Once Taken (a Riley Paige Mystery--Book #2) Kindle Edition

I know that I am reading fiction, so I also realize I need to suspend reality for a lot of this. I was disappointed in this series. Riley Paige is a female FBI agent with their BAU (Behavioral Analysis Unit) chasing serial killers. For some reason, you can only write a strong, smart female character if you make everyone else ..... stupid. I mean, it's the BAU, it's the elite of the elite, and she's the only one who can solve a crime or do ANYTHING? And, she constantly runs off and does stuff without backup, which is just stupid. And, by the third novel she's already committed some police brutality in every novel. You pull your gun on someone and beat them up for basically, nothing, and you are going to get fired. It's a little ridiculous. And.....it's the BAU, in this novel, there's a guy with a chain issue. The BAU doesn't have to go to some jailhouse home schooled psych guy to tell them what the chains mean. And.....what's with all this "Riley just knows things". She should know things based on her training, experience, and instinct. Not some magical way she just "knows". If you are going to write about a smart character......be smart about it.

Who could possibly give this book more than one star? I didn't read the first book in the series and am glad I didn't. The writing jumps over too many details and is too simplistic. The situation just had no reality. It only took me through chapter 2 to give up on it. Please authors, we know it's easy to publish ebooks but you have to at least try to use decent story development skills.I recommend everyone pass on this author. We have a right to receive much more for our money.

I really like Blake Pierce's book. I have read 4. One little criticism. I wish she would get a better proofreader. I am put offby grammatical errors. It just puts a bit of tarnish on her books. Will still read her books. They are great.

I am 2/3 of the way through this book and am going to stop reading. Perhaps I have been spoiled by too much Louise Penny, or Sue Grafton or even Agatha Christie, but this book pales by comparison to works by these and many other mystery writers. The writing is simply not that good. There is very little detailed description of the kind that makes for rich scenes and characters. For a while I thought that plot would be the saving grace , but it too disappointed. Specifically it was too over the top and the evil was mire extreme than interesting. Not comtent with one thriller plot, this one contains two quite different ones, which unless something very surprising happens at the end are completely unlinked. Moreover, we get in the heads of the villains, which matters most in the plot element that has the detective searching for an unknown killer. This plot device can work but it is hard to pull of successfully and it is not done well in this novel. Finally, the secret sauce of the detective is her ability to get in the head of her quarry and sense what he is like and what he is likely to do. This somewhat mystical quality is likely to lead to feud ex machina type conclusions which is a lazy way of surmounting plot hurdles. I note that i am an outlier and most readers think far better of the book than I do. So maybe you will regard this novel quite differently than I do. I also note that this is only the second book in a series. Sometimes series mysteries improve with each successive novel. I hope this turns out to be the case here, but if so I suggest that this novel be passed over. Even better, if you like mysteries and quality writing treat yourself to Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamash mysteries, reading them in order.

The second in a series of books about Riley Paige, FBI serial killer hunter.This book takes up where the first left off. Riley continues on her journey of self discovery while tracking a mentally deranged serial killer that is driven by chains.The characters and their relationship with each other continues to develop in this fast paced book. A serial killer is once again on the loose and it's up to Riley and her partner, Bill to track him down. They must determine not only what drives him to kill, but who he is and how he chooses his victims, and they have to do it before he kills again.I found this book to be a simple, yet enjoyable read with well developed characters.

I really get annoyed when I read a book filled with missing words and typos. Did no one proofread this book? Once I got past that I found the story rather predictable. I also didn't care for the main character. She was more annoying than interesting. I've no desire to read any more books in this series

Once Taken, by Blake Pierce, Book #2 is a fair read. After reading all three issues of Once Taken, three in total, the theme runs the same through all three books. All three books are dealing with a serial killer. At times I found some pages to be a bit redundant. In Once Taken, #2, we find a young man who had been mistreated as a youngster not only by his mother until her death, but also in a orphanage that run by sadistic nuns. He had been chained down and badly mistreated. Thus, he has carried this into adulthood. The "chains" speak to him telling him to find women whom he should kill to relieve him of his pain while growing up. Our killer is not a big man nor is he strong. Yet by means of a pulley, his takes his victims and hangs them from on high for all to see. In this issue, Paige is positive that one killer is still living and is trying to seek his revenge on her or her daughter, April. He had once taken Riley and held her captive until she was able to free her self. But was he dead? Not to Riley. This novel is split between two cases. You may find it an interesting read. Very little strong language and little sexual content. It appears that Once Taken, are self published. Rate G. DP. Castro Valley, CA.

