I love a good thriller and this one is excellent. It will have you gripped, unable to stop reading and you will be completely immersed and invested. Excellent

One moment she's there, the next she's gone...

Have you seen Leila?
 
Leila is 8 years old, very streetwise and the youngest child of Kelsey. They live on the Hawthorn Estate and Leila stays in the playground late, to avoid going home and witnessing what her mother gets up to behind closed doors, no child should have to go through that, should they? But, unbeknown to Leila, someone has been watching her and, one day, she just disappears, has she been taken or did she run away? The police are called and a search of the surrounding area begins, people saw her in the playground but nobody saw her go, the police are determined to get to the bottom of what happened.

This is the second book I've read by Lisa Stone and it is equally good, it's a crime thriller that hits the ground running and I was hooked from the start. It's fresh, imaginative and with many twists thrown in throughout the book to keep the reader interested. The characters were plausible and many times I felt sorry for Kelsey, but I also wanted to slap her round the face and say 'wake up and smell the coffee, or you'll lose Leila for good!' As for Leila, I just wanted to envelop her in a great big momma hug so she never felt alone again. It's a well crafted book, with a great plot, and I prayed for a happy ending for both Kelsey and Leila, preferably together, as it's evident how much they really love each other. I have Lisa's other two books on my kindle and will be bumping them up my tbr list.

Thank you to HarperCollins UK and Netgalley for the auto approval, I will post my review on Amazon and Goodreads.

Loved this book from the first page, took a while for the plot to come together for me and when it did it was a bit of a surprise. Love Lisa Stone as an author, she has excellent plots and some brilliant twists.

Eight year old Leila doesn’t have an easy life - her mother is a drink and drug addict, who uses prostitution to earn money. Leila is left alone in the play area until late most evenings, until the day she disappears. Has she been rescued from her troubled life, or is she in more danger now?

Taken was a great story, with enough action to keep the pages turning to the end of the book. As the tale progresses, Leila’s character comes out and you realise that she is a strong little girl, who loves her mum in spite of everything that’s happened to her. The motives of all involved are understandable and, even though I worked out who was behind the plot, it was still entertaining. I was willing for Leila to be able to return to her mum, as Kelsey showed her vulnerable side amidst the damage and destruction around her.

Thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and will be looking out for more books by Lisa Stone.

Eight year old Leila lives with her addict mother Kelsey Smith. Their relationship is difficult and Leila has seen things that no child should see, but it's evident that Kelsey and Leila do love each other, regardless of the situation they are in.
One day Leila doesn't return home, which sets the wheels in motion for Taken.

Although I liked Taken, I unfortunately didn't love it. Lisa Stone made it far too easy to predict, even with all of the twists and turns, who the abductor of Leila was.
The other thing I was kind of disappointed about was that I was hoping Taken was to be more of a thriller read, but it wasn't.

I think a lot of Cathy Glass shone through in this read, and not so much Lisa Stone.

With thanks to Harper Collins and Netgalley for my E-ARC of Taken in exchange for an honest review.

Leila is a young girl that has seen too much bad stuff in her life. A child neglected by a Mother making poor life choices, it's not unusual for the neighbours to see her out late at night alone. They want to help but it seems they are too late when Leila mysteriously disappears one night. The police hunts that follows finds many secrets but will they find Leila. I have heard a lot about Lisa Stone but never actually read any of her work. Having read this I will now be searching out her other books. This was well written with fully believable characters and plot twists. Bit of a sixth sense moment when the abductor is revealed. The clues were there but I never saw it coming. Really enjoyed this book and will be recommending it to my friends along with Lisa Stone as an author.

A major strength of this book is its unique twist on the traditional abduction thriller. In 'Taken', you don't have a child snatched from their loving mothers arms. Instead, you have a child who is neglected by a mother who has already lost several children to social services, and who may actually be better off being cared for elsewhere. Indeed, there are definitely times where you almost sympathise with the kidnapper and the way in which they felt compelled to take Leila for her own good. However, Stone was also able to write and incredibly moving and heartfelt depiction of the true strength of a mother-daughter relationship, and in that sense you can see that Kelsey does truly love her daughter - she just can't always do what's best for her.

However, while the depiction of family love was very moving, the thriller elements of the book fell a bit flat for me. There just wasn't enough tension, and it never really felt to me like Leila was really at risk of harm in any way at all. Yes, there's a lot of twists along the way, but for me this would have been far better had it been framed as a domestic drama instead of a thriller. Indeed, I didn't realise until the end of the book that Lisa Stone is also Cathy Glass - the well known author of several of what I believe are commonly referred to as 'misery memoirs' (sad stories of children being abused and mistreated). This is clearly an area which she is very skilled at depicting, but for me the thriller part of the book just fell a bit flat.

Disclaimer - I was fortunate enough to receive an advance reading copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way, and all opinions are my own.

I really appreciate the events in the book unfolding quite quickly, so I can stay fully immersed in the book and await another development of the story. As it was the case of this book. I enjoyed the pace, the complexity of characters, although I was surprised by the behaviour of Leila as to me, it's not the way 8 years old kids behave and talk.
In general, I enjoyed the book. Each development came at the right time. However, at some point, the book just became predictable. The book was easy to read and quite catchy.

I liked that this book was different from the usual abduction tale of 'child taken from perfect family', but it was a bit predictable and I guessed the twist early on unfortunately so it fell a little flat for me.
Good holiday read.

3.5 stars rounded up to

Leila is just eight years old and her mother, Kelsey is an alcoholic, a drug addict and a prostitute. Leila is often neglected and left on her own for hours. She lives on an estate where drug abuse is rife. Kelsey has four older children who are in care. One night, Leila gets abducted whilst playing in the play area next to her flat. Leila has disappeared without trace.

