It’ll take more than a lie to keep Kirsten safe.***A creative assassin.A hit list hidden in a Doomsday seed vault.A woman with an unusual gift who has to untangle the conspiracy … before it kills her.Kirsten is desperate for a baby, but when she digs into her mother’s past she discovers a shocking betrayal that derails her life. Will she uncover the mystery before the hitman finds her?Why You … that derails her life.
Will she uncover the mystery before the hitman finds her?
Why You Were Taken is the first book in the When Tomorrow Calls series, a futuristic conspiracy thriller with a high-tech twist you won’t see coming. If you like Christina Dalcher (Vox), Josh Malerman (Bird Box) and Justin Cronin (The Passage), you’ll love a series that brings together all their best features in an electrifying thriller by Amazon best-selling author JT Lawrence.
★★★★★ “An edgy, intelligent sci-fi thriller that is full of heart.” PAUL ANLEE
★★★★★ “One of the best pieces of sci-fi I’ve read this year.” YUDHA WIJERATNE
★★★★★ “A far out, near future, cyberpunk, Gibsonesque, instant classic sci-fi thriller. Highly recommended. Can’t wait for the movie.” TIAN VD HEEVER
Buy this flat-out addictive sci-fi thriller today!
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I’m thoroughly enjoying this series! The prequel gave us a taste of what was possible from these characters and setting. Kirsten and Keke make a great team. They are both dedicated journalists and each has a history of being in dangerous situations. Set in a near future South Africa, showers & swimming pools are practically unheard of, the fertility rate has plummeted, and paper communications (like printed receipts, etc.) are practically unheard of. Yet tech has continued to progress. I loved this aspect of the book! Keke has a tattoo that changes colors with her insulin levels, letting her know when she needs a shot. Some people have implants tied to a small tablet (called a tile) for all their communication stuff and more.
There are several flashbacks sprinkled through out the story. It did take me a while to realize that they were flashbacks. I know I should have picked up on that sooner, I just thought this flashback character had some fascination with the 1990s. Anyway, the flashback storyline turns out to be very important for our main characters and over all, I liked it.
Seth was a very interesting character. At first, I didn’t like him but I was intrigued by him. He comes off all hard angles and has some hidden mission. He’s not above using people to attain his goal. As a loyal member to the secret organization Alba, his chemgineer skills come in very handy. As the story unfolds, it is eventually revealed that he has a connection to our main characters and then he becomes even more interesting and even a little likable.
The pacing was perfect in this story. The suspense is built up and then action happens and then more suspense followed by more action. There’s even a few brief sex scenes to spice things up. I did feel that a few times a character would jump to some conclusion too quickly. For example, one of the characters out of the blue becomes concerned that they might have an implanted tracker, so they go hunting for it so they can cut it out. I felt this was tossed in at the last minute.
Everyone has secrets and that gave the story several twists and turns. I especially enjoyed James, aka Marmalade. Kirsten has synesthesia and so she often sees her friends in colors and she sees James as Marmalade. He became a very sympathetic character at the end. He’s managed to hide his secret live for decades! But after he explained things, I could see his side a bit. I didn’t agree with everything, but I could understand how he got to where he was.
I loved all the science fiction and fantasy references. Thundercats! The ending answers all the questions presented in this book, so it stands well on it’s own. Marco, who I met in the prequel, had a brief mention or two in this book and I did miss his presence. I hope to see more of him in Book 2. All told, 4.5/5 stars.
The Narration: Roshina Ratnam did a great job with this narration. I felt she had perfect voices for both Keke and Kirsten. Her male voices were believable and she had distinct voices for all the characters. There was a little bit of South African slang and Ratnam voiced that well (to my untutored ear). 5/5 stars.
I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by JT Lawrence. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.
Oh My! Set in a near future world plagued with water shortages & epidemic level infertility, a young woman discovers her recently murdered mom could not possibly be her biological mother. Further investigation sets the stage for an adrenaline packed adventure that not only upends her life, but rocks the world.