A good book, well developed characters and storyline - though it helped to have read the first in the series beforehand. The only real irritant for me (across both books) is the amount of times we are told about Agent Riley Paige's remarkable talent and how good she is - seeing things that no-one else could have through her unique talent to get into the mind of a perpetrator. Sometimes these statements come well after you've already worked out for yourself what is coming and it felt like the author was trying to make a lasting impression through constant repetition of the theme rather than provide a narrative that allows the reader to draw their own conclusion. All in all very enjoyable but felt a little thin and rushed in parts but I've pre-ordered the next in the series already - I just hope the author doesn't rush to the deadline and leave us wanting.

Utter rubbish, repetitive, unbelievable, one dimensional characters. A plot with more holes than a piece of Swiss cheese. Super woman was captured when she released a captive who ran away to safety, but the police did not come knocking on the pervert's door. Two women were tortured by a pervert with a blow torch, but neither one had a burn mark on her. She blew up the house with no regard to passers by being killed, she blew the lock off the caravan door when there could have been a captive schoolgirl inside. Pathetic Bill told her daily in an awed voice that she was a genius, but she failed to notice the two victims were linked by both wearing uniforms, and she accused every man she met as being guilty. The doll convention scene was ludicrous; what is a doll convention? Is it where dolls meet to discuss world events? She tracked the pervert by standing near where he used to live and was told by a passing tramp that the pervert was driving a stolen Caddy and worked in a shop nearby, the shopkeeper said he has moved to the construction site where a 15 year old schoolgirl said he lives in that house over there and he pointed a gun at me; again the police did not enquire about the gun threat or the stolen Caddy parked on the front drive. Luckily the Caddy was parked facing the right way with the engine running so that the captive could escape in it. A double barrel shotgun would not float. The list of faults longer than the book. The book was free; it was overpriced, I should have been paid to read it. Only one praise: the book is an ebook so no materials were wasted producing it Amazon should review their star rating policy so that I could give the book ,a minus number.

I found this second book massively frustrating. Instead of developing the Riley Paige character from the rather shallow depths of the first novel Blake Pierce has left her thin and insubstantial. Riley's advertised ability to penetrate the minds of serial killers actually manifests itself as making far reaching assumptions without reference to any fact or evidence. Riley is lucky that she has such a generous author who saves her reputation by allowing some of her more random snap conclusions to be correct. Her character could easily be used as the unpredictable loose cannon in police procedurals. The number of 5 star reviews indicate that there are plenty of readers who are willing to overlook characterisation and plot weaknesses to enjoy a pleasant ready reading style of prose but I regret I an not among them. The promise in the blurb has not been delivered (which is a shame as it was a good promise).

Another interesting story about FBI Agent Paige Riley. Riley is convinced her previous captor is still alive, despite evidence to the contrary. However, after pebbles are found in her house and then her teenage daughter, April is kidnapped, everyone starts to take Riley seriously and the search for April is on. Alongside this Riley is investigating a man who is leaving victims tied up in chains.Very easy and quick read, liked the visits to Sing Sing and the insights from the prisoner. Seems she & April situation getting better and Paige becoming less selfish towards her daughter over work.Without giving away things, Riley's actions are very aggressive but consequences don't come through her job; would she not be suspended rather than told to take a holiday & then no comeback when she returns to work early?Possible mistakes: judgment (legal) rather than judgement;Lucy is "kicking her wheels" (heels maybe?); when Riley is crossing bridge into northeast looking for prep it says its northwest; "two two-hour drive between Albany & Sing Sing "

Improbable tale about super FBI agent Riley Paige, who is haunted by a murderer from her past, one whom she killed. Or did she? Cue portentous music...Paige has a daughter, and a rookie partner. Also a husband and a former partner , plus a tough but fair boss. She herself has an uncanny ability to think herself into the mind of a serial killer, which is handy if your day job consists of hunting serial killers.Leaving the rookie in charge of an apparently less urgent investigation, she returns to Washington DC to pursue the real baddie, who by now has kidnapped her teenage daughter. So almost certainly the rookie partner is going to fall victim to the same fate that met the nameless guys in red shirts in Star Trek.It's predictable and formulaic.