Two dead girls, another one missing, and a secret that will rip a tight-knit community apart… girls look alike.
As Damien searches for a sadistic killer, a disturbing pattern emerges. The more he digs into the community’s history, the more missing girls he finds.
With the lack of evidence or movement forward on the case, a quirky FBI profiler is pulled in to assist with the investigation. Damien wrestles with disdain for the agent and an equally strong sexual attraction to her, as he deals with mounting frustrations.
Tensions rise with the abduction of another girl. Damien and his team are in a race against time to save her. But the case is about to take a frightful turn. What they uncover will not only rock them to their core, it will haunt them forever.
Innocence Taken is the first crime fiction novel in the Damien Kaine Thriller series.
If you are a fan of CSI or Criminal Minds, believable characters, and sarcastic humor, then this book and series is for you.
Buy Innocence Taken and get sucked into Damien Kaine’s world.
Other books in this series:
Confession of Sin
Fatal Dominion
Web of Malice
Blind Vengeance
*Each book is a standalone story and can be read out of order. However, you will get more character insight reading from book 1. This series has adult themes, incliding sex, adult language, and graphic descriptions of crimes and crime scenes. It is intended for over 18.*
Victoria M. Patton combines forensics and police work with just enough humor and sizzling romance in her books. Her unique way of writing will have you on a roller coaster ride of emotions and keep you turning pages well past your bedtime.
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Over all, I liked this book. The twisted sick plot kept my interest through out the complete novel. Just enough of description was provided to give the reader a good idea of how sick the murderer really was. The characters were interwoven in such a way that it was interesting that they, in their capacities in the novel, managed to turn off the evils they saw during the day to enjoy private life afterwards.
The unfortunate thing about this book is the author felt the need to become far to graphic in the relationships of some of the main characters. Quite honestly, Victoria, the book would have been so much better had you minimized the graphic descriptions of the main characters during their sexual interludes and left that to the imagination of the readers. You’re a good author and don’t need the graphic sex to sell your books.
279 pages
2 stars
Was Ms. Patton going for a steamy romance? If I had but known that there was that much sex, inane conversation and unprofessional behavior in this book, I wouldn’t have chosen it.
The detectives, Detective Joe Hagan and Lieutenant Damien Kaine, are good buddies and I did like the way they teased one another. However they are apparently both drop dead handsome and every woman wants to jump their bones. Oh yuk!!
When they do deign to do actual investigating, this is a pretty good book.
This was a good book. A thriller no less! The characters were great. The book read smoothly. It took me a bit to read it, mostly because I only read at night. I would recommend anyone to read this book.
Enjoyed it very much. Good characters, plot and dialogue. I look forward to reading more in the series.
I found this book somewhat predictable and also disconcerting. The mix of violence against women and the hypersexuality of the main characters just did not sit well with me.
While the story line was interesting, I did skip pages and pages of sexual innuendo and descriptions. Not for the squeamish or sexually sensitive reader.
Great book.gets you from the beginning keeps you til the end
Ok action, but to have two detectives and a FBI agent act like and talk in sexual suggestive dialogue and show no professionalism in their positions was really unbelievable even in a fictional setting. Would not recommend
Couldn’t put it down
I have to give this five stars simply for the crime/thriller aspect of the story. I didn’t connect so much with the characters but it didn’t take away from the intrigue of the book at all. Usually I have to connect with the characters to enjoy the story. The actual capture of the serial killer was somewhat anticlimactic but at the same time fit the story so well. It was hard for me to wrap my mind around the abuse these girls went through. This was a thrilling read that will send chills down your spine.
A dark thriller that grabs you and doesn’t let go
*** NO SPOILERS ***
This is book one from the Damien Kaine thriller series. He’s a detective whose just had a life changing incident rock his world. Uncertain as to whether he even wants to continue with the police, he is unexpectedly promoted to Lieutenant and put in charge of the Vicious Crimes Unit in Chicago taking over from his previous boss. He and his partner are immediately sent off to a small town to investigate the discovery of a human remains. Their friendship and years of experience together play well off each other as they start with no leads and little to go on to search for the monster responsible. With the aid of a profiler sent from the FBI in Quantico the three of them are faced with some heartbreaking discoveries as the story goes on. We are introduced to the killer and the horrible thins he does. We ache with the victims and their families. This is not a mystery where we are given enough clues to solve it on our own but much more of a police procedural that takes us along some dark paths until we reach the end.
There are some pretty steamy scenes among some of the characters but tough descriptive they fit the narrative and problems in the respective lives. I thought they were well handled and in context, not just some sex for the sake of the story.
