Girl, Taken

An Ella Dark FBI Suspense Thriller, Book 2

By: Blake Pierce

Narrated by: Amanda Goettl

“A masterpiece of thriller and mystery. Blake Pierce did a magnificent job developing characters with a psychological side so well described that we feel inside their minds, follow their fears and cheer for their success. Full of twists, this book will keep you awake until the turn of the last page.” (Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos, re Once Gone)

Girl, Taken (An Ella Dark FBI Suspense Thriller) is Book 2 in a long-anticipated new series by number one best seller and USA Today best-selling author Blake Pierce, whose best seller Once Gone has received over 1,000 five-star reviews.

FBI Agent Ella Dark, 29, is given her big chance to achieve her life’s dream: to join the Behavorial Crimes Unit. Ella has a hidden obsession: she has studied serial killers from the time she could read, devastated by the murder of her own sister. With her photographic memory, she has obtained an encyclopedic knowledge of every serial killer, every victim and every case. Singled out for her brilliant mind, Ella is invited to join the big leagues.

Victims are being found murdered in the Pacific Northwest, their bodies strung up high in the branches of Redwood trees. It is presumed to be the work of a serial killer dubbed “The Artist Killer”. Ella feels so close to catching him, feels certain she has read of similar murders - but this time, her knowledge fails her.

Can she catch a killer without her talent?

Or will it return to her too late?

A pause-resisting and harrowing crime thriller featuring a brilliant and tortured FBI agent, the Ella Dark series is a riveting mystery, packed with suspense, twists and turns, revelations, and driven by a breakneck pace that will keep you flipping pages late into the night.

Book 3 in the series - Girl, Hunted - is now also available.

©2021 Blake Pierce (P)2021 Blake Pierce

It never captured my interest

I tried to like this book, but the narration never grabbed my attention.

The voice did not blend from Start to finish even though it was read by the same person. It seems like the reader got tired and modulation was high and low.

I struggled to stay awake while listening throughout.

Very Grating Narration

I love audio books. It’s my main source of entertainment. A good story, well-read, is a true pleasure.

This isn’t that.

The narrator was so awful I struggled just to finish the book. Although I really enjoyed the first novel of this series, I don’t think I will purchase any others of the series. The flat, toneless narration, delivered in a very predictable, sing-song cadence, was good to fall asleep to, but made it difficult to listen to otherwise. And the narrator’s upper Midwest accent was also not pleasing. Good narration makes you forget that one person is playing all the characters of the book. Each character has a distinct voice. This narration showed zero acting ability. I feel the average 6th grader could have read it with the same level of skill.

The poor narration emphasized some amateurish aspects of the writing that I didn’t notice in the first book. Namely, referring to the ground in an outdoor setting as “the floor” multiple times. Is English not the authors first language? Since when does a parking lot or park have a floor?

Also, over-using cliches like “dead to rights”. It comes off as tired, unimaginative and fake.Like watching old Drag Net episodes.

And most amateurish of all, writing the main characters as super human. I’m fine with Ella having martial arts skills, but when she is nearly strangled to death, has her wind-pipe crushed,gets a concussion and has traumatic injuries to her spine while being in a fight and does not go to the hospital but goes right back to work, it goes beyond credulity.

I’m very disappointed in this series. I hoped it would provide many books for me to enjoy. Sadly, it would take a lot to convince me to try another one.

Good story, bad performance

Had a hard time listening with the narration. Lack of flow that took away from the story.

Hard listen

Love the series but a hard listen because of the narrator. Very monotone and overall not a great storyteller

Thought I found a new series…BUT

I binged the first book in a day. I had another book on deck already but went right to the series page and bought this one. When it started immediately I thought who is this narrator? I hoped it was just someone reading for one of the characters. The voice was so dull, and flat. It took me back to high school when teachers would make us take turns reading parts of a book out loud in class- that’s the level of enthusiasm that she was bringing to the table. Unfortunately she was not reading one character, and even worse it looks like they commuted to this narrator for the rest of the series. I found myself tuning out because the voice was that hard to listen to. I finally switched it up to 1.2 speed because my mama didn’t raise a quitter and it helped. I still like the story but I’m not sure I can listen to the rest. It’s too bad- I think this series would have been great if they stuck with the first narrator.

not the best narrator

occasionay it would sound different, like they had to come back and re-record. it really would snap me put of the moment. The story was great, even if Agent Dark did get on my nerves a little going against orders.

Clever story, flat narration

I’m into the series so far. Would like to hear more inflection from the narrator, as she was quite monotone in her delivery. Audible corrections or additions had a different sound quality and were quite distracting.

i really wanted to like this book

this is #2 in this series and I have to say I really don't like the main character Ella. this is only her second case yet she thinks she can solve every case on her own. she believes she absolutely knows who the killer is only to find out she's wrong.....then does the exact same thing the next time. and the narrator is so boring and robotic. as it appears the narrator is the same for the rest of the series, I highly doubt I will continue listening once this audio comes to an end. again, I really wanted to like this book but it fell short.

monotone

the story was great, but the narrates was terrible. her tone was so monotone.

Very Poor Narration

The story was pretty good but the reader and recording were terrible. The reader just wasn’t right for this book. She was so monotone in her reading that I would listen to an action scene and she just read on with no inflections. There was something weird at times with the recording as well. I’d give more stars with a better reader and recording.