In her debut novel, we are introduced to DI Edina ‘Ed’ Ogborne who following an affair with a more senior officer has been transferred from the Met to Canterbury. From the outset you can tell that this rankles with Ed who views this as a punishment to be endured even though she has also been promoted. Clearly she must adapt to her new team as well as her senior officers and find a new home to boot. As expected, her boss, although female, is difficult from the start; as for the team, well what can you expect?

Before her feet hit the ground she is involved in the search for Lucy Naylor, a teenager who has been abducted. Investigations are leading nowhere, the hunt for clues a failure. A month later a pregnant Lucy, otherwise unharmed, is returned.

I really enjoyed this police procedural. It has all the usual aspects such as the difficulties the investigator encounters balancing the work with the needs and orders of the senior officers and what they want; the problems of balance in liaising with the media and also the dynamics of leading a coherent team as the outsider. Along with Ed, I questioned who in the team could be trusted and who was leaking information. One think irked me though. Come on Ed! Really, already involved in a questionable liaison! I was not happy.

All in all, a really good read, even though at times it was a little bit slow. Still a resounding Yes from me.

Thank you to the author, publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

A decent story with an interesting lead character. This female DI knows her own mind and her body. Blessed with an acceptance of her sexuality, she unwittingly keeps picking the wrong man....

A different sort of villain I.e. one that is focused on making his young captives feel cared for and their needs met but whose capture is solely to meet his own needs.

A first novel, there was enough to maintain my interest however, character development was overshadowed by details and my commitment waned. For me, a story piques my interest but my true investment is in the characters. I would read further novels by this author.

What a debut book, The Taken Girls was unique, different from the usual abducted girls plotlines….

DI Ed Ogborne has been transferred as a DI to Canterbury from the Met, she is under pressure not only to get her new team to accept her but to solve the case of the abduction of a local girl who as it happens shows up after 5 weeks, unharmed but pregnant, with no sign of rape and every sign of being really well looked after, who abducted her and why? The Immaculate Conception?? The investigation heats up when they figure this is not the first time this has happened but in fact the third…. A great police procedural story with plenty of grip, so many suspects with apparently no motives, how do they whittle the list down…. Plenty of twists and turns, loved that I didn’t guess right up to the reveal…. Always the sign of a good story!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Avon Books UK for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Loved this book, Ed trying to fit into a new CID team at the start of a major case! The characters were all very well described so could imagine them all. Trying to find the abductor with a number of key suspects kept me guessing right until the end. Hope to see more of the team

What a brilliant debut book ,I really enjoyed reading this abduction story ,with its twists and turns being investigated by DI "Ed" Ogborne transferred from the Met to Canterbury..She is a newbie and has to make an impact on her first case with her new team .The story gripped me from the first chapter and moved along at a fast pace making it one of those books that is hard to put down ! There are young girls being abducted but they are returned a few weeks later safe and sound .Why ?What is the reason ?This is a Police Procedural story and I liked DI Ed ,I found her a quite interesting character leading her new team determined to find the Perpetrator with at first only a few leads .The story is dark in places and very gripping and sometimes chilling ! I thought the ending was very good and I am hoping there will be more books about DI Ed Ogborne as I would like to get to know her and her team more .Many thanks to the Publisher ,the Author and NetGalley for my review copy in exchange for an honest review .

I’d like to thank Avon Books UK and NetGalley for letting me have a copy of ‘The Taken Girls’ by G D Sanders in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

DI Edina (Ed) Ogborne has been transferred to Canterbury because of an indiscretion with a senior officer. She soon becomes familiar with her new team and makes a friend of Verity Shaw, the editor of the Canterbury Chronicle. Ed soon becomes embroiled in searching for the man who’s abducting schoolgirls, caring for them and then returning them to their homes, but none of the girls can explain how they’ve become pregnant during the time they’ve been held captive. Can Ed discover who he is before another girl is taken?

‘The Taken Girls’ has a unique plot which I found promising for a thriller and although it was enjoyable to read I didn’t warm to Ed as a character as I thought her promiscuity was unnecessary to the story. There were several suspects, twists and turns, and even at the end I couldn’t guess the identity of hostage-taker, but I didn’t feel the frisson of excitement I usu-ally get as I’m reaching the end of a book. It isn’t the best thriller I’ve read but there again it certainly isn’t the worst, and I’ll be interested to see what G D Sanders writes next.

