The Taken Ones Audiobook By Jess Lourey cover art

The Taken Ones

A Novel (Steinbeck and Reed, Book 1)

 Preview
Get this deal Try for $0.00
Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm PT.
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just $0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 audiobook per month of your choice from our unparalleled catalog.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Taken Ones

By: Jess Lourey
Narrated by: Carly Robins
Get this deal Try for $0.00

$14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime. Offers ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm PT.

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $25.00

Buy for $25.00

LIMITED TIME OFFER. Get 3 months for $0.99 a month. Get this deal.

Two girls vanished. A woman buried alive. Between two crimes lie decades of secrets yet to be unearthed in a pulse-pounding novel by the Edgar Award-nominated author of Unspeakable Things.

Summer 1980: Despite the local superstition that the Bendy Man haunts the woods, three girls go into a Minnesota forest. Only one comes out, dead silent, her memory gone. The mystery of the Taken Ones captures the nation.

Summer 2022: Cold case detective Van Reed and forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck are assigned a disturbing homicide—a woman buried alive, clutching a heart charm necklace belonging to one of the vanished girls. Van follows her gut. Harry trusts in facts. They’re both desperate to catch a killer before he kills again. They have something else in common: each has ties to the original case in ways they’re reluctant to share.

As Van and Harry connect the crimes of the past and the present, Van struggles with memories of her own nightmarish childhood—and the fear that uncovering the truth of the Taken Ones will lead her down a path from which she, too, may never return.

©2023 Jess Lourey. (P)2023 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Crime Crime Thrillers Domestic Thrillers Fiction Suspense Thriller Thriller & Suspense Mystery Exciting Heartfelt Scary Cold Case
adbl_web_adaptive_pdp_alc_button_t1

Critic reviews

“Narrator Carly Robins ramps up the tension, portraying Van's increasingly fraught state as things hit uncomfortably close to home. Lourey (The Quarry Girls) skillfully uses flashbacks and changes in perspective to create a deeply suspenseful listening experience. Share with fans of mysteries and suspense involving intriguing women detectives who employ a hint of the supernatural.”—Library Journal

“Twists and turns you don’t see coming make for a real page-turner.”—Kirkus Reviews

“There are twists and turns galore that make reading this novel almost unbearably fun and intense. I cannot remember another psychological thriller that created such a dichotomy of feelings about the protagonist, which shows just how talented Jess Lourey is.”—Publishers Weekly
Captivating Mystery • Twisty Plot • Excellent Narration • Engaging Storyline • Unexpected Twists • Great Voice Acting

Highly rated for:

All stars
Most relevant
This is my 1st book read in this series and I am definitely looking forward to more. It starts out interesting but slows down about midway through. Be sure and stick it out bc it picks up and turns out to be a unique protagonist that had me Googling to verify facts. I listen to 1-2 audiobooks a week and I often get halfway into a fiction book and realize that I’m not listening bc I’ve lost all interest. This one kept my attention.

Pleasantly surprised by this one

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved the story & the characters. The author did a great job of keeping it interesting but descriptive.

Hope it’s a series!

Great!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I enjoyed the story and performance. I kept losing track of the male police characters though. But i am looking forward to book 2.

Enjoyed it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
good start and first part good but then slows and becomes boring. Also a little complex with three themes: the taken, her history, her relationship with others and Harry. Ending too romantic and hard to believe

Enjoyed Book, and did finish

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This was an unusual homicide case with a victim that was in her early fifties alongside two missing girls from a cold case 42 years old. While I find Van’s visions/dreams/intuition an interesting twist to the detective trope, it still hasn’t been explained. Also, the growing trust between her and Steinbeck is a delicious slow burn. I’m definitely looking forward to the release date for book two.
Part of the Kindle Unlimited catalog.

Fabulous!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I really enjoyed a different plot line for a change. Lately plots seems so basic. It was a great listen and I will look for more from this author.

Good plot

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The author knows this subject matter is and it shows! Brilliant, insightful and rememberable. I highly recommend!

A well thought out plot with clinically correct trauma implications

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
An old, cold abduction case, and bodies still turning up … this is a police procedural that will bring you back in time a bit, to simpler days, but is still steeped in the present as well.

I enjoyed this and, based on this experience, would like to explore more from this author. It packs a few different mysteries, along with workplace drama and stigmas.

Some mysteries in this were wrapped up, while others left me hanging—very well played. I’m excited to fall in love with a new series.

4 stars.


🎧 Audio:
The narrator did a great job, using different voices and attitudes for different characters and the overall sound quality was good. 4 stars.

Intriguing...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Well written. Well thought- out. Interesting characters and a captivating story. This could be a great series.

Contemporary and captivating

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I liked all of the characters. They made poor choices and made mistakes but kept moving forward.

The lifetime of trauma the victims suffer after such a tragic experience as children.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews