Taken (novel)

Taken is a crime novel by the American writer Kathleen George set in 1990s Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

It tells the story of a baby taken in broad daylight downtown Pittsburgh. Protagonist Marina Benedict gets involved, and detective Richard Christie takes on the task of finding the missing child of a rookie pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Plots

Plot 1

'Seventeen year-old Kim is the pride and joy of her father Bryan Mills. Bryan is a retired agent who left the Central Intelligence Agency to be near Kim in California. Kim lives with her mother Lenore and her wealthy stepfather Stuart. Kim manages to convince her reluctant father to allow her to travel to Paris with her friend Amanda. When the girls arrive in Paris they share a cab with a stranger named Peter, and Amanda lets it slip that they are alone in Paris. Using this information an Albanian gang of human traffickers kidnaps the girls. Kim barely has time to call her father and give him information. Her father gets to speak briefly to one of the kidnappers and he promises to kill the kidnappers if they do not let his daughter go free. The kidnapper wishes him \"good luck,\" so Bryan Mills travels to Paris to search for his daughter and her friend.'

Plot 2

Bryan Mills has only recently given up his government career as what he calls, a "preventer" to be near his daughter Kim, who lives with Bryan's ex-wife Lenore and her new husband. To make ends meet, Bryan joins some former colleagues for special security details (like guarding a pop diva), but most of his time and energy are spent re-connecting with Kim. But, when Kim requests his permission to spend time in Paris with a friend, he reluctantly consents. Bryan's worst fears are realized when Kim and her friend Amanda are suddenly abducted - in broad daylight - from the Paris apartment at which they've just arrived. Moments before Kim is dragged away by the as yet unseen and unknown assailants, she manages to phone Bryan, who begins to expertly piece together clues that will take him to the darkness of Paris's underworld, and to the City of Light's plushest mansions. He will face nightmares worse than anything he experienced in black ops - and let nothing and no one stop him from saving his daughter.

Plot 3

Taken is a 2008 action thriller film starring Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, and Maggie Grace. It is based on a script by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen and was directed by Pierre Morel. Neeson plays a former Central Intelligence Agency paramilitary operative who sets about tracking down his teenage daughter after she is kidnapped by slave traders while traveling in Europe.

Sources

Contemporary Authors Online. The Gale Group, 2006. PEN (Permanent Entry Number): 0000142340.

External links

• Kathleen George website