#taken Wrong time. Wrong place. Wrong girl.

When Jessica Lyle is abducted in front of her apartment, the kidnappers obviously made a big mistake. It was not the lovely mother of a baby-boy, but her flatmate Snezia Jones who was the target since she is the mistress of London’s drug dealer number one: Harry Flowers. This is personal, the woman has been taken to get to the underworld boss who is so distressed that he comes personally to DC Max Wolfe to offer his assistance. It does not help the police that Jessica’s parents immediately go public with the case, they want their daughter back and they give their mission a hashtag to spread the word: #taken. Yet, this media hype only leads to more people who have waited a long time for their chance to take revenge on Harry Flowers. Jessica remains missing and obviously, the time is running out. I absolutely love Tony Parson’s series about DC Max Wolfe, the sixth instalment actually was one of the best so far. The author has created a plot that can really surprise due to the astonishing twists and turns. This time, Max Wolfe’s team really has a hard job to do since they need the cooperation of the drug dealer Harry Flowers and have to rely on his information – which not only is all but reliable but also brings Max and also his daughter Scout in the highest danger. The threat comes from a very unexpected side but it was absolutely credible from a human point of view. Apart from the missing person’s case, Max has to struggle again with his ex-wife Anne and the question of how to educate Scout. Surprisingly, the loss of Max’s lover Edie Wren which happened at the end of the last book in the series did not really play a big role even though I expected this to have a large impact on him. Again, a masterly crafted plot around a set of very unique characters makes a great read.