Taken For Dead (4) (Katie Maguire) Paperback – December 1, 2015

As biased as I am as a fan of Masterton, I think he has outdone himself with this brilliant story.The only books that come in close to this literary skill are Masterton's GENIUS and CHAOS THEORY ( Both storys outside of the "Horror Genre"); don't get me wrong, I think Horror is literary , or can be, in the full sense. I just started reading the "Critical" edition of THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, which has extensive notes from the Penguin classics edition,2000, 2003, 2008, which shows the genesis of DORIAN GRAY, and puts it in context with a timeline. The only Masterton story I know that has anything similar is the TELOS edition 2002, of THE MANITOU, with variants and some great additional biographical information.The point being that there is more than enough material in this book to satisfy the most slavishly pedantic literary critics, and Masterton's work is, in my view, definitely worthy of study. Fans of the Katie Maguire series should be more than delighted with this story.The story is brilliantly crafted. The characters are well developed, and the whole story is a cracker of a good read.Masterton pulls no punches in the force of what happens, and I don't blame him for doing that (some have criticised the use of violence, but just look at the news, its much more severe, and the book is in your mind).Nothing in the story is out of context, or "gratuitous"( whatever that may mean to you); you can find a resolution in the moral sense where the bad guy gets his reward.The first book in the series had a selected guide to Cork slang, and I would have liked to have seen that trend continued in subsequent books, but at least in the US editions, but unfortunately it has not. Even so, it is still a great read, and the Cork/Limerick english dialects certainly give you a reason for looking the words up ( no guarantee you will find the meanings). Whether Katie is going up against the new "acting" ChiefSuperintendent Molloy, or any one of the many criminals, she is a force to be reckoned with, but she also has a human side, in other words, Katie is a very fully fleshed out character that has a world of wonder, amazement, love, horror, and duplicity to reckon with in her personal life. This is a great novel, a great story, and one even first time readers will enjoy and I suspect make them go back to the first in the series, although, i think that there might be a further book to chronicle the rich saga that is Katie Maguire's life. I fully recommend this as a billiant read.

Graham Masterton is a remarkably gifted and versatile author. He weaves tales that mix the grotesque with wit, passion and drama. He is a kind of Shakespeare of the grotesque with an incredible capacity for invention. In the Kate Maguire series he writes with a woman as the main character - smart but flawed like a real person - especially in her taste in men. She is surrounded by other three dimensional characters. Masterton has a very good grip on how women are discriminated against in organisations and in the underworld. The last book and this book develop her character and her life experience against a bizarre and intriguing background of criminality and Celtic myth. Is Masterton going to write about her until she is old? I would love to read about her future life. I read this book in a couple of sittings as I did the one before and now I am waiting for the sequel. Masterton's creative gift fascinates me; he is quite out of the ordinary in his capacity to evoque and invent. Obviously a kind of genius.

The characters are fully developed. Superior story. Excellent book.

The High Kings of Erin calls itself a political movement, but they are really just a band of deluded extortionists. In this thriller by Graham Masterton we get a little humor, pathos and a whole lot of very fine writing! It was years ago when I first read Mr. Masterton, and I didn't realize just what I was missing. I am so glad I cottoned on to the Katie McGuire series. They lead Katie and her team on a merry chase with just the right amount of tension in this fast paced novel. More, more please!

Despite being gruesome beyond gruesome in parts, this was a masterful, clever, roller-coaster ride of a story. I'd go so far as to say that I think it's a ripper of a read. I was sorry it had to end. I wonder how on earth the author even dreamed up some parts of this story? Original and imaginative, it was a very successfully layered, highly creative crime story which frequently surprised me. Katie is a plausible, well-rounded character with whom I could well identify. Without giving too much away, I ask ... what about the ending!?? I will definitely read more of Mr Masterton's books.

There's rot in the basket of goodies and Katie is left trying to find out who it is, amid kidnappings and torture and other grisly things. The only thing I question in this story is the decision she made about her next door neighbour - right from the start I thought 'stalker!' and 'creep!' and then 'why????' But apart from that, another good story in my POV. Off to read the next in the series!

Strong, typical Kati,e. Good plot development, easy narrative, great scene depictions (I can feel the "dewy" .Irish weather!). The explicit sex doesn't add much, I could do with less and enjoy the book more.

