The
Stolen Ones by Owen Laukkanen is an insightful look at
morality and greed. As a police procedural it combines an
action packed plot with societal issues that do not get a
lot of attention. Human trafficking is explored as the joint
Minnesota BCA-FBI task force attempts to track down the girls
and uncover those behind the operation.
The main characters, BCA agent Kirk Stevens, and FBI agent
Carla Windermore return in this thrilling plot. After a sheriff’s
deputy is shot dead, local authorities take into custody a
person of interest, a hysterical young woman who has no ID
and speaks very little English. The task force finds out that
this mystery woman, Irina, is from Romania where she was seduced
to come to America with promises of a glamorous career. Instead,
she and her sister become part of a sex trafficking ring and
are forced to travel across the ocean in a cargo container.
Stevens and Windermore team up once again in a nationwide
chase to save the girls and capture the culprits, uncovering
multiple layers of horror.
Besides the riveting plot, Laukkanen delves into the inter-personal
relationships of the main characters. He has Windermore hooking
up with a subordinate agent Derek Mathers. Unfortunately,
Mathers appears to be submissive not only professionally but
also personally. While Windermore is ambitious and strong-willed,
Mathers appears to be weak and obedient. This might work in
their professional relationship but after hours he still seems
to be “mothered” by Windermore. Stevens on the
other hand is a family man who dearly loves his lawyer wife,
who at times helps him with the case. With this family relationship
there is a level of realism.
Laukkanen noted, “I brought Derek into the picture to
head off the ‘will they, won’t they’ with
Stevens and Windermore. Yet, I wanted to keep them together
as partners so I created the task force. I did not want to
strain credibility that these two always happen to be falling
into cases together. I like how these two characters interact,
but because Stevens is married I did not want to allow them
to have a personal relationship. As partners they are humorous
and complement each other. Sevens is dull who does things
by the book while Windermore is hotheaded and rash. Although
she has a partner professionally I am finding it hard to give
her a decent partner personally, someone who is her equal
and extraordinary. Maybe Derek will evolve and mature while
I am hoping to show that Windermore is more vulnerable.”
The Stolen Ones is intense and faced-paced with an
intriguing storyline. It is thought provoking and raises the
question of how anyone can treat another human being so horribly,
and their willingness to sell their soul to make money by
any means possible.
The author also gave a heads up about his next book, which
has a very dark plot. It is based on a true story where an
online predator preys on depressed teenagers. He goes to websites
where people discuss their suicidal thoughts and encourages
them to do it while he watches.
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