A short, fast paced, gripping suspense thriller: A pretty girl with a dream. An offer too good to refuse. And consequences beyond her control.
Gritty, dark, and disturbing. The Story of Natasha, tricked and trafficked to London, and trapped in a ruthless, criminal underworld.
Introducing Mason Cooper, a tough detective quitting the force to save his failing marriage. Their worlds collide as he drives his daughter home from school.
This novella introduces the hard-hitting Mason Cooper thriller series with "awesome characters" and a style of its own.
Fans of Lee Child's Jack Reacher, Jon Mills' Jack Winchester Mark Dawson's John Milton, Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch, and many more strong leading male and female characters should read Terence Mitford's new Mason Cooper thrillers.
WARNING: Due to the theme, this book contains scenes that some readers may find disturbing.
The fact I only give this three stars is no reflection on the writing, more because of what it is.
Billed as a novella, this is actually a long prologue for the author's novel "The Scarlet Club". There is little depth added to the characters, especially Mason Cooper, the nominated hero. Taking Natasha is more a scene setter, outlining context and creating a scenario for the full novel(s) to follow.
It was enjoyable and a fast read (I cleared it in one day, reading either side of the World Cup Final!). It certainly did its job in making me want to read the novel, which is already sitting on my Kindle waiting. I can see the characters have potential, and the subject matter is very well dealt with.
Don't read this expecting a full story with an ending, because that is not what you get. Do read it as a taster (for free, by the way), to see if you want to go ahead and read The Scarlet Club.
>Book Review – Taking Natasha >This book is a prequel novella in the Mason Cooper series and sets up the series. This book deals with sex trafficking. There are scenes of rape that may be disturbing. There are 2 story lines in this novella that intersect at the end. The first story line is that of Natasha. She is a young girl flying to London for what she is told is a job in modeling. A woman on her flight tries to warn her of the dangers of taking a job from an unknown, but even forewarned, Natasha is trapped. The lengths the traffickers go through to threaten and keep these girls are amazing. The saddest part about the sex trafficking trade is the fact that so many people are involved in this sick trade, as willing participants or owners. It hurts to know so many people, predominantly men, actually need to abuse women in this way. >The second story line involves a police detective, Mason Cooper. His work hours are putting a strain on his marriage, so he decides to quit in order to save his marriage. His teen daughter notices Natasha and the series begins. The premise of the book is true fiction. In the upcoming series, Natasha and Mason work together to take down as much of this disgusting business as possible. >This book is appropriate for an adult audience. There are a lot of triggers, so beware. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from Romance Authors that Rock. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I am giving this novella 5 stars. The writing was top notch. I disliked the story line, but if this story can help raise awareness for this immoral business, I will gladly support it.
I have been dithering over how many stars, but decided on four rather than five. The reason being is that i really do dislike books that leave you hanging, and then having to decide whether to purchase the next book to find out what happens next.
Nonetheless, it was an excellent novella and one that I couldn't put down until I had finished.
My heart bleeds for these girls and boys, young women and men who are treated as a commodity and not a human, as reiterated in this book. Slave and sex trafficking is more lucrative than running drugs for any crime syndicate. What is the answer? Why are there more and more throw away kids caught up in this network? As in "Taking Natasha", she was seen by the right person at the right time. Natasha was helped by an ex-policeofficer. What are the chances of that happening for the other millions of trafficked people? I guess the answer is for us not to look the other way. Care for our fellow person. Everyone has cell phones. It takes one call and a few minutes of your time to alert the authorities if something you see and feel ain't right, you could be saving someone's life.
This novella approaches the very sensitive subject of human trafficking and prostitution in a very direct way. It manages to avoid being sleazy or erotic, but still manages to provide a very believable and realistic portrayal of the horror and helplessness felt by the victims. This is a tremendously clever piece of writing and is easily worth the 5 stars I have awarded it. This book is a prequel to the author's full-length novel 'The Scarlet Cub' which I have had the privilege to advance read, and in my opinion easily maintains the standard set by this book.
It was a wonderful book. The way the author wrote the book, you could see that the subject was understood in its entirety. I enjoyed reading it until the end without breaking. I was so glued to the story which appeared so convincingly real.
The issues of trafficking is a world problem and such books enlightened most people especially young women who are always in search of a better life.
I am looking forward to start reading the next in the series.
This book introduces Mason Cooper, an ex-cop, and Natasha, the young girl taken by ruthless traffickers. Because of a secret look at a young girl, Rosie, Mason's daughter, she is saved from the traffickers. This details the real evil of how young women are duped into being lured, by a promise of a better life, into virtual sex slaves. This book is very well written, has the OMG feeling of 'don't do that', and details their lives without being salacious. I would highly recommend this book and author. I can't wait to read the next installment.
I thought a book about human trafficking would be exciting and thrilling, but this book was everything but that. I don’t like how the author writes, it’s like all the potential excitement is pulled out of the story, by the way it is written. All the action is told like it’s a report of something that happened but didn’t matter. And he doesn’t know how to write women! It was obvious that the author has absolutely no idea how a woman thinks or feels, and that just threw me off completely. I will not be reading the next one. No thanks.
I was captivated from the start! You hear about this everyday in the news and I feel so helpless for the girls and boys that fall prey to these people. So many of our children are being taken, lost to us forever. They can't get home. This book brings us to their lives and situations. We are living what they are living. We have to be aware of this issue. I am reading the rest of this book!!!
This is a hard hitting thriller that grabs you from the beginning and doesn't let go until the last second. I went through a myriad of emotions throughout this book and it left me wondering about how the characters lives would progress in the next installment t. It's a quick read, but I recommend it!
Great writing! This story it's filled with anticipation, hope, sitting on the edge of your seat excitement, and the desire to slap someone 😂. Great timeline, great characters, great plot,and to top it off the way the story ends lets three reader know that more its ahead.
It is a solid story, well written and interesting when you compare it to some other popular crime fiction books. As it say in the title, it's a shadowy world inside these pages and not something that you encounter every day. Parts about detective Mason were a little boring but hopefully it'll get better in other parts.
Even though this heart racing book was free and can be enjoyable as a standalone I find myself for the first time to want to read the over books in the series! The Book has kept me at the end of my seat from stop to finish and I'm desperate to see how it ends! 5 stars *****
This story was so sad😭, exciting, entertaining and just WOW!!!. People are just so cruel to each other and treat them like they own you!!. Trafficking is so sad😭 and cruel, NOBODY, NOBODY, deserves to be treated like that!!!. Terence is a fantastic storyteller and is an Amazing writer.
Rather disturbing story of human trafficking, but handled with sensitivity. Although we know what is going to happen when Natasha get into the car, the book keeps your interest all the way to the final page. Very well written.
I'm not a massive reader and struggle to find a book that I will actually read all the way through. I have to say this book had me gripped from the start and I have now purchased the books to follow The Scarlet Club. Brilliant
Really enjoyed this short novel to begin with, I thought the ending was really really rushed and it spoiled it abit, it needed more and seemed abit weird that the detective would follow her just because she looked at the daughter at a petrol station.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This was a look into the world of human trafficking, but unfortunately I thought it would be more of a police store. Maybe I should look a little deeper before I select a book.
I did like the book but I was a little Disappointed in the way it Ended. It left So Many things left unanswered. I do still plan on reading more of your books. I told my Niece about it she says she will read.
Gave me chills thinking about how real this is. Whether it was real or not in Natasha's case, it is real. This book should be mandatory reading for all young women.
It could have been better but it was a total bore I ended up skimming over a great deal of the story and gave up half way through so I'm sorry I couldn't recommend this one.