A good book with a detective who has a flawed personal life. Not to sure if I liked her or not. Plenty of twists and turns to keep me guessing. The premise of this novel was an interesting concept. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it

You know those books that you pick up, start reading and can't put down? This is one of those. I found myself thinking "Just one more chapter" every time I intended to stop reading for the night.

I am going to try not to give any spoilers, or too much more information than the blurb, because I really don't want to spoil this read for you in any way.

Over a period of a decade a number of teenage girls are taken from Canterbury. The first girl turns up drugged but alive after several weeks, seemingly unharmed. Within a year or two she and her family have left the area and ended contact with everyone they knew. The identity of her abductor remains a mystery and time rolls on.

A decade later, just as DI Ed Ogbourne is about to begin her new job with Canterbury police force, transferring from the Met, another girl vanishes. Ed and her new team take on the job of not only find the missing girl, but to make sure that this time the perpetrator is apprehended. Ed is facing the uphill task of trying to get to know her new team, gain their respect and find the missing teenager before it's too late. Can locating the previous victim offer any useful information that may help them save the present day victim?

I thoroughly enjoyed G.D. Sanders writing style. The prose and pace were both perfectly suited to the storyline with the language appropriate to the characters. What I particularly enjoyed was the fact that there were multiple suspects who were all viable; the police acted in a realistic manner in investigating the case and narrowing down the suspect list. Details felt well researched throughout the book, making a refreshing change from many crime thrillers I have read.

This is not a crime that can be solved overnight and the author has done well in showing the effect that the case dragging on, unsolved, has on the police, her parents and the community. That isn't something that you often see in books, so it made an interesting change to read about the physical and psychological effects the case has on the characters.

If I have a criticism at all it would be that the working class girl was a little stereotypical and portrayed as lacking intelligence compared to the 'nice' middle-class girls. I could perhaps be a little oversensitive on issues surrounding class however.

I enjoyed Ed's character as a very driven young woman aiming for the top and coming a little unstuck in places. Her focus on the victim rather than crime stats was refreshing. Like us all she does have her weaknesses, in her case poor taste in men would definitely be top of the list. I enjoyed her reactions to situations partially of her own making and the way she dealt with any potential problems. The fact that she was well written, with strengths and weaknesses on show to the reader, is what adds to the realism of her as a character. She also isn't portrayed as virginal or sexless as many women are in books, even now. Ed is a well rounded woman who loves her job, enjoys sex and struggles with some of the situations in her personal life. In other words, she feels real.

Having a novel with a strong, intelligent female lead who is portrayed in a realistic fashion is what drew me to responding to NetGalley's email. I am grateful to them for the e-copy of the novel, though will stress that does not in any way affect my opinion of the book.

This is definitely worth a read if you enjoy crime thrillers.

A missing teenager reappears unharmed but pregnant. D.I Edina Ogborne is put on the case and soon finds out that this has happened twice before. The pressure is on to find the culprit and stop it happening to the newest missing girl.

I struggled with this book. The writing style wasn’t really for me. I found it long-winded and repetitive. It could have been cut down a lot to make it a more enjoyable read. I seemed to be reading for hours with not much happening and there was no suspense. I never found myself on the edge of my seat and I wasn’t eager to get back to reading. The ending was a bit lacklustre as well.

I wasn’t a massive fan of Ed and her messy personal life didn’t really add anything to the story. She was a great detective but her personality distracted from this. I wanted to get to know the rest of the team a bit more as well. The blurb also hinted about a sordid tale of corruption and deceit but it’s barely talked about in the book. I also struggled with how they came up with the suspects. They barely investigated anyone.

All in all The Taken Girls is a long-winded book with no real tension. Definitely not the best crime thriller I’ve read. 2.5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley & the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Interesting concept but the execution wasn’t great. Sometimes I can tell from the beginning the writing style isn’t for me and this was one of those cases. DI Ed(ina) Ogborne is not a likable character. She comes across as a narcissist, that has been cast out of the London police against her wishes. She slightly grew on me as the story progressed.

There is a lot of repetition, a lot of words, but not a lot of action. The plot is a good one and I was curious about the outcome (which was decent). If the characters were more fleshed out and the story was trimmed and tightened a bit more I would have rated this higher. Please don’t let me put you off this as it may work well for you!

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Avon Books UK for a copy in exchange for a review.

This book has a really good premise, though quite similar to others I’ve read before. But I had issues with unnecessary ‘scenes of a sexual nature’ - don’t think they added anything to the story and just seemed really gratuitous and misjudged. The story was strong enough on its own so these scenes really clouded my opinion.