Told from multiple points if view and the backstory to the kidnapping is a little bit different to similar stories that I've read. It's obvious who the abductor is and the reasons why they did it. There's lots of twists in this well written thriller. The fast pace keeps your attention. The characters are well rounded and and believable. There's a few surprises along the way

I would like to thank NetGalley, HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction and the author Lisa Stone for my ARC in exchange for a honest review.

A great book again by Lisa Stone. A fast paced storyline and although I had guessed the culprit by halfway through the book I was engrossed enough to carry on reading it. I thought the ending was a bit sudden but still a great read. I will definitely look to read more by this author.

Thank you, Harper Collins, and NetGalley for a copy of taken by Lisa Stone.
Leila is 8 years old and daughter of Kelsey Smith who is a single mother, alcoholic, drug user and prostitute. They live on a run-down estate. Leila does not have the best relationship with her mother. She is neglected and mother doesn’t realise half the time if she is there or not. But they still love each other. So, when Leila doesn’t come home one evening Kelsey thinks she has been taken by the social worker Peter. Like the rest of the kids she has had. She thinks Peter and taken her away for one night to teach her a lesson. So, when she doesn’t return the next day, she knows that something is up. After her sister Sharon advising her to contact the Police. The hunt is on to find her.
During the investigation, the police come across an eclectic group of characters and when they do arrest the abductor Leila is nowhere to be seen.
This is another excellent read from Lisa Stone. Great realistic story line and characters and a great story teaching us that we never ever really know someone, sometimes someone so close to you. Only thing I thought that the ending went on a bit too long. for me. 4 stars from me.

I found this an interesting book, which explored very well many issues over poverty, neglect and addiction. There are twists of manipulation and I found it interesting and thought provoking.
I did find some areas of the writing, especially the development of characters less appealing than that of some other writers of the genre, especially in terms of how they seemed to snap into very sudden mood changes, Leila did not seem at all typical of her age, but then she had not had a typical upbringing.
The ending seemed a little sudden.
I would be interested to read more of the author, thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins for the ARC and the opportunity to read and review.

Thank you to NetGalley for gifting me a copy of this book.

I'm always up for a good thriller, though I've read so many of them that it's becoming hard to surprise me.

Some parts of Taken were surprising: whereas most abducted-child novels have a set of perfect, worried parents, Taken features a mum who, though she loves her daughter, is far from perfect. The first part of the book actually makes us almost root for the kidnapper, as we see Leila's mum struggle and fail to take care of her daughter.

Similarly, the backstory of the kidnapping was a bit different from other thrillers.
However, it became obvious pretty early on in the novel who was behind it and why, and this is something that makes me struggle to enjoy the rest of a novel. When you know who's done it and why, the writing needs to be really gripping to keep you hooked until the end.
Unfortunately, it felt like Taken lacked a bit in terms of suspense – not only did I never really fear for Leila, I also was convinced halfway through that I knew what the plot twist would be.

The writing was enjoyable, though, and even though the book is a bit slow to start, it quickly finds its rhythm.
No doubt that readers in search of a new thriller for their beach read (or garden read, if they're still in lockdown), will enjoy Taken.

Taken - Lisa Stone
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

8 Year old Leila Smith has seen and heard things in her life that no child should ever have to, she lives on the dreary hawthorn estate in a fourth floor flat with her mum Kelsey who relies on prostitution to pay for her spiralling drug addiction. Leila spends a lot of time on her own avoiding the flat but what she doesn’t realise is that someone is watching her and then she disappears ...... I was so excited for this book, if you are a subscriber to my YouTube channel you’ll know that thrillers that involve a disappearance are my absolute favourite so Taken sounded right up my street! Unfortunately overall it just fell a bit flat for me, it had some good moments where I definitely felt pulled in, the characters felt very realistic and I loved The Hawthorn Estate as a setting it really just felt like a bleak and unfriendly place to be but it was all a bit predictable and I had worked everything out fairly early on which is never what I want from a thriller.
Not a terrible book just not the amazing book I was expecting sadly.

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Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Taken is a story surrounding the abduction of a young girl called Leila. Leila lives with her mum, Kelsey. Kelsey is an alcoholic, drug addict and prostitute who has 4 older children already in care. Kelsey isn’t a great mother at all and more often than not Leila is left on her own for periods of time. One evening Leila gets abducted from the play area outside her flat. There’s a delay in reporting Leila missing. Kelsey turns to her sister Sharon for support, and witness statements are given by the local busybody, Mrs Goodman, and local drug dealers. But not everything is as it seems.

The story flits from various character perspectives, but the chapters are relatively short and make for easy reading. I started off not really liking any of the characters, but by the end I thought Kelsey was a brilliant character. The story flowed really nicely and there wasn’t any boring gaps in the story, it was quite fast paced. The characters were quite relatable, if unlikable. There were a few surprising elements to the book, and the story played out well to a nice and tidy ending.

Overall I loved this book and would highly recommend.

Another great story from author Lisa Stone.
Twists and turns aplenty although I had worked out who was responsible from about half way through the book.
Looking forward to the next one

This was a very easy to read book, short chapters and well written characters, I liked the way the relationship between mother and daughter was written. Although Kelsey neglected Laila their love shone through, There are a lot of people looking out for Laila but who kidnaps her and why? An enjoyable read,

A tough story set in one of the many troubled estates. I liked Leila who was a survivor and her mum who struggles to overcome abuse. Some big surprises along the way.

A slow burner that turns in to an excellent read. A psychological thriller that keeps you in suspense with every page turn. Really enjoyed this book and had an interesting storyline