I think this is a good but dark story, well written, good characters, wrinkles in the plot throughout. The author does a great job at what she is trying to do. At the same time, there is some significant darkness in the book. I’ll read others in the series in the future, but readers need to understand this is not a nice “cozy mystery” or an episode of “Murder, She Wrote” but rather much more akin to a very dark episode of “Law and Order ; Special Victims Unit.” For those looking for that sort of crime story, I think the author has done an excellent job and I recommend it on that basis.
A well built argument for a thriller with interesting characters who although deal with gruesome crime situations do not loose humour or hope. Besides crime and the action looking for the perpetrator, the story also has romance and some steamy parts which are not the most important in the book. The crime scenes are so well described that you can almost see the grotesque actions to which the serial killer submit his preys; although this is a work of fiction it´s sad to realize stories like this are happening in the world.
Innocence taken is a good book and it makes an enjoyable reading.
I downloaded a free copy of this book from StoryOrigin and this is my honest review.
When Damien Kane passes his lieutenants exam, his captain puts him in charge of the Violent Crimes Unit’s daily responsibilities. Kane is having secret doubts if he can stay with the force at all. He still has to carry his own caseload as well. He and his partner Joe Hagan have to leave for Springfield, where road-workers found the cut-up remains of a young girl in a heavy-duty plastic bag next to the highway. Astoria is a small rural area and most likely only the dumpsite as the killing occurred elsewhere.
Once over there, they soon discover that Becca is not the first girl in that area who has disappeared. Because they all happened in different counties, no one had put them together as victims of a serial killer. They’re joined by a local lab tech who’s excited to have his first real active go at a case and a stunning FBI profiler.
After catching his fiancée while cheating on him, Damien has lost interest in relationships. His partner and best friend Joe is the only one who notices something amiss and Damien admits that he’s not certain that he wants to stay on the force. Joe himself is a real womanizer and has no intention to settle down for a serious relationship but he’s fiercely loyal to his friend. That’s until he meets Taylor. He’s more than just into her. I think the author degrades her detectives here by letting them carry on like a pair of dogs on heat. I know that Karen Rose is famous for her steamy romantic thrillers (I’m a big fan) and I assume this writer tries something similar but unfortunately she doesn’t succeed. I’m certainly not a prune but in my opinion, the sex here is a bit gratuitous and not relevant. On the other hand, the attraction/dislike between Kane and Dillon is classic and just a tad more realistic even if the reason for Kane’s grudge is petty and hypocritical.
An FBI profiler who has to help out as an assistant at an autopsy and help puzzle together the pieces of a corpse? Rather unlikely, if you ask me.
What’s so funny about cats in costumes? I always thought it daft. Mine absolutely hates it if I put anything but his collar on (and that’s a struggle despite him knowing he’s not allowed out otherwise).
Having an Italian-Irish police duo as the protagonists is a bit cliché. But I suppose that it’s not unlikely in reality. Both detectives are chick-magnets, a bit too much for their own good or for credibility reasons.
I also wonder why they don’t investigate the first abduction (with the atypical victim) a bit more. It’s obvious that she’s the template. So, I would look hard at her contacts and life as it’s most likely that she’s not a random victim. A decent profiler would see something like that immediately.
All in all, those are minor complaints and don’t interfere with the actual storyline or the suspense. It is also the first book in an on-going series (not a new one) and this could well be the hiccups of a first novel. It’s certainly intriguing enough to read the next books. I’m really curious how the 2 detectives will handle their ‘not-relationships’ in the future and their next cases as well, of course.
The description of Becca’s parent’s reaction when Damien and Joe went to notify them that the remains of their daughter were found was so moving that my eyes got wet. It felt so lively and real, that I couldn’t but sympathize with them.
The story is full of tension and danger and the suspense develops along with a logical pattern. But you know fairly early on who’s the killer and then it’s only the question how they’ll catch him and how many more girls will die.
I received a free ARC through StoryOrigin from the author; this is my honest unbiased review of it.
I was hooked from the very beginning of the book and stayed that way until the end. Once I started reading, I couldn’t stop until I finished reading it. It is actio-packed, page turner with some great characters. I love when members of a police force join with the FBI and they work well together searching for a serial killer. I like serial killer books, because they are usually harder to figure out who it is and I didn’t figure it out until the author let us know. There are also pages that are written from the view of the serial killer. It gives you the creeps and hoping that not too many other young girls are kidnapped, tortured and killed before they find him. This really is a GREAT book and I plan on reading more in this series. I was given a copy of this book for an honest review and this is honest.
If this is the kind of writing the author has for her first book…i can’t wait to see what she has next. Great characters..and not just the main one. She gave everyone else a life of their own. So much so that I’d want to read a book on them. The story is heavy and it feels so real. It gripped me and I didn’t want to put it down.
Trigger warning- violence, sexual abuse.