A missing girl returns to town pregnant ! Wow ! Clever and wonderfully chilling with dark secrets , mystery and intrigue ! Masterfully done ! Highly recommend ! Thanks to Netgalley and Avon Books UK for the digital copy in exchange for my honest review ! #Netgalley #AvonBooksUK #TheTakenGirls

The premise of The Taken Girls start off well, the proluge was interesting and you instantly wanted to know more. Then we're introduced to DI Edina - Ed Ogborne of the Canterbury Police. 

Ed Ogborne starts her new job just as teenager Lucy Naylor is abducted. Ed and her fellow di's dive into the case, but they have little to go on, until Lucy turns up about a month later - completely unharmed, yet pregnant. 

The detective find out that two girls before Lucy have been abducted and similarly been released, unharmed and pregnant. 

All of this should make for an interesting and thrilling novel, but The Taken Girls falls a bit flat. It's drawn out, it's a bit repetitive and the characters are flat. I was never on the edge of my seat, and I never felt the need to bite my nails because of the storyline, which is a shame because it had potential. 

I wish there had been more tension and that the characters had been rounder - I never really liked Ed Ogborne - sure she was smart and a great detective, but for all of her smarts and wits, her intuition in her personal life lead her completely astray.

thank you to Netgalley and Avon Books UK for an advance copy of The Taken Girls.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Avon Books UK for an advance copy of The Taken Girls, a debut novel featuring DI Edina “Ed” Ogborne of the Canterbury Police.

Ed is about to start her new job as Detective Inspector in Canterbury following a transfer from the Met when teenager Lucy Naylor is abducted. Keen to get off on a good foot she starts early and plunges into the case but there is little to go on. When Lucy turns up a month later, pregnant and unharmed, like two others before her, the team are still struggling to identify the perpetrator and his motive.

The Taken Girls is a bit of a mixed bag. It is a long novel and could do with a bit of a prune because, while the plot premise is interesting and unusual, the execution is slow, ponderous and, at times, repetitive. It means that there is little sense of tension or urgency and the novel lacks the oomph of a compulsive read so I found it easy to put down in favour of doing something else. The narrative switches between Ed’s investigation and Lucy’s ordeal during her abduction, not my favourite narrative style as it is distracting and interrupts the momentum. I like the author’s depiction of the abductor which is unusual and novel but perhaps not as penetrating and chilling as it could have been. The investigation is well handled with small developments and setbacks in every chapter, mixed in with the usual politics and differing priorities.

I can’t say that I took to Ed Ogborne. She is obviously a smart, intuitive investigator but she seems to lurch from one poor decision to the next in her personal life. She dismisses it as impulsiveness, to the disengaged observer it always follows a few shandies.

The Taken Girls is a solid read.

Tricky one to review for me.
I didn't much like the main character,or her messy private life.
The supporting characters weren't really fleshed out enough for me to know how much I liked them.
However,it had a very strange plot,which kept me turning pages just to find out who and why exactly.
There was a side story of what was on the other room that I wanted solved more than who the abductor was.
So.... I'm on the fence in this one.

Amazing book! Couldn't put it down.
Was hooked all the way through. Really enjoyed this book!

Would really recommend this to others
Great work

The Taken Girls is a tense thriller a missing girl comes back pregnant & when the investigation ensues there are so many questions so many twists and turns.A really well written thriller looking forward to more books from this author,

This is a great police procedural it starts with a missing teen who return pregnant. The case falls to DI Edina Ogborne, the newest recruit of Canterbury Police who doesn't feel welcome. As she dig deeper she realize this isn't the first time this happen. As she did with personal issues in her life she realize her new lover is the prime suspect and it become clear to her the system is corrupted. Can she find the person behind this crime you'll have to read it yourself it was a good thriller with dark secrets.

DI Edwina “Ed ” Ogborne is not feeling welcomed by her new team and she’s stumped by the reappearance of a missing teen, who has returned pregnant. This is not the first case of its kind in Canterbury, far from it, and Ed will have to sift through erroneous school records, search for missing police reports and come to terms with the fact that her new boyfriend is the prime suspect in the case. This is an absorbing, fast paced police procedural

The taken girls by author G D Sanders is a fast paced thriller about dark secrets. I enjoyed reading this and think the plot and characters were pretty well developed.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an arc copy of The Taken Girls in exchange for an honest review.