Review: The Taken by Vicki Pettersson

Title: The Taken: Celestial Blues
Series: Celestial Blues, #1
Author: Vicki Pettersson
Published: June 12, 2012
Pages: 432
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Source: Publisher (Harper Collins)
Rating: C+
Reviewed by: Ellie

Favorite quote: “A rockabilly lifestyle, a sting involving truckers, young girls, possibly pimps. An anonymous woman who’d written the names of the city’s movers and shakers on a list that had drawn Nicole to her death. Was that all?”


summary from Goodreads
Griffin Shaw used to be a PI, but that was back when gumshoes hoofed the streets . . . and he was still alive. Fifty years later, he's an angel, but that doesn't make him a saint. One small mistake has altered fate, and now he's been dumped back onto the mortal mudflat to collect another soul--Katherine "Kit" Craig, a journalist whose latest investigation is about to get her clipped.

Bucking heavenly orders, Grif refuses to let the sable-haired siren come to harm. Besides, protecting her offers a chance to solve the mystery of his own unsolved murder--and dole out some overdue payback for the death of his beloved wife, Evie.

Joining forces, Kit and Grif's search for answers leads beyond the blinding lights of the Strip into the dark heart of an evil conspiracy. But a ruthless killer determined to destroy them isn't Grif's biggest threat. His growing attraction to Kit could cost them both their lives, along with the answer to the haunting question of his long afterlife . . .

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Ellie's thoughts:
Griffin Shaw is back in Las Vegas fifty years after he and his wife were murdered but now as a Centurion, a type of angel that helps murdered victims after their death move on. After breaking a big rule with a new soul Griffin is sent back to Earth but this time as a human and his job is to collect a new soul. Griffin has other plans now that he’s back in the flesh and they all revolve around finding who killed him and his beloved Evie all those years ago. Griffin never imagined he would encounter Kit Craig, a journalist, rockabilly girl and the best friend of the soul that he got sent back to Earth for, or that he would be helping her find her best friend’s murder. Together they might be able to solve the case but that won’t stop the powers that be from trying to take them both back to Heaven.

The Taken is the first book in a new series from Vicki Pettersson and it really sparked my interest at first . We first meet former P.I. and now angel Griffin Shaw as he’s getting ready to take a new murdered soul to heaven. People who have been murdered are escorted to heaven and put in incubation until they can forget what happened to them and move on. Some of these souls become Centurion angels who help other souls move on. Griffin is taught a lesson and sent back to Earth as a human where his next assignment is to help bring back Kit Craig.

Kit Craig lives a rockabilly lifestyle where she and her friends love all things vintage and try to live like people did fifty years ago. Griffin fits right in to Kit’s world and when he saves her instead of carrying out his assignment, they both find themselves trying to stay alive and solve who killed Nicole, Kit’s best friend. There is a lot going on in this book and a lot of different characters. Kit is by far my favorite and she keeps the book from getting boring or too dark.

Griffin drove me crazy the entire book. He is very distraught about his late wife’s death fifty years ago and refuses to move on from it. I did like that he struggles for his feelings for Kit and that it takes awhile for them to act on their attraction but I hated that he was constantly comparing the two women. Griffin also liked to use his wife to keep Kit at a distance or to hurt her which made me want to throw my book a couple of times.

I really enjoyed the mystery of who killed Nicole and who was behind the truckers and young girls. This book doesn’t shy away from killing off big characters or throwing a loop here or there. It keeps you on your toes and guessing until the very end which I loved. My big problem I had was with Anne, also and angel, who did nothing but piss me off and slow down the story. I could have done without her completely and had more of Sarg, an angel I did like.

This book starts off very good but does slow way down in the middle. There were a few times when I struggled to keep reading. Between struggling at times to keep my interest, my dislike of Griffin and the fact that not every mystery gets solved I had to give this book a C+. I am hoping that as the series progresses it finds its rhythm and works out the kinks. I also hope that Griffin can lose some of the attitude which would make reading about him a whole lot easier. I am eager for the next book just so everything can be solved and I will stop trying to guess who killed Griffin and Evie fifty years earlier.