YOUR NEXT ADRENALINE RUSH IS HERE!!!
If you’re looking for a hard hitting, adrenaline pumping, pulse racing, heart pounding, action packed and unexpected surprises read, then congratulations my friends you’ve found it. This is one read that captures your imagination and holds you prisoner till the end. My attention was solely focused on the pages as I sat frozen to my seat. Man, what a ride. The characters and scenes are so realistic and believable with vivid details and descriptions you can clearly picture in your minds eye. J pulled me into her world and I was floored with the realism and plot. She shows just how strong an author she is with this bad boy. A word of advice. When you grab your copy, get your snacks, a drink, a comfy seat, kick back and relax. You won’t be moving for while. Remarkable read J. Thanks for sharing.
Why You Were Taken is the first book in the author’s When Tomorrow Calls series. The next two are How We Found You and What Have We Done.
I was pulled into this book from the beginning. While the author could have let it be a stand-alone, she turned it into a series, much to my pleasure.
My Review
Night. A disheveled and and apparently deranged woman. A mysterious warning. A key. To what? And we are off on a technological/medical/mystery thriller.
Titles usually don’t play a big part when I select a book but Why You Were Taken got my attention. A simple declarative statement. The promise a question will be answered. The “you” makes it personal.
Once inside I was not disappointed. WYWT appealed to me from the start with its combination of mystery, investigation, intriguing technology, strong characters, and thrilling action.
I’d also put it in the realm of near sci-fi. “Near” because the technology isn’t all that farfetched: algae powered street lights, biomorphic buildings, locket cameras, superblack clothing, snakewatches — I don’t know what a snakewatch is but I want one. The author doesn’t dwell on or over explain the technology, it just is.
The main story opens in 2021 in a not quite dystopian Johannesburg, SA.
It’s not quite dystopian but the potential is there: blackouts, undrinkable tap water, an infertility crises, soaring suicide stats, personal autos have all but disappeared. Ok, the last one might not be so bad. If you follow news in South Africa you’ll know that two of those events already threaten SA: energy and water are at the crises stage. Combining contemporary and future societal elements does a lot to bind the story together.
Balancing the story’s present, are journal entries from a young woman, Anne, in 1987 Johannesburg. She’s in the throws of her own crises, unmarried and pregnant. But through her eyes we get snippets of apartheid South Africa, world events, what she’s reading, watching, and listening to, how her life plays out. Trust me, this blends into the story and enhances it.
Previously I said I liked the strong characters. In Kirsten Lovell and Seth Denicker, Lawrence has created two of the more interesting characters I’ve encountered. Kirsten is a photographer, a victim of the infertility crises, and her parents have just been murdered. She is also a synesthete where one type of sensation evokes another. For Kirsten, sounds produce smells, sensations are seen as colors. Backing up Kristen is Keke, a journalist and possibly my favorite character. I’m a sucker for the spirited sidekick. Seth is as creative as Kirsten but in a different way. He is a skilled mathematician and a creative bioengineering designer. We see him working on a new drug, moving molecules around to achieve the desired effect. He’s like a graphic artist creating a design but with molecules instead of ink.
Why You Were Taken is a good read. It has the story, setting, and characters to pull you in and the legs to make you keep reading. It also has things that make you go “hmm, I wonder if…”.
I liked the characters. The plot was confusing in places. I didn’t like the book well enough to want to read more in the series.
Read on this for about an hour yesterday. Couldn’t get into it. Tried again this morning for another hour, still nothing. I finally gave up. It was disjointed and I had no idea what was going on. I really did try to read it. I received it for free and thought I owed it to the author to read it, but just couldn’d do it. Why You Were Taken has three different storylines running at once. I’m sure eventually they will come together, but I couldn’t make myself read anymore of it. Got about ten percent of it read before giving up on it, and I normally finish books.