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THE TAKEN
by Inger Ash Wolfe
McClelland & Stewart, October 2009
424 pages
$32.99 CAD
ISBN: 0771088981


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

If, like me, you are a fan of police procedurals, you have probably come to expect certain characteristics to be present in the protagonist's makeup. Confounding all expectations, Wolfe has created a unique lead character in Detective Inspector Hazel Micallef. She has a way of doing her job and relating to people that is quite different from the standard. She's sixty-two years old, flawed, a bit of a curmudgeon, and does her job by following her gut instead of the rules.

As the book opens, DI Hazel Micallef is out on a disability leave. Due to an earlier incident, she's had severe problems with her back and is quite incapacitated. The first surgery she had to correct the problems didn't work at all. Now she's had a second surgery, and if that doesn't deliver results, she will likely be unable to resume her police career. Her elderly mother is unable to adequately care for her; in an odd twist, the two of them move in with Hazel's ex-husband, Andrew, and his second wife, Glynnis, who do take car of her. The fact that Hazel is still in love with Andrew and can barely tolerate Glynnis is a complicating factor.

Prior to her leave of absence, Hazel was serving as the temporary in-charge for the Port Dundas police district. For the time being, her second-in-command, DC James Wingate, is filling her shoes. When there's a strange death involving a drowning, Hazel gets called back into action. It appears that the killer is playing some kind of game, an idea that is reinforced when a serialized story appears in the local newspaper with a plot that almost exactly matches the facts of the murder. As that story unfolds, there are indications that more murders will occur. Hazel and James are up against a very clever and manipulative killer and struggle to interpret the limited data that they have in front of them. And then they are provided with a connection to an Internet link that shows live coverage of something horrible about to happen in a dark basement. Has this been staged, or is it reality?

My only issue with the book was with the inclusion of the serial story in full within the narrative. A summary of what was in that story would have sufficed; I felt that the flow of the book was interrupted and diminished by incorporating it in detail. There was also an indication that the story was some kind of anagram, which confused me. As the book proceeded, the story content became more or less irrelevant.

The plot is complex and involving, with the investigation made even more difficult by several extenuating circumstances, including meddling by the bureaucracy of the police higher-ups. While they are working on the case, Hazel is dealing with her own recovery and personal issues in the form of a wayward, depressed daughter as well as dealing with her feelings about Andrew and Glynnis. At the same time, James is working through his own grief after the loss of a loved one. They are a good team, balancing out each other's strengths and deficiencies.

I found THE TAKEN to be suspenseful, engrossing and satisfying. Hazel was a very three-dimensional character, with a lot of nuances that made her come alive in all of her complexity. James Wingate, too, is fully formed; we learn only gradually about his very touching personal struggles. My plan now is to be properly introduced to Hazel and company by reading the first book in the series, THE CALLING. After that, I'll eagerly await the next installment in this fascinating procedural series.

Reviewed by Maddy Van Hertbruggen, December 2009

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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