I am accused of the worst of crimes – murdering my baby – and I have hours before this passenger ferry docks in Spain to find him, alive.
Someone knows about my difficult past and darkest secrets, and now I think they’ve taken my baby. But who would do this to me and why? I know the answer. Or at least I think I do…
The police want to know why I have fled my home and husband. How do I tell them that I had a breakdown after my first baby died? That today is the anniversary of his death? That my husband is planning on having me sectioned?
Despite what my husband says, I’m not ill. Am I? For I have discovered he has an agenda…
So how could I have been so wrong about him?
And how do I convince the police I’m innocent, when everyone believes I’m guilty, and get my baby back before he disappears forever? (Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads.)
Taken was a pretty intense psychological thriller, told in such a way that I wasn’t sure from one moment to the next if the main character, Alice, really was guilty of the crimes she’s been accused of, or if there is more at play than meets the eye. Strange occurrences happen to her, but she has no recollection of it. A good example of this is when she makes the choice to flee her husband, in an effort to protect herself and her son, Eli. At one point she appears intoxicated, with an empty bottle of wine and a used up pill pack of prescription meds that have been emptied, making it seem that she had made a terrible choice while taking care of her baby. But had she really? She can’t remember anything, despite the mounting evidence.
Ultimately, the only person Alice feels she can trust is her brother, Oli. And even that is saying a lot, considering how much baggage they both hold onto from their childhoods. She doesn’t feel she can trust her husband Tom, not after the discoveries she’s made about him. The rest of her support system seems to either side with Tom or has their own thoughts and opinions about Alice and her mental health, which goes against the grain of how Alice feels about herself. Even the nanny is in on it, or so it seems, but it is a constant battle to see through what’s right in front of Alice and suss out what is real and what isn’t, and there is a very thin line between the two.
All of it stems from the initial grief that Alice feels and goes through in regards to her first-born son, Noah, and given it all, it doesn’t surprise me that she has shut down and wants to shut off everything in her world. I felt irritation at the seeming lack of compassion from those around her, who had a “get on with it” mentality, when something so traumatic can elicit all sorts of responses–particularly affecting one’s mental outlook. Many moments consist of Alice self-internalizing and asking herself if something is true, or if she is falling off the deep end, and most of it feels lonely for her, while she tries to navigate it with feelings of fear.
The eventual truth behind it all was totally shocking. I honestly didn’t see it coming, making Taken the perfect thriller. Adding in past trauma and content matter that drives home the severity of the situation really helped to continually raise the stakes, too. It was a crazy, emotional, wild ride!
Thanks to Rachel's Random Resources for the book in exchange for an honest review.
Enjoyed this post? Never miss out on future posts by following us.
Listen to this book on Speechify!
No comments:
Post a Comment