sunk and they are brought back to an isolated African beach. What follows is a nightmare march across the plains and jungles of Africa. Constantly on the move, they eventually learn that they are being held for ransom by a group that calls itself the Lord’s Resistance Army, a well-known terrorist group. Of the 6 young people, 4 are handicapped in various ways, three of them had received their wounds while serving with the British Army.

The story that follows is both harrowing and exciting. The only jarring thing to me was that the romantic triangle continued even after they were kidnapped and romance should have been the last thing in their heads. This more juvenile plot line felt like a nod to it’s YA label. As they are marched across Africa and see these terrorists commit horrendous acts both to them and to others, they realise that if they want to be saved, they will have come up with a plan of escape for themselves.

Taken is a story of survival and adventure, there are many scenes of violence both to animals and humans. I would suggest this would be appropriate reading for the more mature YA reader. Although I had very few expectations for this book, I was actually quite taken with the story. Perhaps not the best writing, but nevertheless I found myself both involved with the ongoing story and desperately wanting to know how the book was going to end. ( )

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In Short
- Taken is a very intense read.
- Became action packed very quickly.
- I became almost friends with the characters.

In Long
Having enjoyed David's previous book, Torn, I was excited to read Taken and was hoping to enjoy it as much as I did Torn.

Taken is a very intense read from the beginning and really got action packed pretty much within a few pages! Any uncertainty that I had about the book was very quickly diminished by David's style of writing which captivated me. I really felt like I was going through this experience with the characters and was actually there myself. I wanted to fight with and for the characters.

I really enjoyed how Taken unfolds and different parts of the story start to be pieced together and make sense. It definitely kept my attention throughout the book, I even found myself holding my breath at some points as I read as quickly as I could to find out what David had planned for my 'new friends'.

Final Thoughts
Taken is a chilling book which was different from anything else I have read before. I really enjoyed David's style of writing which flowed easily and was very addictive. ( )