I really like the main character and the stories are fun, if a little gruesome. The dialog is very entertaining. Only odd thing is the author's slight fixation with shaved genitalia. I'm not sure how a woman who is so busy she doesn't always have time to eat or sleep seems to always have freshly waxed privates even when she has an unexpected sexual encounter:)

I've read several of Graham Masterton's books, both the horror genre and Katie Maguire series, but I think he's playing us for fools with "Taken for Dead". As well as being completely unbelievable - Katie tells one person something which then becomes public, yet never once asks herself "who was the single, solitary person I told, as they are the only person who could have leaked it?" - in addition, she's a serving police officer but takes her neighbour's word for it that there's something wrong with his wife and doesn't investigate for herself. Really??However, by far and away the worst thing for me was the constant and unrelenting use of "cod Irish" and ludicrous descriptions throughout. I decided to jot a couple of them down as examples, and took a staggering 15 from just 3 pages. A young man is a "young feen". Someone trying to cover up information is told "Don't be blowing any of your gulliers on me". The "carroty-curled young man" and the "bouncer-types" are called "the carroty-curled young man" and "the bouncer-types" EVERY TIME THEY ARE MENTIONED, even after we are told their names. Someone was told not to "play Molly Ban", and "you're OK now you're on your flowers", but "don't be getting yourself all stooky". Relatives continually referred to as "my" - "my Sheila". "My Eoghan". "My Meryl". A character who met an untimely end was, apparently "Squashticated" whilst a certain situation was "complimicated". I can't remember what was happening "when they were doing a babs", but "some stupid gobdaw" must have been making a "right hames of it."There are more, but I can feel my blood pressure rising having just typed that lot. I made it to the end of the book - which was, frankly, ridiculous - and won't be spending any more money on any more of Graham Masterton's crimes against several languages and far-fetched plotlines.

Yet again, a book with so much potential - wasted. The central storyline was intriguing and some of the characters engaging and yet, Mr Masterton (or his editor) was determined to mess it up.....With a back library of thousands of books read, this was the first time I wanted to 'do for' the AUTHOR for mistreating the central character!SPOILER ALERTSFar from 'cherishing' the strong female character he has created, Mr M. turns her into a flakey person who will bed a new MARRIED neighbour (despite believing him guilty of domestic violence) shortly after meeting him. Why? Because she's had a tough day! NO!!! That is not the character you have built.If this isn't enough, the two cops killed off are both young women with promising careers - who would have been great carry-over characters into the next book! Talk about cutting off the hand that feeds you!! Finally, one kidnapping too far in what became a convoluted plot.I have one more in this series already bought and paid for but that maybe the last of this author's work I will read. So disappointed. I thought I'd found an excellent addition to my favourite authors list. Who knew.

I thoroughly enjoyed this latest outing for Katie Maguire where she's baffled by a gang calling themselves The Kings Of Erin who always seem to be at least one step ahead of her. They are kidnapping for ransom local, almost bankrupt, businessmen but claiming that the men's business borrowings have brought Ireland to its knees. Ideology or extortion? It's not initially clear. Katie is also having more problems with Acting Chief Superintendent Molloy - are police politics in crime fiction a cliché or a reflection of modern policing?This is an extremely well written and plotted novel which held my attention so well I read it in one sitting. In fact I was so gripped I wanted to have a peek at the ending while reading to make sure it turned out ok but it's too much hassle on a Kindle! I like Katie better and better as the series progresses. She's a mature, capable, tenacious woman with an endearing naivety when it comes to men and an ideal protagonist. The supporting cast of characters are not so well developed but that's not particularly important as Taken For Dead is all about the plot and Katie.If you don't mind some graphic violence and enjoy an action packed storyline which is easy to follow but not simple you couldn't do better than this and I heartily recommend it as a very good read.

Katie seems to be assailed on all sides. Her workload is heavy, her personal life is in tatters, she has lost a high profile case against an old adversary and her new boss is an old-school bigot who makes no bones about where he thinks women should be - and that is definitely not in a senior authority position in the Garda. On top of all this, a bizarrely named group sets out to punish small businesses which have run into debt by arranging kidnappings and ransoms, with gruesome methods of death for non-compliance; then her neighbour makes inappropriate advances which lead to official complaints against Katie, much to her boss's delight. This is a multi-layered novel, which in less competent hands could have become very confused, but Masterton never drops a thread. We are drawn into the lives of the victims and gradually become aware of the length of the gang's tentacles. We learn a little more of the background to her father's retirement from the Garda and see how Katie uses this information to gradually unravel the tangled lines of enquiry. Whilst this case is brought to a conclusion Katie's life is moving in an unexpected direction which is a leader into the new story, to which I am greatly looking forward.

I started off well with the head in the cake. As I read I realised that I had read another book where Katie McGuire was the detective involved. As with that book, I didn't understand quite a bit of the Irish lingo and all the names seemed strange to.me. It really niggled me that at the end of dialogue, no matter who was speaking, they'd have to have the word "like", sometimes even mid-sentence. OK if you're Irish I suppose. I seem to remember that in my review of the last book I'd got fed up of hearing what everyone was wearing. This was the same.I don't suppose the storyline was bad, but as I battled on to finish it I was losing patience somewhat. Now at last I can read something else.I gave the last book by this author 3* and I'll do the same with this one but I am unlikely to purchase further books by this author. At least this one was very cheap, but it's still time I can't retrieve.